Profondo Rosso (1975)

Jul 10, 2009 11:35

What can I say about Dario Argento? I've always been of two minds about his work. On the one hand, he is one of the most visually striking auteurs out there. On the other hand, his movies often make little to no sense. Argento's best work was all done prior to the advent of DVD, when his films often came to the US in badly cut and dubbed versions, usually reframed for VHS by someone who didn't care enough to properly place his visuals in frame.

Profondo Rosso, retitled either Deep Red (the English translation) or The Hatchet Murders, is certainly no exception. Shorn of 25 minutes for its US release, the result is a somewhat muddled messy giallo. However, thanks to P2P and European distributors, I have finally seen the full 126-minute version.

Marc Daly (David Hemmings) is a jazz pianist living in Rome. One night, he witnesses the end of the murder of his downstairs neighbor, a psychic. But the police think he is the number one suspect, having found the body. With the help of a nosy reporter (Daria Nicolodi), he attempts to investigate the murder, but the killer always seems to be one step ahead of him. Every time he finds another link that will draw him closer to the solution, the killer casually knocks the link off before Marc can get to them. Will Marc solve the mystery before the police decide that he's the killer?

Profondo Rosso might be Argento's second best film, behind Suspiria. Compared to his later work, the plot makes a fair amount of sense, there are some good red herrings to keep you guessing until the end, and the performances are very good, particularly compared with some of Argento's later films. Hemmings conveys the feeling of someone who's just behind the plot very well, and Daria Nicolodi (Argento's longtime companion/collaborator) plays Nancy Drew quite well. Visually, the film is very striking, and the score by Goblin propels the film along rather well.

Overall, I'd say that as an introduction to Argento, it's probably better than Suspiria if for no other reason than that it makes more sense. If you do get the shorter cut, it's not so bad(provided you get the Blue Underground version and not the terrible public domain version), but if you can get a hold of the Euro version, so much the better. Highest recommendation.

70's, argento, horror, dvd project

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