All 3 ‘The Three Mothers’ Movies in Order
‘The Three Mothers’ is a collective name for a trilogy of supernatural horror movies written and directed by the Italian filmmaker Dario Argento. The three movies speak about three all-powerful witches whose profound power and dark magic have an influence on the entire world. Argento was partially inspired by a section of Thomas de Quincey’s essay, Suspiria de Profundis.
Now, the first movie, titled ‘Suspiria’ is by far the most well-known and most critically acclaimed, and it paved the way for Argento to continue the story and create ‘The Three Mothers’ trilogy. If you want to learn more about these movies in their correct order, keep reading this article.
‘The Three Mothers’ movies in order by release date
There are three movies in ‘The Three Mothers’ franchise, all written and directed by Dario Argento. They are as follows:
- ‘Suspiria’ (1977)
- ‘Inferno’ (1980)
- ‘Mother of Tears’ (2007)
Every movie revolves around one of the three ancient witch sisters, known as the Three Mothers: Mater Suspiriorum (Mother of Sighs), Mater Tenebrarum (Mother of Darkness), and Mater Lachrymarum (Mother of Tears).
Despite the movies being thematically related, each can be viewed as a standalone project, as the plots don’t really cross over and happen in different times and places. I’ll explain each film in more detail later, so beware, as there will be spoilers ahead!
Are ‘The Three Mothers’ movies connected? What’s the best order to watch them?
‘The Three Mothers’ movies are connected to each other in the sense that they each talk about one of the Three Mothers – or three evil, powerful ancient witch sisters that got their powers way back in the 11th century. However, each of the sisters lives in a different place in the world, and they each have their own coven of witches.
Mater Suspiriorum is the oldest and wisest of the three witches, while Mater Tenebrarum is the youngest and most violent. The third sister, Mater Lachrymarum, was the most beautiful and the most powerful of the Three Mothers.
Their stories begin at the same moment in history, but as far as the storylines of each movie go, they aren’t envisioned as sequels. They happen in the same universe and deal with one of the witches in each movie, but their plots are unrelated and barely connected through some characters, mild references, etc.
Although you can easily watch every movie in ‘The Three Mothers’ franchise separately, I highly recommend watching them by their release date. Again, the plots aren’t tightly related, but they do happen somewhat chronologically.
‘Suspiria’ takes place in the mid-1970s West Berlin, ‘Inferno’ happens in the 1980s New York City’s Upper West Side, while ‘Mother of Tears’ happens about 30-ish years later in Rome. It is also the order in which the Three Mothers die, so I suggest you watch the film in release order, as it also aligns chronologically.
‘The Three Mothers’ movies in chronological order
We now know that the movies are actually chronologically ordered in terms of their plots if you watch them by release date, although they aren’t technically sequels to one another, as they happen at different times and places in history. Still, there is some chronological significance to the events in each movie, so let’s go through the films in a bit more detail to see why.
1. ‘Suspiria’ (1977)
The first movie of the trilogy, titled ‘Suspiria,’ is by far the most popular and highest-grossing film of ‘The Three Mothers’ franchise. It follows Suzy Bannion, a young ballet dancer who travels from the US to Freiburg, Germany, to attend one of the most prestigious ballet academies in the world.
Little did she know that Helena Markos – the headmistress and founder of the school – is actually Mater Suspiriorum – one of the three most powerful evil witches in the world, and her subordinates are all, in fact, a part of her coven.
In the end, Suzy barely manages to defeat the witch by stabbing her in the neck with a crystal peacock feather, which causes the entire coven and building to collapse, marking the death of the first Mother.
There was a remake of ‘Suspiria’ done in 2018, directed by Luca Guadagnino, with a bit of a twist ending, but it never quite lived up to its 1977 predecessor in terms of box office revenue. In fact, it flopped big time, grossing around $8 million with an estimated $20 million budget.
2. ‘Inferno’ (1980)
After the big success of the first film, Argento came out with ‘Inferno’ three years later. This one focused on Mater Tenebrarum, aka Mother of Darkness. She was the cruelest and youngest of the three witches and lives in New York City.
A poet named Rose Elliot buys a book at an antique store titled The Three Mothers. Elliot starts suspecting that one of the witches – Mater Tenebrarum – lives right in her building. The clues from the book lead Rose down a dark path where she eventually faces the Mother of Darkness.
Mater Tenebrarum manifests herself as Death personified, only to eventually be killed by falling debris from a fire that consumed the whole building.
It was actually a pretty decent movie, but it only received a limited theatrical release and was nowhere near as successful as ‘Suspiria.’ It kind of had bad reviews back when it came out, but it surged in popularity years, even decades later, and is now considered one of the underrated 1980s gems of the horror genre.
3. ‘Mother of Tears’ (2007)
Finally, the third film took a whole 27 years to come out. Mater Lachrymarum, the Mother of Tears, was the three sisters’ most beautiful and most powerful. It was explained that the third sister remained dormant, hiding for all those years after she heard that both of her wicked sisters had been slain.
In the film, we learn a bit more about the events leading up to ‘Suspiria.’ A white witch named Elis Mandy fought Helena Markos, aka Mater Suspiriorum, but lost – so both she and her husband were brutally murdered by the evil witch. They had a daughter, however, named Sarah, who eventually worked at the Museum of Ancient Art in Rome.
They received an artifact in the museum – an urn, supposedly containing the tunic of Mater Lachrymarum. The magical tunic was the witch’s main source of youth and power. When the mighty witch got a hold of her tunic, she grew exponentially more powerful, and witches worldwide started hurdling toward Rome to plead their allegiance.
In the end, Sarah could do what her mother couldn’t in the past – kill one of the Mothers and end the three vile witches once and for all. She pulled off Mater Lachrymarum’s tunic with a spear, instantly weakening the witch. Sarah proceeds to toss the tunic into a fire, which inadvertently kills Mater Lachrymarum and causes her entire lair to crumble.
‘Mother of Tears’ was by far the least-acclaimed film of the trilogy, although it has its fine moments.
Where to watch ‘The Three Mothers’ movies?
The first two movies are nearly five decades old, respectively, and the third was filmed 27 years later, so it’s hard to find all of ‘The Three Mothers’ movies in a single place.
You can stream the 1977 ‘Suspiria’ on FuboTV, Kanopy, or The Criterion Channel. You can also find it on the Paramount+ channels on Apple TV and Prime Video, as well as Showtime on The Roku Channel and Prime Video. If you want to buy/rent it, ‘Suspiria’ can be found on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, and Apple TV.
You can stream the 1980 ‘Inferno’ on Shudder, Starz, or Kanopy, while it’s always available to buy/rent on Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube.
Finally, the 2007 ‘Mother of Tears’ is available for streaming on Tubi and Plex, while you can buy/rent it on the usual platforms – Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Google Play, and Apple TV.
Will there be more ‘The Three Mothers’ movies?
Unfortunately, it seems that we won’t be getting more of ‘The Three Mothers’ movies in the future. Not that it’s bad; the original trilogy is over and should be respected as such.
However, there was a 2018 ‘Suspiria’ remake that had the potential to produce another trilogy. The director, Luca Guadagnino, even had an idea for a direct sequel to ‘Suspiria’ – but unfortunately, the film didn’t garner the necessary critical acclaim, not just to live up to its 1977 predecessor, but to be profitable.
That’s why I highly doubt anyone will go on to produce more movies revolving around ‘The Three Mothers’ – let alone launch a trilogy reboot. The only thing I can see happening is someone – like Luca Guadagnino wanted but didn’t – making a sequel or a prequel to the original trilogy that pays homage to Dario Argento’s ‘The Three Mothers’ trilogy without having to live up to its expectations.
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