Movie review of Deep Red

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Horrorphile - February 2007

Deep Red (Profondo Rosso)

February 5th 2007 03:16

Dario Argento’s Profondo Rosso (Deep Red, 1975) is a brilliantly executed murder mystery. It uses the Italian giallo genre as it’s template, and from there Argento plays with his own stylistic invention and comes up trumps with a twisted and disturbed attack on your cinematic sensibilities.

It begins with a lurid, expertly composed domestic murder. If Hitchcock hadn’t been so “safe” he’d have made films like Argento, instead we have Argento using the sound and vision elements of Hitchcock but with a much darker, nightmarish intent. Argento also pays homage to Italian maestro of darkness Mario Bava.

David Hemmings, in arguably his best performance (he’s too much of a prick in Blow-Up, a film whose narrative undeniably influenced Argento), plays Marcus Daly, a jazz pianist living in Rome. He inadvertently witnesses the brutal murder of a psychic, and finds himself embroiled in his own detective work, trying to expose the psychopathic killer.

There are a few red herrings in the stew, but the way Deep Red finally does reveal the killer is a superb piece of cinematic subterfuge. This is probably the best murder mystery you’ll ever see, as well as being one of finest in Argento’s oeuvre.

Daly, teams up, rather reluctantly, with a feisty reporter Gianna (Daria Nicolodi, Argento’s wife) to solve the murder. It makes for some great dialogue between the two as both Gianna and Daly play off of each other (hilarious 70s battle of the sexes see-sawing). Meanwhile it seems Carlo (Gabriele Lavia), Daly’s alcoholic and troubled friend, might hold a vital clue.

After the giallo thrillers The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) Argento honed his visual grammar skills down to a fine art. Deep Red is masterful in the way the narrative slowly and inexorably leads you down the garden path, then viciously snaps at you with the shears.

The use of violence is sensational to say the least. Argento stages his murders like an art installation. No other director pays such attention so painstakingly. The use of extreme close-up, the music, the editing is all executed like a dark magic trick. An evil conjuror’s dream.

When it was released in the States (and other countries) it was shorn of nearly twenty minutes and renamed The Hatchet Murders (a truly lame title if ever there was one). It was this edited version I first saw on VHS which wasn’t letterboxed either (Argento maximizes the 2.35:1 Technicsope ratio for his compositions). It wasn’t until the Anchor Bay DVD release that many people were finally able to see Argento’s complete 126 minute cut and appreciate the full girth of the film.

There are numerous set-pieces in Deep Red worthy of essays in their own right. These set-pieces are almost theatrical in the way they are staged, pushing the viewer into a trance-like state of sanity unhinged. Because the narrative mostly follows Daly’s own observations, the audience’s own calculations rest on his interpretations. And these are tenuous at best.

This adds to the film’s bizarre sense of logic which unravels at movie’s end into a ludicrously satisfying denouement. The plot is a succession of provocative thought-process associations, very cleverly eschewing conventional suspense for a more convoluted choreography of tension and release. Of course, by film’s end you wonder how you could have missed such crucial visual information, and so you simply have to watch the film again.

Ahhh, the dark beauty of a bloody good thriller! Deep Red drips with murderous finesse.

Here's the dream-like, almost abstract, Italian teaser trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: No Category

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Comments

16 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

February 5th 2007 06:44

Film & TV on DVD

Masterful examination Bryn,

One of Argento's ripest wounds and a great introduction to the man for those who haven't busted their cherry.

Comment by Sisi

February 5th 2007 12:43

Bryn this is one of my favourite reviews of yours. It's so well-written. Touches me right here -> <3

Comment by Adrian

February 5th 2007 22:25

Philosophy Blog

Added to my list. Thanks for the recommendation!

Comment by Bryn

February 6th 2007 07:20

Horrorphile

Thank you True Believers!

Comment by Cibbuano

February 6th 2007 22:17

March 17th 2007 02:17

Film & TV on DVD

I havent seen the DVD version yet, but personally I find teh dubbing on teh VHS added to the sense of disorientation I was feeling.

Kind of like the original version of A Fistful of Dollars.

Comment by Bryn

March 19th 2007 05:04

Horrorphile

i know what you mean JD.

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