Inferno

Italian horror movie auteur and cult director Dario Argento followed up Suspiria—the biggest hit of his career—with this 1980 pseudo-sequel, the second film in his “Three Mothers” trilogy. This dreamlike mystery revolves around a young woman named Rose (Irene Miracle), whose perusal of an ancient tome she purchased from an antiques dealer leads her to fear that her eerily baroque New York apartment (with an underwater ballroom in the basement, among other features) may be harboring an evil force. Increasingly terrified, Rose contacts her brother Mark (Leigh McCloskey), who is studying in Rome, and he soon finds himself subject to similar strains of malevolent magic, as everyday locations turn into hostile environments of spikes, splinters, knife edges, and broken glass, all conjured to pierce flesh, draw blood, and take lives. Inferno is one of the most glorious expressions of giallo, the distinctly Italian genre of horror that marries haunting beauty, elaborately choreographed set pieces, and exaggerated, highly stylized violence. This is Argento's most visually robust and vivid film, with pools of saturated color that seem to glow from within. Blue Underground's newly remastered DVD special edition and Blu-ray debut deliver the intensity of the color palette with crisp, sharp images in a superbly mastered edition. Extras include new interviews with the stars plus an archival interview with the director and assistant director Lamberto Bava. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)