Blu-ray Review: Dario Argento's INFERNO - 30th Anniversary Edition

A critic of London's Time Out magazine summed it up best when he wrote "...the thrills and spills are so classy and fast that the movie becomes in effect what horror movies seemed like when you were too young to get in to see them." The magic of Italian horror maestro Dario Argento is that he is able to take you back to an almost childlike state, where horror films seemed like vivid nightmares that could tap into your subconscious and play tricks with your mind. Suspiria (1977) is arguably the best example of Argento's kaleidoscopic surrealism; making use of operatic cinematic techniques that emphasise subjective point-of-view, extreme close ups, expressionistic shadows, a howling soundtrack, elaborate murder setpieces and a dazzling colour palette that transcends conventional boundaries. To the mere sceptic Argento is an over flamboyant misogynistic hack, but to the seasoned devotee his works are a master class in suspense and fear. Inferno is the 1980 sequel of sorts to Suspiria, and the second official instalment of 'The Three Mothers' trilogy; which was recently concluded with 2007's Mother of Tears. It concerns young poetess Rose Elliot (Irene Miracle) whose research into the history of her New York apartment building reveals a mysterious connection to legendary supernatural witches 'The Three Mothers' and results in a slew of grisly murders. When Rose leaves a frantic call to her brother Mark (Leigh McCloskey) he flies home from Rome only to find that she is now missing and that there are few clues as to her whereabouts. His investigations into his sister's disappearance lead him closer to a terrifying encounter with a powerful ancient, evil force. As with the majority of Argento's oeuvre plot and performance are side-stepped to allow for the intricate mechanics of creative bloody mayhem to spill across the screen; Rose's shock confrontation with an underwater corpse (recalling Jaws) and various cat and rat infested death sequences are memorable macabre highlights. But what compels the most is the dazzling multicolour filtered lighting. The vibrant blues, deep reds and decadent purples have never looked better than on Blu Ray; almost drowning the viewer with their expressionistic splendour. Also notable is the 5.1 DTS audio option which finally does justice to both Keith Emerson's beautifully immersive pumped up electric score and the howling winds, slashing knifes and other spooky delights omitting from the supped-up soundtrack.

EXTRAS

Save for the lack of a director's commentary (a considerable highlight of Anchor Bay's 1999 DVD release of Argento's Tenebre) the extras from Arrow Video are exceptional; mixing older documentaries with refreshed interviews and featurettes specially commissioned for this 30th Anniversary release. 'Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror' is a Mark Kermode narrated documentary from 2000 which assembles a plethora of impressive talking heads including John Carpenter, George Romero, Tom Savini, actors Michael Brandon and Jessica Harper, Goblin composer Claudio Simonetti, 'Profondo Argento' author Alan Jones, daughters Asia and Fiore Argento along with er Alice Cooper and the great man himself. The doc pierces through the bloody heart of the director's work (up until 1993's Trauma) and includes insights into his isolated childhood, which was itself seeped in fear and suspense, and his gothic literacy influences. There's also some discussions about his antagonisms with actors and how Goblin's music was used onset to terrorise and evoke desired performances. Also from 2000 there's a 'making of' doc with both Argento and Lamberto Bava (son of the great original Italian horror legend Mario), which is surpassed by a more contemporary featurette entitled 'Dario's Inferno', where the director discusses the film along with other more recent works including his concluding 'Three Mothers' film Mother of Tears. While 'Acting In Hot Water ' features an informative interview with Dara Nicolodi. The actress, former wife and frequent collaborator of Argento (who also wrote the story for Suspiria and lent an uncredited hand in Inferno) reveals some fond memories and her fundamental influence toward Argento's move to fantasy and occult themed stories after his early Giallo mystery thrillers. This quite frank interview charts her preference of working with Mario Bava over Argento due to the former's sadistic temperament whilst working with actors. She also reveals certain discern for the third 'Mother' film, hinting that the true concluding part of the trilogy she helped to create has yet to have been satisfactorily realised. The completely unofficial 1989 sequel to Inferno, The Black Cat, is given some exposure and controversial nuance in 'The Other Mother: Making The Black Cat', where director Luigi Cozzi discusses his misunderstood and rarely seen film. Stay tuned for some interesting closing credit comments about this from both Argento and Nicolodi. Finally there's a hilariously surreal 'Inferno Q&A' with a forever laughing Irene Miracle, a noticeably 'out-of-it at the time' Keith Emerson and a subdued Tim Lucas (author of 'Bava: All the Colours of Dark' and editor of Video Watchdog) , which was filmed at LA's New Beverly Cinema in 2009 and preceded a newly restored screening of Inferno. With four sleeved art options, a double sided poster and an exclusive collector's booklet written by Alan Jones this is a pretty impressive 30th Anniversary Edition to a spooky Argento classic. Inferno is realised on both Blu-ray/DVD combo from today.