Review: I will say it once and I will say it again and again Dario Argento is the prince of suspense. The king of course is Alfred Hitchcock. The reason why I say that statement about Argento is because everytime I come in contact with one of his Giallo films I am always blown away. His talent for being able to leave you guessing from the start to the reveal is impeccable. Hell even in his more supernatural based films he does the same. Trust me Deep Red is by far one of his best and most suspenseful.
After pianist Marcus Daly witnesses the brutal killing of a well known psychic he becomes engulfed in his own investigation and decided to solve the mystery of who killed the woman. Marcus teams up with a female reporter to track down the killer. Along the way others fall in the wake of the killers path and Marcus gets too close for comfort when the killer begins to stalk him. Can Marcus and the reporter find out who the killer is and stop them before it's too late? Or will they become victims like the rest?
Deep Red has a plot that is structurally typical for a film in this genre of films but like you would expect Argento throws enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and enough brutal violence and gore to shock and intrigue the viewer. Now even though I was surprised when they revealed the killer I still was able to figure it out before the end, but I was still on the edge of my seat and questioning if I was truly right. The thing that I liked alot in Deep Red is when the killer uses a recorder to play childrens music when they get ready to kill. I think it makes the scene that much more suspenseful and creepy. Also the music done by Goblin works well to build the suspense as well. The scene that caught me off guard and shook me was when this creepy ventriloquist looking doll comes charging at this one character.
As far as the cast goes there are some recognizable faces the main one being David Hemmings who played the lead Marcus Daly. He went on to do a ton of films and even was in one of my favorites Gangs of New York. The gore in the film is some of the best that I have seen in Argento's filmography. The main kill that stood out to me the most would have to be when the guy who gets startled by the dummy has his teeth slammed into the edge of a desk over and over, which honestly made me cringe. That hasn't happened since the first time I seen the curb stomp in American History X. This is plenty other great gore moments, but I will let you go see them for yourself.
Overall this was an excellent giallo with superb suspsense and amazing gore. I consider this to be one of his greatest films if not his greatest film. If you have not seen this film before and love a good giallo film then I suggest you go pick it up now. Also this is a good upgrade from Blue Underground's previous DVD release. You still get the same special features, but this time around you also get the original Italian version that is around 21 minutes longer that the US cut. The picture quality is amazing as well and looks fantastic and like their other releases they do not compromise the original film look and grain by using DNR or edge enhancement.
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Dario Argento
Genre: Horror/Giallo
Blu-ray Release Year: 2011
Theatrical Release Year:1975
Time Length: US Cut 105mins./Italian Cut 126 mins.
Company: Blue Underground
Website:
www.blue-underground.com
