Film: Deep Red
Release date: 3rd January 2011
Certificate: 18
Running time: 121 mins
Director: Dario Argento
Starring: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, Eros Pagni
Genre: Crime/Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Italy
Italian master Dario Argento weaves an intricate tale of mystery and brutal murder with 1975’s Deep Red (Profondo Rosso). Critically acclaimed but a financial disappointment, this giallo classic is widely considered to be one of Argento’s finest.
A Christmas scene accompanied by children’s music is shattered by a brutal murder. Many years later, a psychic medium named Helga Ulmann is brutally hacked to death after delivering a lecture on her abilities and identifying a murderer in the audience.
English jazz pianist Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) witnesses the murder from the street while attempting to coerce his drunken fellow musician Carlo (legendary playwright Gabriele Lavia) into giving up for the night. After an initial investigation at the scene of the crime, Daly is convinced that he (and the police) may have missed a vital clue which could lead to discovering the identity of the killer.
Daly takes it upon himself to solve the inevitable string of subsequent murders, enlisting the help of feisty journalist Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi, incidentally Argento’s real-life lover) and parapsychologist Professor Giordani (Glauco Mauri), while the body count rises and someone seems to be getting away with murder. This investigation leads him to the now dilapidated home from the film’s introduction, where he makes a gruesome discovery and begins to fear for his own life, as all those connected to the case fall victim to the psychotic killer, and it becomes apparent that someone is determined not to leave any witnesses…
Throughout the entire film, the brutal, graphic murders are performed from a first-person perspective, with only a pair of black leather gloved hands and a leather trench coat on show. Despite this, within the first twenty minutes of Deep Red, the viewer is shown the killer’s face; unquestionable evidence which could potentially ruin the masterfully crafted suspense of what is to follow. The mastery lies in the fact that the face is so cleverly hidden in plain sight that only on repeat viewings does it become clear that Argento has duped his audience with a simple illusion that relies only on forced perspective and camera trickery. This bravery and self-assuredness permeates the film, and leads the audience through a narrative that twists and turns, expertly utilising red herrings and moments of genuine terror that create an unsettling atmosphere which refuses to subside, even after the final credits have rolled.
The key to the believability of the narrative is Hemmings’ performance as Marcus Daly, an Englishman living in Italy and working as a piano teacher. He is flawed, nervous and entirely emasculated by Gianna, none more so than in the scene where she continually beats him at arm wrestling, despite his accusations of false starts and cheating. While not quite the suave, archetypal noir hero, he does display elements of the characteristics associated with the genre, as does the narrative as a whole. One notable observation is that despite continually playing with a cigarette, he never actually lights one, or smokes, avoiding the smouldering, smoke encased image of a crime-solving noir protagonist, instead adding emphasis to his fidgety and anxious nature. During production, Hemmings was recovering from a broken heart following a messy divorce, drinking too much and constantly fighting with Argento, adding a sense of desperation and fragility to the performance.
The supporting cast are also excellent, particularly Daria Nicolodi as Gianni, offering a deep, layered performance which adds to the mystery of the piece (the audience is gently encouraged to think they have solved the case and that it is the nosey reporter who is the killer). Marcus’ gay friend Carlo (ably portrayed by Lavia) is another standout character, struggling with alcoholism and his sexuality, while heavily traumatized by past events.
The suspense created by the twisting narrative culminates in inventive and brutal killings, with excellent gore effects. One scene in particular, in which the killer catches up to one of the investigating team is wince-inducing in its brutality, but utilises absolute silence to allow the tension to build. From this silence, a terrifying human-sized doll, which makes Jigsaw’s dummy in the Saw franchise look like a Barbie doll, charges across the room toward the victim, both unexplainable and absolutely petrifying as it foreshadows the subsequent murder. The genius of the scene is most apparent in the use of sound (or lack thereof), but also in the unexpectedness of the doll’s appearance, bursting from a side door as the audience expects the killer to emerge. The fact that it remains unexplained only adds to the surreal, unsettling nature of the scene.
The film’s score is performed by Italian prog-rock band Goblin, who also scored Argento’s Suspiria. The score is arguably unfitting to the film, framing the action with inappropriate riffs and synthesised tunes that distract from the action and unfairly date the film. However, the soundtrack does add a sense of melancholy to the film that accurately mirrors the confusion and mistrust felt by the lead.
As with many Italian films of the era (see Lucio Fulci’s Zombi films among many others) the film was shot with a mixture of English and Italian actors, and is either overdubbed entirely in English or Italian, and subtitled accordingly. While this technique is distracting and adds an unnecessary sense of disjointedness to the work, it is unavoidable if a sense of consistency is to be achieved.
With Deep Red, Dario Argento has proven himself yet again to be the undisputed master of Italian horror cinema. The use of sleight of hand and misdirection to create a sense of mystery, coupled with some gory and brutally shocking scenes create a tension which is, at times, unsettling, with a twist in the final act that is impossible to see coming, but which remains coherent and logical. RB
