Average User Rating: 5 Vote(s)
 
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
There is no coverscan for Deep Red
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Distributor Seven Keys
Catalogue Number SKV A4
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by sabre210
I can't even begin to explain the impression this film made on me when I first discovered it, suffice it to say, it set a benchmark which few gialli I have subsequently watched could hope to achieve. As much as I love some of his later thrillers including Tenebrae and Opera, Profundo Rosso for me is Argento at his very best, striking a nigh on perfect balance between cohesive narrative, stunning and often bizarre set piece murders, healthy character development and creative direction; using the camera to assist the story rather than use it to showcase some technical achievement (as he did with the rather gratuitous and ultimately unsatisfying crane jib in Tenebrae and the overly long swooping POV camera in Opera). David Hemmings stars as Marco, a talented musician who witnesses the murder of Helga Ulmann; a touring psychic Superstar (Italy's prettier precursor to 'Most Haunted' charlatan Derek Acora) who, during a packed auditorium performance earlier that day, had alluded to a mysterious killer lurking in the audience. Before she can send details of her trance induced vision to the appropriate authorities to investigate, Helga is bludgeoned to death with a hatchet in full view of her apartment window. Upon seeing the crime from street level, Marco rushes up to the apartment to try and save her but to no avail. Whilst being questioned by the police at the scene, Marco is concerned that some important clue has disappeared from the apartment which he can not account for. Unconvinced he is being taken seriously by the Police, and assisted and hindered in equal measure by an attractive reporter (Daria Nicalodi) intent on breaking a big story to further her career, Marco embarks on his own investigation to discover why the psychic was killed and what the vital missing piece of evidence might have been. Frustrated by a killer who always seems to be one step ahead, Marco persists in his search to discover the truth behind not just the Helga Ulmann murder but the historic killing she was intent on going public about. Whilst Profundo Rosso (1975) is certainly no ground breaking movie, what it does do, is take ingredients of Antonioni's Blow Up (1966) including, of course, the star of that movie, Hemmings; Argentos's own The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) and Mario Bava's Bay of Blood (1971) creating from them a stylish, mysterious, bloody cocktail of murder that has a distinct taste of its own, in no small part due to the phenomenal score provided by Prog-rock gods Goblin, who seemlessly mix classical church organ, pounding jazz drums and rock guitar to create something that is both shiver inducingly grand and heart poundingly ominous. The Profundo Rosso soundtrack alone makes this a film everyone must see atleast once. Offered here on the Fletcher label under its English translation of Deep Red, what this version does have to its advantage is, oddly enough, its expurgated cut. Many subsequent DVDs offer the fully restored version including many scenes of dialogue which rather than improve the movie, kill the overall pace and reveal Argento's limitations as a dirctor when it comes to comedy and naturalism. The scene where Hemmings and Nicolodi argue and arm-wrestle strike me as both clunky and unnecessary, as does the scene with Hemmings as he battles with the quirks of Nicolodi's tiny car. Fortunately, the Fletcher version is spared the full length of these scenes and others like them and benefits as a result in my opinion. A clear case, if ever there was one, of less definitely being more.