ANI-MOVIES, *Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic

Following up their prequal to Dead Space: Downfall, Film Roman was pinned to do an animated version of the Dante's Inferno video game from Electronic Arts. This was a dark fantasy adaptation of the first part of The Divine Comedy poem by Dante Alighieri from the Middle Ages. But unlike some other animated video game tie-ins, An Animated Epic is an abridged playthrough retelling of the game itself. However, it acts similar to anthology films like The Animatrix as different studios were tasked to handle the various levels of Hell. This includes anime productions companies like Manglobe and Production I.G.

During the tale end of the Third Crusade, Dante(named after the poet)is a Templar Knight coming back home to England to find that everyone in his house has been murdered, including his sweetheart Beatrice who begins to pass over into Heaven, but is then dragged down to Hell by Lucifer's shadow-self. Dante follows Beatrice's soul into the underworld while being guided through all 9 Circles by the ghost of the Roman poet Virgil. Along the way, he encounters the various tortured residents, some who offer help and direction, while others are seeking to win favor with Lucifer, including members of Dante's family and fellow Crusaders. Lucifer plans on making Beatrice his wife to rule at his side, so Dante has to make it to the "church" on time to crash the wedding. This all turns out to be a ploy by the fallen angel to make his way back into Heaven.

The movie works well as a single narrative, despite the various chapters its layered out in depicting the various levels of Hell. Each chapter is done by different studios, which makes for some clashing character designs carried over from the following chapters. The plot flows pretty well enough, with some standard level bosses for each chapter, given the fact that there are numerous flashbacks going over the various characters' past sins. Despite the NR rating given to it, this film is a hard R, with blood and gore that make Clive Barker look like Mister Rogers! Even if you're not heavily into video games, Dante's Inferno does make for a literal epic, but for profoundly mature audiences.