Deep Red (1976)

I think D.Argento in general, and his PRosso ( likewise The Bird with Cristal Feathers ) is quiet overrated by Giallo-lovers while IMO not so groundbreaking or original compared to some others 70's gialli. These have IMO more excitement,suspense, better locations or acting, and last but not least, better fetisjes, fashion, humor, or psychological insight. Some of the best, like The House With the Laughing Windows, I rated thus 10, and some mediocre examples, like this PRosso, 'only' 7.

I've always had something of a problem with this, held by many, to be Argento's finest film, in all the various forms I have seen it. Sparkling Blu-ray with subtitled sections replacing lost English language sections , was wonderful to look at but took some getting used to, with the continuous Italian/English language switching. Particularly unfortunate with David Hemmings, who has never convinced me in this role, because his performance seems so lacklustre and then in the Italian dub sections he sounds really lively. I don't know if it because the killing scenes are so good but it appears that Argento was so preoccupied with these and found the intervening scenes too boring to take as much trouble with. Again it could be down to Hemmings' rather lumpen performance. There are better gialli than this and in my opinion several better Argento but it is an essential view.

"Deep Red" is regarded in many circles as the best giallo, and certainly Dario Argento's best movie as director. It is easy to see why when you consider the movie has several brilliant, even terrifying sequences you won't soon forget. Those who like gialli for there violence will also not be disappointed, though the extreme gore in this one led to a variety of faux-"uncut" versions being released on the market. To my knowledge the only true uncut version is a composite of the English and Italian tracks, and seeing very-English David Hemmings suddenly adopt the Italian language, with a much more macho accent to boot, couldn't be any more jarring if they had gotten Pavarotti to do Hemmings' voice instead.That aside, it is the fear - and the violence - that you will remember in this one. At times the violence seems too gratuitous - the bearded gent having his teeth bashed out springs to mind, and the gay guy getting his head ran over. Why did gay men always have to die in these movies?As usual for giallo fare, the final act seems to lose its way a bit, but the scene where Hemmings finally pieces together who the real killer was is chilling and masterful. This is one giallo where you can always remember that final twist; it's a truly disturbing revelation.

Similar to a lot of Argento's crime murder mysteries, Deep Red pushes the boundaries one step further with gory murder scenes and iconic deaths. Deep Red is very similar to most of Argento's films, only adding a new story, but it is a good story at that. Very engaging and also quite terrifying, the next time you see someone wear a black raincoat, you better hope they are not wielding a meat cleaver underneath it. A good Italian horror, that many will find similar to Dario Argento's other works. But if you are a fan of Argento's, horror or mystery, then this film will be for you. Don't expect the story to deviate out of the Argento template, but nonetheless you should be thoroughly engrossed for this extremely long gore fest.