When German paranormal psychic Helga Ulmann (Macha Meril) feels the presence of a killer in the audience of Italian people that she’s performing her gifts for, the wheels are set in motion for the woman’s eventual death at the hands of the psychopath she discovered (but didn’t identify) a few hours prior. The killer hatchets Helga’s body in front of a window that faces an Italian plaza, from which British/American pianist Marcus Daily (David Hemmings) witnesses the whole thing; Marcus’ Italian best friend Carlo (Gabriele Lavia) is also with him, but he’s too shit-faced drunk to see or help. Rushing to help her next-door neighbor, Marcus is bothered later on when a painting he swore he’d seen in Helga’s apartment when he walked in disappears by the time the movie’s Keystone cops-like investigators show up.
Tagging along with pushy newspaper reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi) and ignoring the police’s dead-on-its-tracks investigation, Marcus becomes obsessed with finding out who Helga Ulmann’s killer is. He gets some help from Professor Giordani (Glauco Mari), who was with the German psychic when she felt the presence of a killer among audience members. Part of Daly’s obsession with solving the case is curiosity, but part of it is also survival instinct; by publishing his picture in the newspaper (which is then picked-up by local TV) as the man that can identify the killer, Marcus is the next logical victim. Despite his interaction with all sorts of weird people, including best friend Carlo’s nutty mother and homosexual lover, the killer always seems to be a step ahead of Marcus by killing the people that could identify his secret identity before the musician reaches them.
These include Amanda Righetti (Giuliana Calandra), a woman who lives in the house where the killer witnessed something disturbing as a child; she is stabbed and her face sunk in boiling water (an idea John Carpenter and director Rick Rosenthal would outright steal for their "Halloween II" flick), but not before leaving behind valuable clues about the killer’s identity scrolled in the bathroom tiles. An identity that costs Professor Giordani his dental work and, once discovered by Marcus Daily, leads Italian writer/director Dario Argento ("Suspiria," "Inferno," "Opera," etc.) to stage a couple of bust-out-laughing deaths that are gross and hilarious in equal measure. These last two deaths put an exclamation point to what otherwise be a routine ‘killer on the loose’ thriller. This being an Italian horror movie from Argento though, "Deep Red" is stylish in an over-the-top sense that overwhelms the plot (which isn’t as good a tradeoff as it sounds).
The ‘whodunit’ element of "Deep Red" takes a backseat to its spectacular camera angles (like the impressive macro close-up shots of toys and knives in Chapters 3 & 16) and death setpieces (Ch.29 and 31 in particular). But, upon watching the 126 min. flick a second time, it’s clear that Argento doesn’t cheat the audience by giving his killer the God-like ability to be in two places at once or know things he/she shouldn’t know. Like in M. Night Shayamalan’s "The Sixth Sense," clues are visible for attentive viewers that want to know who the killer is long before the climactic finale.
Five deaths spread over more than two hours allows plenty of time for Argento to hone the trademark cinematic tricks (outlandish locations, Goblin’s far-out score, out-of-nowhere flying animals getting killed, etc.) he would reuse over his subsequent film projects, but there are portions of the movie that just drag on and on and on. Hemmings and Nicolodi have zero on-screen chemistry, but the supporting performances (particularly by the actor that’s eventually unmasked as the killer) are solid. The portions of the English soundtrack replaced with Italian voices (1/4th of the English recording is either missing or was never dubbed) are a hoot, and serve to enhance the dreamlike, cinematic Italian world in which "Deep Red" carefully unfolds. Not one of Argento’s best, gorier or scarier films, "Deep Red" is nevertheless a worthy example of Italian horror filmmaking at its crazy-cool best.
The Disc:
"Deep Red" can be purchased on its own or as part of an Anchor Bay two-disc DVD package with another Dario Argento flick, 1981’s "Inferno." For this review we’re only discussing the stand-alone "Deep Red" DVD though, and we have to confess to being underwhelmed by its Widescreen Letterboxed (2:35:1) Video Transfer (with 16x9 TV set support). Very few film imperfections or compression artifacts sneak into the picture, but flesh tones and the overall color scheme of the film seem faded and very much outdated; maybe a dual layer transfer could have done the trick, but "Deep Red" is anything but what its name implies. Given that this is an uncut version of a foreign movie with only a cult following though, this is probably as good as "Deep Red" will look for quite some time. The same can be said about the English/Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 & English/French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Soundtracks, which are clear and understandable (particularly Goblin’s ever-present collection of odd-sounding electronic scores) but are hardly pushing the boundaries of modern home theater system.
The English voices, as is the norm of most Italian movies from the period, are so badly-dubbed that the nice clarity of the transfer actually does a disservice to the viewing experience. Given the already-mentioned absence of recorded English dialogue in many portions of the movie, Anchor Bay’s been forced to offer with its "Deep Red" DVD a feature it never includes in any of its other DVD releases: English Subtitles. They can be kept visible for the entire length of the film or just during the Italian dubbed portions (or w/o subtitles if you just want to watch the film in Italian). There’s also an 11 min. ’25th Anniversary’ Featurette composed mostly of short interviews with Dario Argento and his collaborators, U.S. & Italian Theatrical Trailers (also with or w/o subtitles) and Talent Bios for two actors and four crew members that participated in the film’s production.
Not exactly an Earth-shattering assembly of extras, but they’re fitting given the niche’ cult following Dario Argento’s flicks have enjoyed on home video for over two decades now. Besides, having the full-length and uncut version of the movie will be enough for any hardcore "Deep Red" fanatic to own the thing sight unseen.
bottom line:
Neither as gory or well-staged as Argento’s better over-the-top cinematic spectacles (like "Suspiria" and "Opera"), "Deep Red" is nevertheless quintessential Italian horror movie-making from the 1970’s at its delirious and absurd best. Anchor Bay’s DVD transfer is acceptable and the sound passable despite (or perhaps because of) portions of English dialogue missing from the dubbed soundtrack, but special features are skimpy at best. The acting and story are overwrought beyond redemption, but when "Deep Red" kills people you’ll forgive the lapses in logic and the 126 min. (!) running time. A good night’s rental for the forgiving crowd.
By - J.M.'The Horrormeister'Vargas
