Deep Red

Rating:
Summary: MASTERPIECE!!!
Review: Dario Argento resumes the structure of his "the bird with the crystal plumage" adding pseudo-paranomal elements, gothic, "macabre", with a fantastic cast and a progressive/rock soundtrack written by a great jazz musician. Everything in the movie works perfectly, even the most improbable event (like the puppet scene).
The entire movie fits so well emotionally; dreamlike and "sublime" to make useless any deepening of an eventual illogical scene.
The fear is the only owner of this masterpiece, and its odiens receive a total satisfaction of it. Argento will come closer to this with his "Suspiria" leaving for a while the "giallo-thriller" for a drastic immersion in the "horror".
Buy it NOW!

Rating:
Summary: Great Art-house Horror
Review: Not only is the best Argento film, but it is one of my favourite films of all time. I'm not too big on the horror genre, but Deep Red has a depth and style that other films sorely lack. Argento has turned a typical giallo story into a maserpiece: stunning micro-camera work, stylistic murders, brilliant photography, beautiful colour schemes, and an amazing soundtrack.

What makes this film, though, is the tacit criticism of Freudian analysis. In the murder mystery that forms the core of the movie an Oedipal triangle is set up through misinterpreted clues. This triangle, however, is ultimately broken when other clues--that don't fit into this structure--problematize the whole Oedipal narrative. I was able to use parts of this film for my MA thesis in philosophy to illustrate points made by Deleuze and Guattari in "Anti-Oedipus"; it fit perfectly.

Rating:
Summary: PURE ARGENTO....
Review: This and "Suspiria" are my two personal favorites of Argento's. "Deep Red" resonates with hypnotic fascination. An often confusing storyline comes together rather than falls apart in hopeless incoherence as so often happens with Argento. David Hemmings is very good as the perplexed musician inadvertantly drawn into a baffling (and gory) murder mystery with occult overtones. The set pieces are remarkable - most especially the walking dummy (!) that pays a surprise visit to Hemmings character in one memorable sequence. This film is supposedly part of a "trilogy" that includes "Suspiria" and "Inferno". But, in my opinion, "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" are the masterworks here. Style to spare and the Goblin soundtrack give "Deep Red" the master's touch a nice polish. SEE THIS ONE.

Rating:
Summary: NIGHTMARISH BUT BEAUTIFUL
Review: This is a gem of a horror movie with its many moods and dimensions. The feeling of terror starts early when a clairvoyant giving a demonstration suddenly experiences a panic attack and lets out that there's a murderer in the audience. From then on, the terror takes many forms as we see glimpses of the past in an old house with a sealed room. The eerie children's singing and beautiful photography contribute towards making this more than just another horror flick. A true art movie (without being self-consciously so) but don't underestimate the sense of menace and doom that is maintained throughout.

Rating:
Summary: Les frissons de l'angoisse
Review: That's the title it has in France : quite long, somehow quite appropriate too ! This edition is absolutely FANTASTIC and the image quality provided enhances the lavish sets (oh, my God ! The scene in the villa... It's Fenoglio's Pallazina Scott) and Argento's unique direction. The extras are interesting, and I was glad to learn more about the wonderful David Hemmings, too much unemployed (THAT is an actor !). How could you live without this DVD ? Personnally speaking, I can't anymore !

Rating:
Summary: A Deep Pool of Red
Review: Deep Red is a classic Italian suspense tale involving a witness overseeing a murder, rushing to the scene of the crime to help, and then finding himself ensnared in Argento's classical psychological/some physical torment web that engulfs both himself and the killer. There are a lot of layers circulating throughout the movie, giving it depth beyond the normal genre "slasher" flick. That said, its also one of the more gruesome films that Dario directed. With killings involving cleavers, oddly conceived decapitations, and other unique methods of murder that I won't mention for fear of spoiling them, it manages to keep the gore lover's attention without insulting them.
With film restoration adding to the movie, you are given a clearer overall picture of what Argento wanted to present as well, despite language switches causing the need for subtitles throughout the movie. (And, if you have the chance, pick it up in the Dario Argento Collection set. Its a fine deal for Tenebrae and Deep Red.)

Rating:
Summary: Deep Affection for Profondo Rosso
Review: "Deep Red" is a cult classic I might never have seen, save for the programming gurus at the Independent Film Channel. After seeing it one night around Halloween last year, I went out and bought it the next day. Featuring a great horror story, a classic horror score, and a standard-setting directorial tour de force, "Deep Red" is a must for any viewer and especially so for any cult film enthusiasts (who, of course, probably already know this).

The first thing I was struck by in this film is the obvious influence of Sergio Leone, who helped give director Argento his first big break as a screenwriter in "Once Upon a Time in the West". Like Leone's films, the camera is almost another person, constantly on the move and coming at the film from many assorted angles. Argento takes it even further, and the camera becomes his partner in crime - constantly giving the audience the camera angle most guaranteed to make viewers jump out of their seats. Complimenting the camerawork to utter perfection is the frantic score by the rock band Goblin and composer Giorgio Gaslini, music that is cited by John Carpenter as a primary inspiration for his own films.

The actors, led by David Hemmings (reprising, in a way, his role in "Blow Out", the film that inspired Argento to write "Deep Red"), are all well-cast and are nuanced (or quirky) enough to come off as multi-dimensional, regardless of how big or small their roles are. What knocks the film from a five to a four, at least in terms of reviewing this "full-length" version of the film, are the restored scenes with Daria Nicolodi and David Hemmings, which account for 90% of the scenes reconstituted into the film. The scenes stand against the rest of the film, playing only for laughs and taking away from whatever suspense or breathlessness had been built up until then. It is not hard to see why they were cut originally, though it is surprising to learn from one of the interviews that Argento wanted them in the whole time. They are a minus to an otherwise perfect film experience. Honestly, each time I watch the DVD now, I cannot help but think of Heather Graham in "Bowfinger", convincing the screenwriter (and whoever else had any power) to put in some "hot new scenes".

That being said, even the most major of detractions, distractions, and whatnot cannot remove the well-earned cult classic status this film has achieved. For either the casual horror film viewer or the motivated cult film enthusiast, "Deep Red" is an absolute must for seeing.

Rating:
Summary: [Dang]!!!!
Review: So much better than all the summer camp slasher [stuff] pushed on us here in the USA. Argento's movies don't ever follow "waking world" logic; he writes more like a surrealist who uses the technique of "automatic writing": he sits down at his computer and types out the scenes that flicker through his mind. Afterwards there is very little editing/rewriting, if any. You can clearly see this lack of revision in all his movies, but if you're ok with it then you should love his works, especially this one. Here we have a jazz pianist who sees his downstairs neighbor, a psychic lady, being killed on the same day she gave a conference. She was done in because she detected a killer's mind in her audience and managed to pick up the madman's identity. Anyone who ever embraced the myth of detective work will love it as the pianist takes it upon himself to put the pieces of the puzzle together. This was one of severl inspirations for John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN I & II ... Proof that not all slasher flicks are a waste of celluloid.

Rating:
Summary: Argento who?
Review: I will make this short and sweet. For anyone interested in Italian giallo, then this is just required viewing and shame on those of you who waited this long to watch Deep Red. For the more experienced giallo audience, Deep Red, Profundo Rosso, Deep Red Hatchet Murders...whatever you want to call it, is strictly sub-par. Maybe worse. The film gives itself away RIGHT AWAY. Giallo Rule Number 1: Don't show the audience the killer fifteen minutes into the film (unless you are Mario Bava, then it is okay) See TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE. Giallo Rule Number 2: Make the motives of the killer interesting. Or at least entertaining. Dario falls short. Argento's Rule Number 1: Kill of Daria Nicoldi's character. Well, this is when Dario and Daria were sleeping together so I guess it doesn't count. The restored version included quasi-interesting plot points only to go nowhere with them. Half of it is Bernadino(?) Zapponi's fault for co-writting the script. This film was a commercial success in Italy because a)Dario Argento directed it after his failed 'Five Days In Milan' b) Fired the original film composer to replace him with the prog rock band Cherry Five who changed their name to Goblin and c) Goblin rule. This isn't the greatest film, as some people would have you believe. Watch Tenebrae (AWESOME MOVIE) or better yet, try to find Lucio Fulci's MURDER TO THE TUNE OF THE SEVEN BLACK NOTES...

Rating:
Summary: You have killed, and you will kill again!
Review: Call Profondo Rosso a transition between Dario Argento's mystery thrillers and his horror movies, because there are elements of both here. Argento's technique is working up the tension in the audience, be it lurking shadowy figures, objects that lend a more eerie meaning and is meant to get beneath the viewer's skin--the actual killings themselves are the climactic results of the above two.

The jarring opening sets the stage for the movie, a child's record playing, followed by a ghastly scream, the shadow of someone stabbing another person over and over, and a bloody knife falling to the floor, with a child's stockinged feet appearing in view.

One example of foreshadowing tension is seen in the parapsychology conference, where German psychic Helga Ullman recoils in horror as she senses an evil mind in the audience. "I can feel death in the room. I feel a presence, a twisted mind sending thoughts, perverted murderous thoughts. ...You have killed, and you will kill again." Those final words are not only prophetic, they seal Helga's fate.

Trying to figure out the mystery to Helga's brutal murder are jazz pianist Marcus Daly and brash reporter Gianna Brezzi. The dynamism between them work well, he is sensitive in an uptight sort of way, she is feeling-oriented in a liberated sort.

One key to the mystery lies in Helga's house, the hall of pictures Marcus strides through trying to reach her. After the police are done, he feels a painting is missing, having seen something that has subliminally registered inside him. His drunken fellow musician and friend Carlo tells him that "you've seen something so important that you can't realize it."

Another key is an ancient house described by an author of ghost stories and folklores. Marcus finds a grisly child's drawing plastered over, as well as a corpse in a walled up room. The scenes in the house alone are worth seeing the movie. Large ancient houses with hidden secrets play a part in Argento's Suspiria and Inferno as well.

The atmosphere preceding the author's murder is also eerie, as she sees child's doll hanging from the ceiling with a noose, as well as doors left ajar from the killer's entry, and probably the most effective shock of all, the camera zooming in on the closet and the killer's eye opening.

Bits of humor come in as well: Gianna's dinky little car with jamming passenger door lock and faulty car seat, and the arguing going on between her and Marcus. And one goof: Marcus' note tells Gianni he'll be at 24 Via Susa. When they call the police to report the house burning, they mistakenly say 27 Via Susa.

Profondo Rosso is like Diabolique in that once the hero/heroine finds out who the killer is and what's going on, it's not as novel the second time around. However, the artistic triumphs are well worth watching again and again. Daria Niccolodi has the best performance here, vivacious, tenacious, good-looking, and someone who makes a good partner.

The switching from Italian to English dialogue isn't that annoying, although if I had a choice, I'd choose the original Italian straight through.

Argento considers this his most successful and popular film, and he's probably right in that regard.