Dec 3rd Deep Red
This is part of my “Watching every Dario Argento movie, ever” category. Here I go through all the movies written and directed by Dario Argento, and provide you with the pleasure of reading my views on them!
After the much ignored Le Cinque Giornate (not reviewed here, as it’s largely not considered an “Argento movie”), Argento made the wise move (at least as far as I’m concerned, and let’s face it — I’m pretty much always right as far as I am concerned) to return to the horror genre with Deep Red (1975, original title: Profondo Rosso), the film that arguably kicked off his golden era of movie making.
On the surface, this is a pretty standard mystery, following Marcus Daly (nicely portrayed by David Hemmings, best known from Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film, Blow Up) searching for the killer of a famous psychic, a murder he himself witnessed. In other words, not a million miles from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
Yet it’s the execution that sets the movie apart from the countless 1970s gialli: Deep Red is jawdroppingly shot, using color techniques arguably only mastered by the great Mario Bava before this. Add to that the framing and the pace of the editing, and it is fairly obvious that Quentin Tarantino studied Deep Red closely before making… well… the majority of his movies. (Particularly the Kill Bill films come to mind, visually speaking.)
Deep Red was also the first Argento movie to feature music by Goblin, making what remains one of the highest selling movie soundtracks of all time. Indeed, the music helps drive the plot along in an interestingly rhythmic fashion. The prime example, other than the memorable and oft-repeated theme, being the bass and rhythm guitar driven “Mad Puppet” — named for a puppet which served as the inspiration for the “Billy” puppet in Saw — which accompanies a lengthy trek through an abandoned mansion.
There were certainly many of hints what Argento was capable of with the Animal Trilogy, but this was the home run that elevated him to a cult director status. A good indication of where the movie stands among Argento’s fans is that it was named his best movie in a reader’s poll at the official unofficial official Argento fansite, Dark Dreams.
Suspiria might be Argento’s most famous movie, but this is indeed in all likelihood his best movie, even though I wouldn’t call it my personal favorite. Those two are yet to come. Wait, and be excited!
