The Worst Film Ever

Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Arrow Video has been doing an amazing job of offering the best transfers of the classic Dario Argento films that I've ever seen. Not only have they compiled a strong amount of extras on each but the job of cleaning up the look of the films, the transfers involved and the images that have never looked better have made watching these films seem like I'm seeing them for the first time. Such was the case with their new release of DEEP RED.Starting with THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE in 1970 (which Arrow also released) Argento began his career with a groundbreaking giallo film that set the stage for all others to follow. For those who are unfamiliar, giallo films are usually murder thrillers, many based on the yellow covered paperbacks of the time and thus given the name "giallo" or yellow in Italian. The elements Argento used to great effect included a the killer's point of view (POV), the killer wearing black gloves, more often than not using a knife or blade and a witness who was trying to solve the murders while placing themselves in danger at the same time. All of those have been repeated here in this film.At a gathering in a theater psychic Helga Ulmann (Macha Meril) is on a panel giving a lecture. She is overtaken by images of someone in the audience, an unspeakable violent person she can't quite identify.That same evening Marcus Daly (David Hemmings), a jazz pianist and instructor at a conservatory in Rome, is on his way home when he finds his friend Carlo (Gabriele Lavia) on the street in front of the bar, drunk. As the two begin to part ways they hear a scream. While Carlo departs, Marcus looks up to see his neighbor, Helga, being murdered and pushed onto the glass of her broken window. He rushes to save her but is too late. He hears a child's tune playing and see the murderer dressed in a brown raincoat leave but not enough to identify who it is.The police arrive as does reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi). Marcus feels like there is something he has forgotten, some clue, but is unable to remember what it might be. He and Gianna begin working together to try and solve the murder. When he hears the same music in his apartment one night, he foils the killer and calls Gianna over to help.Talking to a friend of Ulmann they hear about a story involving the music he heard and has identified. Delving deeper he finds a book about a house that was supposedly haunted and a book written about it. Heading out to talk to the author before he can get there the killer shows and murders the author. When Marcus shows he now has to worry that the police will look at him as the prime suspect rather than someone who happened upon the scene of the crime.With the help of Gianna Marcus discovers the area where the house may be located. He goes there to look the place over, now for sale, and to see if he can find any clues that might help them. He does indeed find another clue but not enough to identify the murderer. He informs Professor Giordani (Glauco Mauri), the parapsychologist who was with Helga onstage and has been helping him as well, of what happened and while visiting the crime scene Giordani finds another clue.More murders occur, more suspects are added to the list and before the end of the film twists and turns will abound. Along the way Argento will twist and turn the minds of the viewer with enough suspense involved it would make Hitchcock jealous.It is this ability to create suspense that put Argento into a class all his own. As you learn via the extras included on this disc, Argento found that the main character in film was not the actor displayed on screen but the camera itself. It shows in this film as he combines so many film making elements here in such a seamless fashion that you don't realize it until looking back at the entire film.Argento uses a variety of camera angles for different reasons. His depiction of light and shadow used often in old black and white films but rarely when color came along it used to full effect. The composition of the shots he offers are tremendous to see. Most notable among these for me was a scene early on in the piazza where Marcus and Carlo talk at night. His use of framing and light make the image stand out in my mind.This combination of story, as in the written word, and images as created by Argento makes for an entertaining and thrilling movie to view. Fans of Argento will love having the film in such a great condition. Those just discovering him for the first time will be impressed at what he accomplished at a time when the word CGI wasn't even known. Sadly, as is discussed in the films extras, many consider this the last of the great giallo films. While Argento still dabbled in them years later, most consider this his swan song to the genre.As I said I'd seen this film some time ago, I believe in VHS when it was released by Anchor Bay. I'm guessing this was the American version of the film which was about 15 minutes or so shorter. The added footage was wasted on me since it had been so long since I'd seen it. But the quality of the movie itself, how it appears on screen, was vastly improved. This can't just be due to the film being released on blu-ray instead of tape. It has a lot to do with the efforts of Arrow Video to insure a pristine version.Not only are they providing the movie in such a great presentation (a 4k scan from the original negative) they've added a number of extras that are more interesting to watch than most. To begin with you have the choice of the original version of the film or the exported version. The other extras include 6 postcard sized lobby card reproductions, reversible fold-out poster featuring two original artworks, a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx, a limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mikel J. Koven and an archival essay by Alan Jones, an audio commentary track by Argento expert Thomas Rostock, PROFONDO GIALLO a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie, ROSSO RECOLLECTIONS: DARIO ARGENTO'S DEEP GENIUS featuring a discussion with Argento, THE LADY IN RED: DARIA NICOLODI REMEMBERS PROFONDO ROSSO (the Italian name of the film), MUSIC TO MURDER FOR composer Claudio Simonetti on DEEP RED, PROFONDO ROSSO: FROM CELLULOID TO SHOP a tour of the Profondo Rosso shop in Rome with Argento collaborator Luigi Cozzi, the Italian theatrical trailer and the US trailer. If the movie itself did not make the purchase of this film the extras do.The past few years with the help of Arrow Video fans and those just now becoming familiar with the Italian giallo film have finally had access to some of the best that was ever committed to celluloid. One can only hope that they continue to do so. As long as they do they will remain the best company there is at offering these films in the best way possible. Let's just hope they continue to do so.

I am a horror movie fan and i love this film so much.Dario Agento is a great filmmaker.For this generation I don't think this film would be a masterpiece. The main plot is that ,the protagonist see a psychic gets murdered and the way he investigate with the help of a reporter to find the killer. Many at times we will fall for the reporter's beauty.I like Dario Agento mixing some detective element into the plot and the way he uses long shots and subjective shots.

"Deep Red" stars Blow-Up's David Hemmings as a music professor who investigates a series of murders. The film has a famous and influential score by the band 'Goblin.' Argento had originally contracted jazz composer Giorgio Gaslini (Antonioni's La Notte, 1961), to score but was dissatisfied with the results. Failing to secure Pink Floyd (Antonioni's Zabriskie Point, 1970), he discovered Goblin. The score is the perfect complement to Argento's visuals; a recurring lullaby from the killer's troubled past develops to gutsy organ rock as the story progresses. Written by Argento and Bernardino Zapponi (frequent Fellini scribe), Zapponi stated the inspiration for the murders sprung from discussions about what were the most painful injuries that an audience could relate too. Almost everyone has at some point accidentally struck furniture or been scalded by hot water, but not many have experienced being shot. An arresting credit sequence grabs the attention; the menacing score is alternated with the sounds of a child's melody. A murder is committed (suggested by shadows) in a room on Christmas Day, a bloodied knife falls to the floor and a child's feet step into the frame. Cut! Argento zooms in on Marcus after an unsatisfying band rehearsal; "Maybe a little too good. Too clean. Yes, too precise. Too… formal. It should be more… trashy. See what I mean? Remember that this sort of jazz came out of the brothels." This is perhaps the first instance of 'self-reflexivity' in Argento's films. However before Marcus can even finish this speech, Argento tracks into a room where a parapsychology conference is taking place. At the conference Giordani's discussion on telepathy in animals' is little more than the pseudo- science from his 'Four Flies On Grey Velvet' (prefiguring themes to appear later in Phenomena). Argento, formally completing the opening sequence, zooms out of the conference where the door's surrounding red drapes close before the camera. This succession of shots tracking and zooming in on subjects creates an unsettling mood.Later, Marc catches sight of what seems to be a strange painting in the hall of a murdered woman's apartment. It transpires that the painting was a mirror in which the face of the murderer was reflected, and this is how Marc's ability to see is brought into question. Images aren't always 'fixed,' what Argento presents is a world of visual indeterminacy.Marcus walks past the bar where Carlo works as a musician, which Argento bases on Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks" (1942). It draws attention to the fact these eerily empty streets are not realistic. Here Marcus and Carlo have the discussion; "…maybe the painting was made to disappear, because it represented something important." At the crime scene, Marcus is introduced to a bubbly reporter, Gianna who publishes his picture in the local newspaper, setting in motion the killer's pursuit of Marcus. Throughout the film, Argento challenges Marcus's masculinity through a series of farcical encounters with Gianna.Looking for Carlo, Marcus locates him at his lover Massimo's apartment. Carlo's secret is out and he's clearly resentful. Carlo declares; "Good old Carlo, he's not only a drunk but a 'faggot' as well." Since Marcus is so used to having his masculinity called into question, he doesn't seem to react to Carlo's secret. Gay characters frequently appear in Argento films, however since Argento suspects everyone equally, they're rarely revealed to be the murderers.A classic 'Giallo' set piece begins with the creepy ornament of a toy baby hanging from a rope. Soon the lights go out and a ladies birds turn against her. The killer fills a hot bathtub and gives the woman a sadistic scalding. Falling to the floor she scribbles with her finger a note on her steam-coated walls. Later, Giordani arrives at the house where he meets the maid, who cleans the blood off the bathroom sink. The anticipation is agonising waiting for Giordani to find the message. Finally the bathroom fills with hot steam and the message on the wall reappears: "IT WAS." As if this anticipation weren't gruelling enough, Argento continues to leave us in the dark.Playing around with Antonioni's Blow-Up, where the truth was inscribed in a photograph of a potential crime scene; truth in Deep Red is stamped in the memory of Marcus. Marcus solves the identity of the film's murderer as he makes one final trip down the hall of the first crime scene, where what was first thought to be a missing painting was in fact the killer's reflection in a mirror. Marcus makes the final connection just as he turns to greet the killer… In the last shot Marcus is forced to stare at his reflection in a pool of her blood emphasising the 'relentlessness of the gaze' and the importance of 'looking' in order to get at the truth.Deep Red was Argento's first full-fledged masterpiece, a thriller where Argento transcended the trashy material with the remarkable formalism of his camera. He also performs some remarkable visual flourishes; tracking shots and edits such as subjective POV to sudden-close up's, that make Deep Red linger in the memory.

Deep Red (also known as Profondo Rosso or The Hatchet Murders) is an Italian giallo film, directed by Dario Argento whose only other film that I've seen is Suspiria. And although Suspiria left me slightly underwhelmed on an overall scale, it nonetheless helped me get more familiar with the director's filmmaking style & visual flair. And thanks to that added familiarity, Deep Red was easy to accept for what it is & I had a wonderful time watching it.The film opens with two shadowy figures struggling against each other until one of them is stabbed to death, followed by a child's scream. The main story surfaces after that and concerns a musician who, after witnessing the murder of a psychic who read the murderer's thoughts earlier that day, becomes obsessed with finding the killer. Helping him in his investigation is a spunky reporter as they try to uncover the unknown suspect's identity but this killer always manages to be one step ahead of them.Dario Argento's direction features all his signatures & style and the film really manages to keep its mystery in tact until the final moments when it reveals all on its own. Cinematography makes heavy use of bright colours & extreme close-ups, production design is no short of impressive, performances are exaggerated but still work in film's favour, editing keeps the tension alive & its score, composed by Goblins, adds a nice, creepy & unsettling touch to the whole narrative.On an overall scale, Deep Red is a stylishly crafted mystery thriller that remains an influential example of its genre & despite its B-grade production value, it manages to utilize its resources rather well to deliver an experience that's pretty rewarding in the end. It is counted amongst Dario Argento's most acclaimed works and deserves all the praise it has garnered so far. It may not be able to please every viewer out there but it definitely is worth a watch or two.P.S. Thank you Sarah Jane for recommending me this film. After Suspiria left me little disappointed, I wasn't very keen on checking out more of Argento's works but I'm glad I watched this. And now I feel like I should give Suspiria another chance.