Inferno - The Second Mother
(1980)
Produzioni Intersound : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation / Anchor Bay Entertainment / Arrow Film Distributors
8.25 / 10
In my opinion, this was wrongly given a video nasty label as it towers above the rest in that dubious genre. Once again Argento gives the audience a beautifully shot horror movie, filled with elegant locations, bewitching choreographed death scenes, and mood lighting to chill the bones.
This time the story is larger than the first chapter as it encompasses both Rome and New York. We are no longer confined to just one building with its tenants and this gives Argento more scope to show how widespread the occult has become and to strengthen the story. We are shown a hidden room in a cellar. This is an ingenious set in the movie as the room is flooded, so our heroine has to dive in when she loses a bracelet through a whole in the floor. With the use of music, camera angles, and shots through the murky water he creates a nice uneasiness.
This is one of many excellent scenes that give the movie its strength. The mysterious Alchemist in the labyrinths of a library. The inexplicable beautiful woman, in a Rome lecture class, with her cat. Kazanian, the bookstore owner, in Central Park.
It's also great to hear Keith Emerson, of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, again as he composed some of the music for the soundtrack.
As with Suspiria, it's the story that is the comedown of the movie. For it too, suffers from being muddled and confusing, though not to the extent of Suspiria. But it's not enough to distract from the story and not reason enough to not watch the film.
This is better than Suspiria and builds on the mythos of the witches, their powers, and their histories. Argento has shaped the movie to be a "stand alone", so it doesn't matter if you've watched the first movie or not.
I would recommend this film, not just to horror fans, but to film buffs in general, as Dario Argento, in this period was trying something new in the genre, which hasn't really been seen since. This is a movie to enjoy.
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