Director Dario Argento has been called the Alfred Hitchcock of Italy. Like Brian DePalma, he has learned from the master and pushed the envelope with violence and substance. However, with this film at least, Argento has taken his Hitchcock 101 lessons and made them his own.
Of Argento’s work, I’ve also seen SUSPIRIA, which I was more fascinated with than I enjoyed. In that film, I felt Argento went too far with his experiment on the theme of dark fairy tales and didn’t develop a solid enough plot. In DEEP RED, considered his first real “masterpiece,” Argento crafts a wonderful thriller that is often shocking with its bursts of violence.
Marcus Daly (David Hemmings, GANGS OF NEW YORK) is a pianist who witnesses a psychic named Helga (Macha Meril, VAGABOND) being brutally murdered. Helga had earlier in the day seen a vision of a murderer in the audience of one of her talks. After fruitlessly trying to save her, Marcus finds himself desperately wrapped up in the mystery, along with the plucky reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi, THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER), his feckless friend Carlo (Gabriele Lavia, INFERNO) and Helga's associate Prof. Giordani (Glauco Mauri).
The film wonderfully moves through the story from moment to moment revealing a new bit of the puzzle. In the meantime, the killer is slowly knocking off anyone who may know the truth. The story does a wonderful job of making you think one way and surprising you with a misdirection. This is done in a slick, character-based way, so you don’t feel manipulated.
The murders are quick, creepy and often quite violent. Wherein a film like FRIDAY THE 13TH, the use of violence is gratuitous, thus it lacks all emotion. Argento uses the violence to shock and unease and put the viewer on the edge of their seats. There is a scene with a character named Amanda (Giuliana Calandra, GO GORILLA GO) and her birds that ends in the bathroom, which is brilliantly constructed. It’s totally frightening. The signature death scene is a huge feature of mindless slasher films in the U.S. Argento knows how to balance between the violent and the artful. He uses common fears to elicited unease and tension in the audience. After watching his film you’ll put rubber protectors on every desk corner in your house.
Also like Hitchcock, Argento creates a delightful banter between his male and female leads. Their wordplay adds a nice dose of comic relief, as well as develops a believable relationship between the characters. I loved how Gianna's directness always flusters Marcus. (For a bit of trivia, Nicolodi would later marry Argento and is the mother of actress Asia Argento.)
For horror and thriller fans, this is a must see. If you’re looking for a tense thriller that with burn visuals into your head then this is the film for you.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
