Inferno

One of the most underrated horror films of the 1980s, giallo genius Dario Argento’s thematic sequel to Suspiria is a masterwork of malevolence and unease.

Mark arrives in New York City from Rome, where he’s a student, in search of his sister Rose, who has seemingly vanished. Not long before her disappearance, Rose had purchased a mysterious antique book, The Three Mothers. Having learnt about Mater Suspiriorum (Mother of Sighs), Mater Lachrymarum (Mother of Tears) and Mater Tenebrarum (Mother of Darkness), she was convinced that her apartment building is actually a coven housing the Mother of Darkness and started to investigate.

Following the success of Suspiria in 1977, Argento made Inferno, the second in his thematic ‘Three Mothers’ trilogy (completed with 2007’s Mother of Tears) inspired by Thomas de Quincey’s essay collection Suspiria de Profundis. Argento famously fell ill with hepatitis during production and had to direct some sequences while lying down, employing his cinematic guide, Mario Bava, to create the film’s surreal special effects. Featuring intensely haunting images, memorable set pieces and a bloody, boiling use of colour, their combined work culminates in a fiery horror triumph of uncanny and dreamlike potency.