Deep Red (1975)

A musician witnesses the murder of a famous psychic, and then teams up with a fiesty reporter to find the killer while evading attempts on their lives by the unseen killer bent on keeping a dark secret buried. 

Deep Red is a 1975 Italian giallo film, directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Bernardino Zapponi.  It was produced by Claudio and Salvatore Argento, and the film's score was composed and performed by Goblin. It stars Macha Meril as a medium and David Hemmings as a man who investigates a series of murders performed by a mysterious figure wielding a hatchet.

As with other Argento films, the accent in "Deep Red" is on the visuals: the artsy sets, the garish lighting, the tendency for the camera to dwell on brutal details. Unlike his film Suspiria, where the story is weak, Deep Red has a good plot element that builds to an excellent finale. Clues are very subtle, but they're there, if you pay close attention.

Argento's film thrives on offbeat sounds and images

Deep Red is about a man that sees a murder committed and then tries to unravel the mystery of finding the killer.  David Hemmings does a fine job in the lead as he walks the streets of an Italian city in search of this homicidal killer. The killings, most done with a hatchet, are inventive and decidedly gruesome.  The acting, even though most dubbed, is very good. The set locations are very atmospheric as well. Argento's camera, however, is the principal character as it shows us all kinds of images related to plot and otherwise and reached into our subconscience for real meaning. This is first and foremost a visual film.

What I did find annoying in "Deep Red" was the background music. Most viewers like the sound of Goblin. But the music was too frantic, and not really suitable for a thriller.  While I still favor "Suspiria" as Argento's best film, it's easy to see why Deep Red is considered his greatest by some. It's a terrific landmark thriller that firmly ranks as one of Argento's best!

Trivia: 

In one scene David Hemmings walks past a bar at night. The bar is styled after the famous painting "Nighthawks", by Edward Hopper.

Following the 11 seconds of cuts made in 1993 to the Redemption video the Platinum DVD restored the brief dogfight scene though one cut was retained. On a Dario Argento collection where versions could be chosen (English or Italian) the longer Italian language version showed a very sloppy cut before the unfortunate lizard was seen on-screen with a pin through its head. The shorter English language print had no such cuts. 

The closeup shots of the killer's hands, clad in black leather gloves, were performed by director Dario Argento himself.

Director trademark:[Dario Argento] Murder victim crashes through window.

Director trademark: [Dario Argento] Character recalls clues from memory.

Director Dario Argento's shop in Rome is named 'Profondo Rosso' after this film. 

Co-writer Bernardino Zapponi said the inspiration behind the murder scenes came from Argento and himself thinking of painful injuries that the audience could relate to. Basically, not everyone knows the pain of being shot by a gun, but everyone has at some point accidentally struck furniture or been scalded by hot water.

After the international success of Dario Argento's next film Suspiria (1977), Profondo Rosso was released in Japan under the title Suspiria 2 even though it has no plot connections with Suspiria and was made two years prior to Suspiria.

Even if the story is set in Rome, most of the outdoor scenes were actually shot in Turin.

The role of Carlo's male transvestite lover, Massimo Ricci, was actually played by female actress Geraldine Hooper.

"You have just seen Deep Red."