Dante's Inferno (1911)

Horror Through the Ages

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Let's start this off with some brutal honesty from me, stating that the Silent Era is something that can be generally difficult for me to explore, although I understand its charm. When it comes down to it, I have a stubbornness for not giving some of the genuine classics the proper time of day. But as a reviewer, what kind of ass would that make me if I didn't at least dabble a little here and there? And why not hop in the time machine and travel back to a time in film from before the Titanic disaster happened?

'Dante's Inferno' is an Italian film, better known as 'L'Inferno,' and marks the very first full-length feature film Italy had to offer. The beauty of it being an old silent film from well over a century ago, however, is that it's relatively easy to find not only renditions of the film readily available but also versions with English-translated subtitles. Now, some of these subtitles end up getting translated quite differently, but the essence of the story remains intact. And speaking for myself, I find something amazing about this film.

The film opens with Dante Alighieri (Salvatore Papa) navigating a dark wooded area, seeking the hill of salvation, which is barred by three beasts. This prompts the angel Beatrice (Emilise Beretta) to request the poet Virgil (Arturo Pirovano) to guide Dante through the Nine Circles of Hell towards salvation. The film appropriately sets the mood as Dante and Virgil begin their journey by entering a deep, dark cave, leading to the Acheron river, where Charon (Actor Unknown), the ferryman brings the souls of his passengers into Hell.

As Virgil guides Dante through the layers of hell, he points out all of the different ways souls get tortured for their wrongdoings in life. Remembering that this was 1911, and special effects were far from advanced, the film carries a great deal of disturbing imagery. While it may look cheap and corny by today's standards, there's still something haunting about that old style when film, as a medium, was still relatively new as a whole. As far as surviving films go, people seem hard-pressed to find anything that predates this.

This film features a lengthy list of nightmare fuel for those who watched it back then. The souls in each area do a good job of looking tortured, as they're all basically naked and seemingly struggling with something, from the greedy misers rolling gold sacs around for eternity to suicides transformed into trees that will squirt blood if you lob off one of their limbs. There's even one soul we see, which has since seemingly become a famous shot from the film, carrying his head around. They also encounter several well-known historical figures who are there due to their acts in life.

The film's look is altogether surreal and feels like a weird fever dream. As if the look of the lost souls in Hell isn't enough, the film's massive set pieces, costumes, and representation of demonic entities, including Lucifer himself, just casually gnawing on some guy. Yes, this was 1911 and is now dated. However, considering that film technology was at its height back then, it's easy to see why people regard this as a classic horror film, made to inspire audiences to become God-fearing individuals and reflect on their life choices so that they do not end up in one of the Nine Circles of Hell.

I understand that this is an old film, and title cards are meant to linger long enough to read, but there is a lot of this that takes some patience to get through in this day and age. By no means do I mean to criticize the film for being "boring" or something, but I will say it takes a certain amount of patience for someone like me to get through something like this. However, to the film's credit, many of the impressive images throughout stand out, especially for its time, and that's what makes something like this a real draw now. It's a ride today. But again, in 1911, I saw this causing a lot of sleepless nights for its audiences.

4/5

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