Profondo rosso – 1975
When was the last time you were REALLY SCARED!!!? PSYCHO? The EXORCIST? JAWS? Now there’s DEEP RED.
Director
Dario Argento

Writers
Dario Argento
Bernardino Zapponi

Producers
Claudio Argento executive producer
Salvatore Argento producer

Cast
David Hemmings – Marcus Daly
Daria Nicolodi – Gianna Brezzi
Gabriele Lavia – Carlo
Macha Méril – Helga Ulmann
Eros Pagni – Supt. Calcabrini
Giuliana Calandra – Amanda Righetti
Piero Mazzinghi – Bardi
Glauco Mauri – Prof. Giordani
Clara Calamai – Martha (Carlo’s mother)
Aldo Bonamano – Carlo’s father
Liana Del Balzo – Elvira (Amanda’s maid)
Vittorio Fanfoni – Cop taking notes
Dante Fioretti – Police photographer
Geraldine Hooper – Massimo Ricci (Carlo’s lover)
Jacopo Mariani – Young Carlo
Furio Meniconi – Rodi
Fulvio Mingozzi – Agent Mingozzi
Lorenzo Piani – Fingerprint cop
Salvatore Puntillo – Police agent
Piero Vida – Fat cop
Nicoletta Elmi – Olga (Rodi’s daughter)
Dario Argento – Murderer’s Hands
Salvatore Baccaro – Fruit vendor
Bruno Di Luia – Concerned man in restroom
Attilio Dottesio – Florist
Tom Felleghy – Surgeon
Glauco Onorato
Mario Scaccia – Man at parapsychology conference

Review by Sven Soetemans
Argento’s most famous Giallo….not necessarily his best, though,

The…Deep…Red…Hatchet…Murders! With an a.k.a like that, it’s normal that Dario Argento’s film enjoys the status of pure cult giallo. And that’s merely a justified status since it’s a very compelling and stylish murder mystery, complete with bloody good suspense and disturbing undertones. During a convention in Italy, a female spiritual medium brutally gets murdered. With her ability to read thoughts, she sensed the presence of a dangerous murderer and that’s why she had to vanish. Her neighbor, an American piano player, witnessed this murder and he’s now in mortal danger of becoming the next victim. Along with a noisy female journalist, he starts up his own investigation and he discovers that the motivations of the maniac go all the way back to a traumatic childhood. Dario Argento inserts numberless brilliant aspects in his film…like the numerous references to Blow-Up (1966), for example, or the countless Freudian themes and not to forget the stylish camera viewpoints and colorful violence. Unfortunately, Deep Red lacks a bit of depth and logic and the film is overall very tedious. I need to mention I saw the 125 minutes version, but the story certainly could have been told shorter. There are multiple pointless sequences in this uncut version. The last 10 minutes (including the raw climax) is very fun to watch but terribly silly at the same time and it doesn’t exactly help the credibility of the film much…Deep Red still counts as the mother of all Giallo’s since Argento’s talent is obviously present. But personally, I don’t think this film is the perfect representation for his entire career…And neither is the overrated Suspiria… Less praised and equally gruesome films such as `Inferno’, `Tenebrae’ and especially `Opera’ are Argento’s finest achievements if you ask me. The most brilliant and memorable element in Deep Red isn’t even Argento’s work… The musical score by the Goblins.

Profondo Rosso (1975)

Review by Wayne Malin

One of Argento’s best,
It’s not as good as “Suspiria” but this is well worth seeing. I had the pleasure to see the full, uncut version on DVD. The picture isn’t perfect–there are boring sequences and characters switch from subtitles to dubbing alarmingly within scenes. But it’s beautifully filmed, very creepy (a part with a laughing dummy gave me nightmares) and has a superb music score. Yeah, there are gaps in the plot and huge lapses in logic, but most of Argento’s films are like that. He’s so stylish and has such astonishing camerawork in his films that the plot becomes secondary. So, if you can ignore the plot inconsistencies, see “Deep Red”. You won’t be disappointed! Again, that score is incredible!