Deep Red (1976)

Stunning, dark & fantastic

This is a masterpiece. The suspense and the crimes are incredible, the techniques used to quicken the pulse are amazing and each scene of violence is shocking in a different way. A superb piece of horror. August 24, 2008

Profoundly good

This is a minor classic from director Dario Argento. An excellent thriller with horror elements thrown in that make the current wave of 'torture porn' movies look decidely second rate (which most of them are).

In the leading role David Hemmings plays a pianist who witnesses a murder and starts investigating them himself. Now why he would do this I don't know, but once you allow for this artistic licence, the film moves by with great pace. Full of atmosphere, tension, odd camera angles as well as the trademark roving camera for which Argento is well know. You can still also detect the influence of Hitchcock in this film. But Argento has moved things on to a different level.

Listen out for the music score by the Italian prog rock group Goblin. They worked with Argento on a regular basis and their pounding music scores added a little extra to Argento's films.

This is the full length widescreen version. There is a shorter English version available in some countries, which is panned and scanned - do not buy this!

Argento is most famous for Suspira, which I was never a huge fan of. Buy this and 'The Bird with the crystal plumage' and in my view you'll own his two best films. June 1, 2008

Deep Disturbing - Terror Classic

If you are a fan of murder mystery and scary movies,
then you must add Dario Argento's films
"Deep Red" and "Suspiria", to your collection
or risk losing your credibility.

If you do not know the work of the master Italian film director,
imagine Alfred Hitchcock on steroids. Enough said.

There is no point writing about this film because
you will get it, you will watch it (many times)
and you will like it.

note bene: the movie is dubbed in English, but occasionaly
is in Italian with English subtitles; very strange, but not
as bad as it may sound; apparently the Italian language parts
were cut from the film and then reinserted for the uncut
version, but not dubbed in English. March 7, 2008

The Perfect Giallo

I have watched "Deep Red" more times than any other Italian Giallo. It is the perfect giallo and Dario Argento`s crowning masterpiece. (I enjoyed it more than his supernatural hit, "Suspiria.") The action is nicely paced with imaginative death sequences performed with a great rock-n-roll score by Goblin. The characters are sympathetic and believable. The acting is good and the settings are elaborate and gorgeous. The ending is shocking. David Hemmings stars as the American pianist who witnesses the brutal hatchet murder of a psychic; Daria Nicolodi (girlfriend of Argento) stars as a reporter. The two have great chemistry as they investigate the murder.

"Deep Red" has a scene where a victim is scalded to death by hot bathtub water; it was imitated in John Carpenter`s "Halloween II." The scene where a victim is drug down the street by a truck may have been borrowed from Emilio P. Miraglia`s "The Red Queen Kills Seven Times."

"Deep Red" is the movie responsible for me getting hooked on watching Dario Argento's movies and Italian gialli in general. I have always loved mystery and suspense. If you`ve never seen one of Argento`s movies or an Italian giallo, this is a great movie with which to begin.


February 23, 2008

Nobel Prize worthy Gore.

Italian film director, producer and screenwriter Dario Argento is best known for his work in the "giallo" horror film genre, which is a assimilation of the horror, fantastique, and erotic film genres first created by director Mario Bava. Argento not only acknowledges Bava as an influence, but also recognizes Riccardo Freda, Sergio Leone, Alfred Hitchcock, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini as influences for his films. Argento collaborated with George Romero on the 1978 zombie cult classic, Dawn of the Dead.

Argento's violent thriller, Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) (1975), has been called the best giallo ever made, and is considered by many to be Argento's best work, alongside Suspiria (1977). Deep Red tells the story of a music teacher, Marcus Daly (David Hemmings), investigating the violent murder of psychic Helga Ulmann (Macha Meril), which he witnesses. In typical Argento style, one violent murder leads to another as Daly's investigation not only puts his own life in danger, but everyone else's he comes into contact with as well. Argento uses this plot device often in his work, and it is evident in his 1982 film Tenebre, which is frequently packaged in a dual-disc set with Deep Red. The murder scenes are especially gory in Deep Red, and they are always accompanied by a jarring musical score. For instance, in one scene a female author is first stabbed in the spine, then dragged into a bathroom and drowned in a bath of scalding hot water. In another, a psychiatrist first has his face smashed against a wall, then a mantelpiece, and then a desk before he is finally killed with a knife. Some characters are chased with butcher knives, others are decapitated. Argento's Deep Red is benchmark horror, setting the standard for all other films in this genre. Truly, Deep Red is an unforgettable film.

G. Merritt February 17, 2008

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