Swimming under the surface, she sees a portrait bearing the words 'Mater Tenebrarum' and is able to reclaim the keys. After accidentally dropping her keys into the water, she enters the flooded room. Using clues provided in Varelli's book as a guide, Rose searches the cellar of her building and discovers a hole in the floor which leads to a water-filled ballroom. Rose suspects that she is living in one of the buildings and writes to her brother Mark (McCloskey), a music student in Rome, urging him to visit her. The book, written by an architect named Varelli, reveals that the three dwell inside separate homes that had been specially designed and built for them by the architect in Rome, Freiburg, and New York. It tells of the existence of three evil sisters who rule the world with sorrow, tears, and darkness. Rose Elliot (Miracle), a poet living alone in New York City, discovers an ancient book called The Three Mothers. Kim Newman has called it '.perhaps the most underrated horror movie of the 1980’s.” In 2005, the magazine Total Film named Inferno one of the 50 greatest horror films of all time. While the initial critical response to the film was mostly negative, its reputation has improved considerably over the years. Unlike Suspiria, Inferno received a very limited theatrical release and the film was unable to match the box-office success of its predecessor. All three films are partially derived from the concept of 'Our Ladies of Sorrow' ( Mater Lachrymarum, Mater Suspiriorum, and Mater Tenebrarum) originally devised by Thomas de Quincey in his book Suspiria de Profundis (1845). The long-delayed concluding entry, The Mother of Tears, was released in 2007. The story concerns a young man's investigation into the disappearance of his sister, who had been living in a New York City apartment building that also served as a home for a powerful, centuries-old witch.Ī thematic sequel to Suspiria (1977), the film is the second part of Argento's ' The Three Mothers Trilogy'.

The cinematography was by Romano Albani, and Keith Emerson composed the film's thunderous musical score.

The film stars Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, and Alida Valli. Inferno is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento.

The infernal parade