After
three brilliant gialli's, Dario Argento broke out the filters and gave
his camera free reign in Deep Red (Profondo Russo, 1975), introducing
his landmark style that would become even more berserk in his follow up
films - Suspiria and Inferno. Deep Red is a delicious, wicked ride both
invigorating and extremely frustrating. With the aid of David Hemmings
Argento has his best male lead, a performance that elevates much of the
films rather drab passages. When Deep Red is rolling with its hallucinogenic
set pieces and brutal gore it is one of the powerhouses of Italian cinema,
when it slows down with inane dialogue and horrific comic elements it
is brutally frustrating (but hell, you know that, this is Argento - deal
with it!)
Deep
Red starts of in brilliant fashion - the title cards are interrupted
to show an unnerving scene involving a brutal stabbing. The scene is
unsettling - what year does this take place? Why is the child dressed
like that? How could this happen in such a serene Christmas time setting?
And for the love of God what does that hideous child's lullaby have
to do with this madness? It's one of the great intro's in film history,
mesmerizing and sickening.
Argento
follows this with an equally brilliant set piece involving a psychic
realizing a murderer is stalking her, she senses her own death a moment
before her door breaks open revealing a hatchet yielding lunatic. Brutal
chops upon her person finally end with the murderer smashing the psychic
through her apartment window, impaling her on the window pane in a most
horrendous fashion. David Hemmings is unlucky enough to witness this
heinous act and upon investigating the room believes he may have viewed
the killer, thus beginning a cat and mouse detective game involving
Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, ridiculous police detectives and an assortment
of characters who come and go in a confusing fashion.
After
these terrific set up scenes Deep Red bores us with the comic dialogue
of Nicolodi and Hemmings. I wish Argento would have cut some of this
shit out and just got on to the complete madness that unfolds throughout
the film.
Unforgettable
highlights include the jaw dropping death of Professor Giordani
- who before having his teeth bashed in on the edge of a table
- is inexplicably attacked by a terrifying running puppet!, the
fucking brutal scalding death of Mrs. Righetti (Argento is a frightening
creature!) which reveals an ingenious clue, a sadistic cretin
of a little girl, the terrific uncovering of a mural at the house
of the screaming child, and the show stopping beheading by chain.
My heroes at Anchor
Bay issued Deep Red in a crystal clear DVD (a revelation after
multiple viewings of a dreary, Italian language video) complete
with previously missing scenes, a 25th Anniversary featurette,
and American and Italian theatrical trailers. One of the treats
of this DVD is hearing Goblin tearing shit up in Dolby Digital.
Yeah!
Many champion Deep
Red as Argento's best - I personally prefer Suspiria, Inferno,
Opera and Tenebre over Deep Red - but it is definitely a wild
ride - and it is indeed Argento at the height of his powers. Highly
Recommended.
After
three brilliant gialli's, Dario Argento broke out the filters and gave
his camera free reign in Deep Red (Profondo Russo, 1975), introducing
his landmark style that would become even more berserk in his follow up
films - Suspiria and Inferno. Deep Red is a delicious, wicked ride both
invigorating and extremely frustrating. With the aid of David Hemmings
Argento has his best male lead, a performance that elevates much of the
films rather drab passages. When Deep Red is rolling with its hallucinogenic
set pieces and brutal gore it is one of the powerhouses of Italian cinema,
when it slows down with inane dialogue and horrific comic elements it
is brutally frustrating (but hell, you know that, this is Argento - deal
with it!)
