Dario Argento’s DEEP RED, a Hitchcock-Style Masterpiece
The film opens with a surreal murder at holiday time, but the strangeness is only beginning. After this scene, which winds up acting as a prologue, Argento cuts to a conference on parapsychology. For some reason, Italy’s psychics are being murdered. David Hemmings is a piano teacher who gets pulled into the intrigue after witnessing one of the killings. He thinks he may have spotted a clue to the killer’s identity, but it’s blocked from his mind somehow.
Hemmings forms an unlikely partnership with a female reporter, played by Daria Nicolodi. As they clues show up, the mystery gets weirder and weirder. While Hemmings is busy trying to solve the murder-and trying not to get killed himself-he is looking after a troubled alcoholic friend.
Argento’s politics are on display in these scenes. The alcoholic friend turns out to be a gay character, but rather than being repulsed as many male on-screen stereotypes would have been in 1975, Hemmings dismisses his friend’s claims of being a ‘pervert’ and looks after him. This was a surprisingly progressive point of view for 1975 audiences in some parts of the world, but as Deep Red was made in Europe, it was no doubt aimed at more sympathetic audiences there. Hats off to Argento for being progressive before it was fashionable.
Deep Red, or Profondo Russo as it is better known in Italy, benefits from an excellent score from Goblin. Goblin was squarely in the middle of its experimental prog-rock sound, so this is a score, which features much guitar and piano textures. The group adds a moody, driving feel to the action and horror set pieces of the film.
Goblin would develop a major love affair with the synthesizer on Argento’s 1982 horror film Tenebrae, another equally worthy Argento effort.
This is a film that won’t impress fans of modern, fast-paced horror movies like Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer, but those who enjoy Hitchcock or John Frankenheimer should give this a look. Deep Red should be explored with Argento’s similar Bird With The Crystal Plumage and Four Flies on Grey Velvet. While technically speaking, those two films are part of what’s known as Argento’s “Animal Trilogy”, the other film in the group, Cat ‘O Nine Tails, isn’t quite as effective as Deep Red. The four films together wind up being a good representation of the Italian ‘giallo’ or mystery/thriller genre.
There are hundreds of titles in the Italian mystery genre, but none so unique or odd as Deep Red. It truly stands on its own and has been imitated many times by lesser directors. It’s a shame Argento abandoned this type of filmmaking in favor of films like the seemingly hurried Non Ho Sonno and the lesser mystery he did in 1993 called Trauma. Deep Red remains the best of the lot.
