continuity is the nod to melodrama, in the blend
Bava) and Il profumo della signora in nero (974,
of music and scenic action. The choice of Keith
Francesco Barilli).
Emerson—writing his first film score—con-
The link with the director’s previous film
firmed the director’s idea of “making a rock
is given precisely by buildings, and not just be-
opera … a film for young people.”27 Argento was
cause both pictures end with one of them on fire.
as much a rock star figure as Emerson was, and
Expanding the barely sketched myth of Suspiria,
both knew and appreciated each other’s work.
Argento (and Nicolodi) imagined the existence
In a way, having him on board was the fulfill-
of three “palaces of evil” designed and built by
ment of an old dream, as the director claimed
an alchemist/architect whose very name recalls
he had been toying with the idea of working
the elusive alchemist Fulcanelli, for three “Moth-
with Emerson, Lake & Palmer since the days of
ers” whose names were again lifted from Thomas
4 mosche di velluto grigio (97).
24 1980: Inferno With its wild reimagining of Giuseppe
The sequence in Central Park, with Kazan-
Verdi’s opera chorus Va, pensiero (from the
ian attacked by rats, goes even further. Argento
third act of the 842 opera Nabucco) as a /4,
builds the suspense with an almost unbearable
keyboard- driven Prog- Rock extravaganza to ac-
sadistic crescendo, with the invalid man falling
company the scene of Sara’s taxi ride, the former
into the pool of water (originally Kazanian was
ELP member gave the movie a soundscape in
to have two wooden legs, which he would lose
tune with the type of music to which Italian
in the muddy lake) and lying there at the mercy
twenty- somethings were listening: in 980,
of the rodents, screaming in pain for help. In the
British progressive rock was still the most pop-
distance, a hot dog vendor29 hears the screams,
ular subgenre among them, as certified by such
notices the elderly man in danger, throws away
music magazines as Ciao 2001, and Punk was
his cap, grabs a hatchet and starts running to-
looked at with diffidence by many. Moreover,
ward him. The build- up, aided by Emerson
the blond keyboardist had become a household
silent movie- like piano score, is irresistible, and
name even among general audiences, after his
the shot- by-shot construction of the scene
appearance in the closing credits of the popular
seems to hint that Kazanian is going to be saved
(and unconventional) TV show Odeon. Tutto
at the last minute. But then, surprise: the appar-
quanto fa spettacolo (broadcast from December
ent savior turns out to be an agent of Hell, and
976 to April 978) as a ragtime- era pianist play-
with a few well- placed strokes in the neck he fin-
ing rearranged versions of Honky Tonk Train
ishes poor Kazanian (the hand was that of as-
Blues and Maple Leaf Rag. Argento was deeply
sistant director Lamberto Bava, who managed
impressed by Emerson’s approach: “He com-
to get a convincing performance out of the im-
posed the music practically on the spot. He sat
bibed Pitoeff). It is a blatant joke which “openly
before the screen, behind a keyboard, and he
ratifies the playful unpredictability of death”30
played while we screened the film back and
at the expense of the audience, who are treated
forth. He had the projection stop, wrote on his
to a macabre gag when they least expected it. It
music paper, and then started again. I have never
is almost the grim reversal of Suspiria’s elaborate
seen anyone do this.”28
symphonies of death, although the scene was
Even though Argento pushed the pedal on
originally even more complex in the script, with
the gore in Inferno, the results are rather different
the agonizing Kazanian glimpsing a Charon- like
figure coming out of the sewer tunnel, on a boat,
waver between outrageousness and black-
amidst the fog. The boat scene was ultimately
humored mockery, even more unabashed than
discarded because, as Albani explained, the
the odd verbal joke (“Have you ever heard of
water in the lake was too shallow. Another
the Three Sisters?” “Do you mean those black
grotesque gory scene, cut from the final edit, was
singers?”), and even more biting in a movie so
the death of John the butler (Mastelloni), who
dark and pessimistic. The murder of Carlo, with
is strangled with a curtain rope, so violently that
its masterful use of diegetic music, sound and
his eyes pop out as if he was a living Tex Avery
words, manages to take the viewers off- guard and
cartoon (always true to himself, Argento
works as the perfect “boo” moment. As he leaves
handled the rope personally, holding it so tight
to check the electricity generator, the lights in
around the actor’s neck that Mastelloni col-
Sara’s apartment come and go, as does Va, pensiero
lapsed).3 In the finished film we only get to see
which was playing in the background. At a certain
the aftermath of the scene, with Carol discover-
point he stops answering to Sara’s questions, and
ing John’s disfigured body, but it’s never clear
the frightened girl follows him to the storage
how that happened.
room. For a few seconds the audience is left with
All these scenes have in common the use
a doubt: is Carlo an agent of evil? Is he going to
of crude, sometimes rudimentary weapons
jump out and kill Sara? Or is he already dead?
(butcher’s knives, hatchets, an ersatz guillotine
Then we hear Carlo’s voice again, calm, reassuring
in Rose’s death scene) which sometimes are re-
and almost joking: nothing bad has happened to
placed by animals acting as agents of evil.
him. And then, in that split- second—an impos-
Felines, in particular, are ubiquitous. A horde of
sibly brief gap for anything to happen—the man
cats assault Elise (Nicolodi) in what remains the
appears again, with a long knife stuck in his neck.
film’s weakest death scene, with Bava Jr. and his
The use of timing here is arbitrary as it is unfair,
assistant Andrea Piazzesi throwing felines at the
but it achieves the desired result.
actress’ stand in—Maurizio Garrone32—just like
1980: Inferno 2
Aristide Massaccesi had done over Luciano
like a modern- day version of De Quincey’s
Rossi’s face on the set of La morte ha sorriso al-
opium eater.
l’assassino (973); and Kazanian
is so obsessed
The script elaborated on the idea of old
by cats that he captures them and takes them
creatures praying on the young: in an unfilmed
to the lake to drown them, with gruesome re-
scene near the beginning, while on her way to
sults. Originally Argento had devised a scene
the mailbox, Rose was to meet a 40-year-old
depicting a rabid cat in a courtyard, with white
woman in a black cloak, who suddenly, and al-
foam dribbling from its open mouth, which
most subliminally, turned into an old hag. The
would serve as a counterpart to the antique
Three Mothers are described by Varelli as
dealer’s death. Thousands of rodents were im-
“wicked stepmothers, incapable of creating life,”
ported from China for the scene, and a lot of
queen bees who bewitch men and deprive them
them escaped, hid in the studios and bred.
of their will, as they did with the architect—who
“They’re still there, after over 30 years! Our
will show up as an impotent figure on a wheel-
rats!” Claudio Argento quipped.33
chair, at the mercy of his nurse/lover/wicked
Animals (a key presence in Argento’s oeu-
stepmother (Lazar). It’s an image which recalls
vre since the very beginning) are everywhere in
the ending of Alberto Lattuada’s black comedy
the film—living or dead, killing or being killed,
Venga a prendere il caffè da noi (970), starring
embalmed or portrayed in objets d’art. They re-
Ugo Tognazzi as a middle- aged man who settles
flect their human counterparts’ actions or status
in the house of three wealthy spinsters (Francesca
(such as the caged bird in Elise’s apartment), but
Romana Coluzzi, Milena Vukotic, Angela Good-
they are also the keys to unveil alchemic mys-
win) and sets out to seduce them, only to end up
teries that are denied to humans. The script’s
in a wheelchair after suffering a stroke, served
opening even included a shot of a row of ants
and revered, but in fact dominated, and sexually
disappearing into a hole in the floor in Rose’s
defused, by the three queen bees. In this sense,
apartment, hinting at the secret passage “under-
Argento’s film can well be considered a horrific
neath the soles of [her] shoes” which is the final
take on this type of grotesque comedy centered
key to solve the mystery in Varelli’s book. By
on vampiric female figures—see also Marco Fer-
following the insects, Mark will reach the archi-
reri’s Una storia moderna—L’ape regina (963)—
tect’s secret apartment: the affinity between the
and not surprisingly it doesn’t feature proper
hero/heroine and the insects will become central
male figures besides the boyish Mark: the other
in Phenomena and will be reprised in the epi-
men in the film are either elderly and/or crippled
logue of Opera.
(Varelli, Kazanian) or sexually ambiguous (John
As with Suspiria, the main characters are
the butler), and the only one portrayed as het-
artists, sensitive souls who can see and feel be-
erosexual and sexually active (Carlo) is dis-
yond the ordinary world. Suzy was a dancer,
patched within a handful of minutes.
Rose is a poetess, and Mark34 is a musicologist.
In the conservatory scene, Mark notices a
Rose has a sense of smell so developed that she
stunning- looking young woman caressing a cat
can feel the sickly sweet smell that is typical of
in her lap, who stares at him intently and makes
the infernal buildings described by Varelli, and
him dizzy. Romano Albani’s lighting singles her
which people mistakenly attribute to a “cookie
out in the room, as if struck by a (not-so) divine
factory” nearby (sweetness as a tempting trap is
light—almost a blasphemous version of a Ren-
again a nod to fairy tales—think of the marzipan
aissance Madonna. Unlike Suspiria, here Argento
house in Hansel and Gretel), and Mark is as weak
depicts a seductive sorceress who captivates the
as any young romantic hero—pale, sickly and
male and puts a spell on him, one of the arche-
subject to fainting: an impulsive, ineffectual
types of Italian Gothic horror. According to
lead. At first, he and his sister even communicate
Daria Nicolodi, the woman is not one of the
by way of letters,3 as if they belonged in another
Three Mothers: “She was a witch. She couldn’t
era. Like Suzy and her unfortunate schoolmates
have been Mater Lachrymarum because the
before them, they, too, are overgrown, asexual
Mater is Death. She was rather an emanation, in
children, bodies in the splendor of youth whose
that moment very visible and seductive, as so
vital forces are absorbed through magic spells
very often Death has been portrayed.”37 This oth-
and potions, and who are preyed upon by elderly
erworldly appearance, however, is not just Ar-
people like Varelli. The same can be said about
gento’s cinephile homage to Bell Book and
Countess Elise,36 diaphanous, feverish and weak
Candle (98, Richard Quine), whose most
26 1980: Inferno iconic image featured Kim Novak holding a
Ultimately, such ambivalence is echoed in the
Siamese cat; it is also an interesting key to pen-
poster, which features a sinister skull with female
etrate the author’s approach to the female uni-
lips emerging from the darkness, and which
verse at a time where Italy was experiencing the
recalls Asa’s face magically rejuvenated in La
rise of the feminist movement, portrayed in con-
maschera del demonio (960). It is an image of sex-
troversial terms on the screen. Fellini, in the
uality and death with few equals in the realm of
contemporaneous La città delle donne (980),
Italian horror, and further underlines the director’s
had his alter ego Marcello Mastroianni tried and
complex look at the eros/thanatos duality.
condemned by a court of liberated feminists.
Inferno marked Argento’s professional en-
In Inferno, the mysterious witch is played
counter with Mario and Lamberto Bava. Mario
by Ania Pieroni, then the lover of politician (and
took care of some special optical effects, painting
future prime minister) Bettino Craxi: a ravishing
maquettes and concocting other trick shots: as
young woman who displays an aggressive,
recounted by Tim Lucas,39 the elderly master cre-
somehow vulgar beauty (pouty lips, heavily
ated some cityscape views by way of milk cartons
made- up eyes, bright red lipstick) and who is
covered with photographs, as well as a sculpture
lighted like a glamorous diva. Argento would
that augmented Rose’s apartment building
,
cast her again in Tenebre as the kleptomaniac
which is set on fire in the climax. Bava also took
who becomes the murderer’s first victim, but
care of the special effects for the final appearance
first we had seen her, defiant and provoking, put
of Death—a scene which incidentally recalls a
a much earthier spell upon another man (Enio
moment in 6 donne per l’assassino (964), in
Girolami), using her sexuality like a credit card.
which Tao- Li (Claude Dantes) advances toward
In these two images of seduction, embodied by
the same woman, one can perhaps see the di-
rector’s problematic vision of womanhood in
the 980s. Argento had already depicted a fem-
inist type, Gianna Brezzi, in ambiguous terms
in Profondo rosso (97), where she proved a
much stronger presence than the ineffectual
hero, but also a sinister, suspicious character
who could as well have been the murderer. In
his following film he would portray liberated
women either as expressions of evil or as the vic-
tims of a mad moralizer. Whereas Tenebre—
populated by Lolita- esque nymphs, buxom les-
bians, real- life transsexuals and femmes fatales
in shades and red shoes—represented an explo-
sion of unbridled and predatory sexuality in Ar-
gento’s cinema, in Inferno sexuality is either de-
nied, repressed or alluded to in a sinister
manner, most notably in the couple portrayed
by Alida Valli and Leopoldo Mastelloni, who
seemingly have an ambiguous relationship—
even more puzzling since Mastelloni is a con-
troversial and openly gay stage actor, notorious
for his provocative behavior, while Valli here
portrays a masculine, stern woman. It was Ni-
colodi who convinced Argento to cast her friend
Mastelloni, with whom she had acted in the TV
movie Tre ore dopo le nozze, directed by Ugo
Gregoretti. “I managed to have Leopoldo in In-
ferno, whereas Dario absolutely didn’t want him,
because he said, ‘No, I don’t want a gay butler!’
But eventually, after many tortures, he succeeded
in making him stop wiggling and walk straight.”38
the stunning Italian locandina for Inferno.
1980: Inferno 27
the camera, before being revealed as a reflection
sound of the voices carried as a flow into the
in a mirror—by way of lights and a semi-
conduits of the building); Earth (the reference