View source for Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic


{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox film
| image          = Dante's Inferno AAE.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = 
| director       = {{unbulleted list|[[Mike Disa]]|[[Shūkō Murase]]|[[Yasuomi Umetsu]]|[[Victor Cook]]|Jong-Sik Nam|Kim Sang-jin|Lee Seung-Gyu}}
| producer       = {{unbulleted list|Cho Yongjoo|Joe Goyette|Chung Hyun|[[Mitsuhisa Ishikawa]]}}
| writer         = Brandon Auman
| based_on       = {{ubl|''[[Divine Comedy]]''|by [[Dante Alighieri]] and|''[[Dante's Inferno (video game)|Dante's Inferno]]''|by [[Visceral Games]]}}
| narrator       = 
| starring       = {{unbulleted list|[[Graham McTavish]]|[[Vanessa Branch]]|[[Peter Jessop]]|[[Steve Blum]]}}
| music          = [[Christopher Tin]]
| cinematography = 
| editing        = 
| studio         = {{ubl|[[Starz Distribution|Starz Media]]|[[Film Roman]]|[[Electronic Arts]]|[[Visceral Games]]|[[Production I.G]]|[[Dong Woo Animation]]|[[Manglobe]]|[[JM Animation]]|[[MOI Animation]]|[[Digital eMation]]|[[BigStar]]}}
| distributor    = {{ubl|[[Anchor Bay Entertainment]]|[[Manga Entertainment]]}}
| released       = {{Film date|2010|02|09}}
| runtime        = 88 minutes
| country        = {{ubl|United States|Japan|South Korea|Singapore}}
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}

'''''Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic''''' is a 2010 American [[Adult animation|adult animated]] [[dark fantasy|dark fantasy film]]. Based on the [[Dante's Inferno (video game)|''Dante's Inferno'' video game]] that was itself loosely based on [[Dante Alighieri|Dante's]] [[Inferno (Dante)|poem of the same name]], the film is an [[anthology film]] that depicts the titular character traveling through Hell.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/dantesinfernobd.php|website=DVD Verdict|first=Steve|last=Power|title=Review – Dante's Inferno (2010) (Blu-ray)|date=February 19, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221191034/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/dantesinfernobd.php|archive-date=February 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/15429/dante-s-inferno-an-animated-epic-blu-ray-dvd/|website=Dread Central|title=Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (Blu-ray / DVD)|date=January 28, 2010|access-date=January 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220004336/http://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/15429/dante-s-inferno-an-animated-epic-blu-ray-dvd/|archive-date=February 20, 2019}}</ref> It was released on February 9, 2010.

== Plot ==
Returning from the [[Third Crusade]], Dante arrives home to find his servants slain, his father dead and his beloved fiancée [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]] dying of a stab wound to the stomach. As she dies, [[Satan|Lucifer]] plucks Beatrice into the gates of [[Hell]] and Dante gives chase. [[Virgil]] appears and offers to guide him through Hell. They board [[Charon]], a demonic, living ferry that takes souls to the First Circle of Hell. Charon commands demons to attack Dante, as no living being is allowed to enter. Dante fights them off, kills Charon, and steers him into the first circle, [[Limbo]].

In Limbo, Dante learns Beatrice was pregnant with his child while he was away, but miscarried. Attacked by demonic children, he and Virgil escape into a large building; they enter a hall of great rulers, philosophers, and thinkers. Moving on, they battle King [[Minos]], whose task is to send condemned souls to their sin's corresponding circle of Hell.

In the second circle, Lust, Dante is reminded that he was once unfaithful to Beatrice. Upon hearing this, Beatrice begins to lose faith.

The pair come to a [[grotto]] where men and women who had lived their lives in [[gluttony]] are devoured by [[Cerberus]], the great hound of Hell. Virgil tells Dante that the only way to the next circle is from within the beast, so Dante allows himself to be eaten. He encounters Ciacco, a man from his village, who confesses to gluttony; Dante tells him to be free and blesses him with his cross. Dante attacks and destroys the hound's heart to escape.

In the fourth circle, Greed, Dante confronts his father [[Alighiero di Bellincione]]. The pair trade barbs with each other and Dante kicks his father into a vat of boiling gold.

In the fifth circle, Wrath (shown as Anger in the movie in a subtitle and spoken by Virgil), Dante recognizes [[Filippo Argenti]] who taunts him, only to be brought down by other wrathful spirits. Dante sees Lucifer in the city of Dis; he announces to the city's damned souls his intent to marry Beatrice.

In the sixth circle, heretics do [[Hell in Christianity#Eternal torment view|forever burn in fire]] and are tortured. Dante meets and kills his rival [[Farinata degli Uberti|Farinata]] and overcomes the [[Minotaur]].

Upon entering Violence and given passage through the [[Phlegethon]] by [[Nessus (centaur)|Nessus]], Dante descends into the Forest of Suicides upon hearing a familiar cry, soon finding his mother growing from the sapling of a tree. Believing that she had died of a fever, Dante is overwhelmed with sorrow; he uses his cross to [[Redemption (theology)|free her soul]]. Afterwards, he has to fight his brother-in-law, Francesco, who has been sent to hell for his participation in the Crusades.

In the realm of Fraud, Dante begins to reflect upon his own sins and realizes that he inadvertently caused the death of all his loved ones by angering the husband of the women he slept with during the Crusades. Beatrice weds Lucifer and becomes a demon. She attacks Dante, forcing him to look into the ninth circle of Treachery, where he sees his greatest sin: allowing her brother to take the blame for his slaughter of the heretic prisoners. Overwhelmed with grief, he gives Beatrice her cross and pleads with her to accept the [[love of God]]. She forgives him and promises that they will be together soon, but in order to escape Hell, he will need to face Lucifer alone. Before doing so, he parts ways with Virgil.

Dante realizes that he cannot stop Lucifer on his own; he begs for divine forgiveness. An explosive beam of light emanates from Dante, and Lucifer is frozen solid.

In the final scene, Dante dives into the chasm that leads through the earth to [[Purgatory]] to be with Beatrice, now "neither completely living, nor completely dead". He rips off his tapestry, which then disintegrates and transforms into the [[Serpents in the Bible|Hebrew serpent]], slithering away, as Lucifer laughs, implying that he is biding his time for revenge.

==Cast==
{{Multiple image |total_width=265
| image1   = Graham McTavish by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
| width1   = 100px
| image2 = Vanessa Branch 2009.jpg
| width2   = 100px
| footer = [[Graham McTavish]] and [[Vanessa Branch]] voiced [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] and [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]] respectively both in the [[Dante's Inferno (video game)|video game]] and in the animation.
}}
{{Cast listing|
* [[Graham McTavish]] – [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]
* [[Vanessa Branch]] – [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]]
* [[Steve Blum]] – [[Lucifer]]
* [[Peter Jessop]] – [[Virgil]]
* [[Mark Hamill]] – [[Alighiero di Bellincione|Alighiero]], Dante's father
* [[Victoria Tennant]] – Bella
* Bart McCarthy – [[Filippo Argenti]]
* [[Kevin Michael Richardson]] – King [[Minos]], [[Phlegyas]]
* [[J. P. Karliak|John Paul Karliak]] – Avenger
* Tom Tate – Francesco
* [[J. Grant Albrecht]] – [[Ciacco]], Farinata Uberti
* Stephen Apostolina – Walla 
* [[Nika Futterman]] – Female Prisoner, Lust Minion #4
* [[Charlotte Cornwell]] – [[Nessus (centaur)|Nessus]], Lust Minion #3
* [[Vanessa Marshall]] – Lust Minion #2, Frozen Prisoner
* [[Grey DeLisle]] – Lust Minion #1, Dante (as 10 years old)
* [[H. Richard Greene]] – [[Socrates]], [[Richard I of England|King Richard I]]
* [[Greg Ellis (actor)|John Rees]] (as Greg Ellis) – [[Plato]]
* Shelley O'Neil – Child
* [[Nicholas Guest]] – Demon Priest
* Wendy Cutler – unspecified voice
* [[Lia Sargent]] –  unspecified voice
* Mark Sussman –  unspecified voice
* David Zyler (as Dave Zyler)  –  unspecified voice
}}

==Crew==
Co-directors (1 each from the various studios)
* Victor Cook 
* Mike Disa 
* Sang-Jin Kim 
* Shûkô Murase 
* Jong-Sik Nam 
* Lee Seung-Gyu
* Yasuomi Umetsu
* [[Charlie Adler]] – Voice Director

== Reception ==
In July 2021, the [[Oktyabrsky District, Russia|Oktyabrsky District]] Court in [[Saint Petersburg]] banned the film along with ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' and some films based on [[anime]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-07-08 |title=Russian Court Bans 'Happy Tree Friends,' Anime Films |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/07/08/russian-court-bans-happy-tree-friends-anime-films-a74457 |access-date=2023-11-17 |work=[[The Moscow Times]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|1401113}}
* {{anime News Network|anime|11635}}

{{Production I.G OVAs}}
{{Manglobe}}
{{Film Roman}}
{{Divine Comedy navbox}}
{{Dante}}

[[Category:2010 American animated direct-to-video films]]
[[Category:2010 anime films]]
[[Category:2010 films]]
[[Category:2010 horror films]]
[[Category:2010s action horror films]]
[[Category:2010 English-language films]]
[[Category:2010s fantasy action films]]
[[Category:2010 South Korean films]]
[[Category:American action horror films]]
[[Category:American adult animated films]]
[[Category:American animated horror films]]
[[Category:American dark fantasy films]]
[[Category:American horror anthology films]]
[[Category:American splatter films]]
[[Category:Animated films about demons]]
[[Category:Animated films based on video games]]
[[Category:Animated films set in hell]]
[[Category:Anime films based on video games]]
[[Category:Classical mythology in popular culture]]
[[Category:Fantasy anthology films]]
[[Category:Fiction about purgatory]]
[[Category:Film Roman films]]
[[Category:Films based on Inferno (Dante)]]
[[Category:Films set in the 12th century]]
[[Category:Horror anime and manga]]
[[Category:Japanese action horror films]]
[[Category:Japanese animated fantasy films]]
[[Category:Japanese animated horror films]]
[[Category:Japanese anthology films]]
[[Category:Japanese dark fantasy films]]
[[Category:Japanese splatter films]]
[[Category:Limbo]]
[[Category:Manglobe]]
[[Category:Production I.G]]
[[Category:Singaporean action films]]
[[Category:Singaporean animated films]]
[[Category:Singaporean anthology films]]
[[Category:Singaporean fantasy films]]
[[Category:Singaporean horror films]]
[[Category:South Korean action horror films]]
[[Category:South Korean animated fantasy films]]
[[Category:South Korean animated horror films]]
[[Category:South Korean anthology films]]
[[Category:South Korean splatter films]]
[[Category:The Devil in film]]
[[Category:Works based on Electronic Arts video games]]
[[Category:English-language action horror films]]
[[Category:Works banned in Russia]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy action films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic|access_date=2026-03-02}}