History Film / Inferno1980

** Another point that needs addressing is [[spoiler: what exactly did Tenebrarum mean when she was muttering "It's all going to burn down, just like before"? It's easy to assume that she's mentioning the destruction of the Tanz Akademie in the finale of ''Suspiria'', but as shown multiple times throughout the film is that much of her house is in disrepair; it's only the foyer, some hallways, and what can be assumed to be most of the residential apartments to be in good habitable condition. Just why exactly was the ballroom below the basement flooded? And the corpses that Rose encounters; how did they die? They look like they could have been burn victims. The monstrous clawed hands that killed off Rose and the butler are the same ones Tenebrarum has in her skeletal form, it could be theorized that her human self is merely a disguise, and she really did reveal her true self to Mark when she bursts out of the mirror as "Death". It's possible that like her older sister, her house also came under fire, and she too became devastatingly disfigured.]]

** Another point that needs addressing is [[spoiler: what exactly did Tenebrarum mean when she was muttering "It's all going to burn down, just like before"? It's easy to assume that she's mentioning the destruction of the Tanz Akademie in the finale of ''Suspiria'', but as shown multiple times throughout the film that much of her house is in disrepair; it's only the foyer, some hallways, and what can be assumed to be most of the resident apartments to be in good habitable condition. Just why exactly was the ballroom below the basement flooded? And the corpses that Rose encounters; how did they die? They look like they could have been burn victims. The monstrous clawed hands that killed off Rose and the butler are the same ones Tenebrarum has in her skeletal form, it could be theorized that her human self is merely a disguise, and she really did reveal her true self to Mark when she bursts out of the mirror as "Death". It could be that like her older sister, her house also came under fire, and she too became devastatingly disfigured.]]

** Another point that needs addressing is [[spoiler: what exactly did Tenebrarum mean when she was muttering "It's all going to burn down, just like before"? It's easy to assume that she's mentioning the destruction of the Tanz Akademie in the finale of ''Suspiria'', but as shown multiple times throughout the film that much of her house is in disrepair; it's only the foyer, some hallways, and what can be assumed to be most of the resident apartments to be in good habitable condition. Just why exactly was the ballroom below the basement flooded? And the corpses that Rose encounters; how did they die? They look like they could have been burn victims. The monstrous clawed hands that killed off Rose, and the butler are the same ones Tenebrarum has in her skeletal form, it could be theorized that her human self is merely a disguise, and she really did reveal her true self to Mark when she bursts out of the mirror as "Death". It could be that like her older sister, her house also came under fire, and she too became devastatingly disfigured.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:Just what was Mater Tenebrarum planning on doing to Mark? She (and her coven) had plenty of opportunities to kill him off swiftly, but they let him get away from their grasp constantly. That is if you consider that Tenebrarum was *actually* trying to kill him in the first place. Her ambigious speech in the film's climax of him "going through a number of strange phases", and will "change" suggests that the witch might have wanted to turn Mark into a minion or slave.]]

* Too Dumb to Live: Probably the biggest flaw of the film is that a majority of the main cast suffer from this.

* Card-Carrying Villain: Lachrymarum has one in relation to her title "The Mother of Tears"; set up as a visual pun. After killing Carlo and seriously injuring Sara to the brink of death, there's a sheet of silk fabric covering the entrance of the hallway in Sara's apartment that wasn't there before the witch's assault. Sara begins to "tear" out of the fabric when she tries to get help from Mark, who had just arrived at the scene.

* Ambiguous Situation: [[spoiler:Just what was Mater Tenebrarum planning on doing to Mark? She (and her coven) had plenty of opportunities to kill him off swiftly, but they let him get away from their grasp constantly. That is if you consider that Tenebrarum was *actually* trying to kill him in the first place. Her ambigious speech in the film's climax of him "going through a number of strange phases", and will "change" suggests that the witch might have wanted to turn Mark into a minion or slave.]]
* Animorphism: It's heavily suggested that Tenebrarum's coven is capable of transforming into cats throughout the film. The most notable is when Rose is being chased by the main antagonist's minions; one of the mysterious figures peeps in on her through the gap of a door, Rose and the audience get a glimpse of creepy yellow colored cat eyes staring back at them rather than human ones...

* CatsAreMean: Inferno has one of the most prominent examples of cats being threats to men in film. It starts with them intruding into Kazanian's property and pestering the elderly antique shop owner but it gets much worse when [[spoiler:a clowder of them attacks Countess Elise when she ventures into a secret corridor of the building and keep her trapped there until the masked assailant catches up with her. Subverted however once the viewers put the pieces of the puzzle together and it becomes clear that the cats don't act on their own agency but have their simple minds clouded by the darkness of Mater Tenebrarum. As all animals can, which is confirmed by the rat attack on Kazanian.]]

* FailureHero: Unlike Suzy in ''Suspiria'', Mark had done nothing to contribute to the villains's defeat. Tenebrarum died in the fire that she had unintentionally caused on her own through one of her murders.]]

* FairyTaleMotifs: Much like it's predecessor ''Film/Suspiria (1977)'' that took inspiration from ''Snow White'', Inferno takes inspiration from ''Hansel & Gretel''. [[spoiler:Unfortunately unlike the fairytale, only one sibling survives the outcome.

* FailureHero: Unlike Suzy in ''Suspiria'', Mark had done nothing to contribute to the villains's defeat. Tenebrarum died in the fire that she had unintentionally caused on her own through one of her murders.

* Animorphism: It's heavily suggested that Tenebrarum's covern is capable of transforming into cats throughout the film. The most notable is when Rose is being chased by the main antagonist's minions; one of the mysterious figures peeps in on her through the gap of a door, Rose and the audience get a glimpse of creepy yellow colored cat eyes staring back at them rather than human ones...

[[caption-width-right:300:''"Very soon now, everything around you will become dark, and someone will take your hand."'']]

* Card-Carrying Villain: Lachrymarum has one in relation to her title "The Mother of Tears", set up as a visual pun. After killing Carlo and seriously injuring Sara to the brink of death, there's a sheet of silk fabric covering the entrance of the hallway in Sara's apartment that wasn't there before the witch's assault. Sara begins to "tear" out of the fabric when she tries to get help from Mark.

* Card-Carrying Villain: Lachrymarum has one in relation to her title "The Mother of Tears", set up as a visual pun. After killing Carlo and seriously injuring Sara to the brink of death, there's a sheet of silk fabric covering the entrance of the hallway in Sara's apartment. Sara begins to "tear" out of the fabric when she tries to get help from Mark.

* ThematicSeries: The second part of the Three Mothers Trilogy with ''Susperia'' and ''Mother of Tears''.

** [[spoiler: Even Tenebrarum, the film's main antagonist has shades of this; rather than fleeing her lair which is burning down all around her, she instead chooses to intimidate and frighten the protagonist Mark one last time which causes her demise.]]

** After finding out that her apartment building is owned by a powerful and murderous witch and her coven, and even witnessing decaying corpses in the underwater sub-basement, Rose simply stays put to await her brother's arrival rather than getting out of dodge or even calling the authorities.
** Sara succumbs to this when in the library; rather than exiting the building through the entrance, that is shown to be completely safe and even has a helpful and friendly footman waiting outside. She naïvely trusts a sign that shows her the "Exit"; said exit lures her deep within the basement where she is surrounded by cauldrons and other witchy artifacts that would set off anybody's alarm bells and have them running as fast as possible, instead Sara asks for help from a huge, monstrously clawed, humanoid with an unsettling voice. She is almost murdered and put on Lachrymarum's hitlist for her troubles.

* AlienGeometries: The far out architecture of Rose's apartment (to say nothing of the [[Film/Suspiria1977 Tanz Akademie]] or the [[Film/MotherOfTears Palazzo Varelli]]) makes more sense when you realize it was designed by a medieval alchemist. Even more bizarre is the view of some buildings outside Elise's apartment; suggesting that Tenebrarum's house is 20-30 stories high. Despite the fact that it only has only 5 floors. However this could be a production goof rather than a stylistic choice.

* Too Dumb to Live: Probably the biggest flaw of the film is that a majority of the main cast suffer from this. After finding out that her apartment building is owned by a powerful and murderous witch and her coven, and even witnessing decaying corpses in the underwater sub-basement, Rose simply stays put to await her brother's arrival rather than getting out of dodge or even calling the authorities. Sara succumbs to this when in the library; rather than exiting the building through the entrance, that is shown to be completely safe and even has a helpful and friendly footman waiting outside. She naïvely trusts a sign that shows her the "Exit"; said exit lures her deep within the basement where she is surrounded by cauldrons and other witchy artifacts that would set off anybody's alarm bells and have them running as fast as possible, instead Sara asks for help from a huge, monstrously clawed, humanoid with an unsettling voice. She is almost murdered and put on Lachrymarum's hitlist for her troubles. [[spoiler: Even Tenebrarum, the film's main antagonist has shades of this; rather than fleeing her lair which is burning down all around her, she instead chooses to intimidate and frighten the protagonist Mark one last time which causes her demise.]]

* Animorphism: It's heavily suggested that Tenebrarum's covern is capable of transforming into cats throughout the film. The most notable is when Rose is being chased by the main antagonist's minions; one of the mysterious figures peeps in on her through the gap of a door, Rose and the audience get a glimpse of creepy yellow colored cat eyes staring back them rather than human ones...

* Animorphism: It's heavy suggested that Tenebrarum's covern is capable of transforming into cats throughout the film. The most notable is when Rose is being chased by the main antagonist's minions; one of the mysterious figures peeps in on her through the gap of a door, Rose and the audience get a glimpse of creepy yellow colored cat eyes staring back them rather than human ones...

* AlienGeometries: The far out architecture of Rose's apartment (to say nothing of the [[Film/Suspiria1977 Tanz Akademie]] or the [[Film/MotherOfTears Palazzo Varelli]]) makes more sense when you realize it was designed by a medieval alchemist.