31 Days of Horror- Day 23: Deep Red (1975)

(dir. Dario Argento)

Blue Underground

After a psychic medium is murdered, her neighbor finds himself embroiled in a mystery involving a black-gloved killer who has a sinister fascination with dolls.

Deep Red is a bit more conventional that some of Argento’s later work. Yes, the POV shots of a black-gloved murderer, the anachronistic Goblin score, and wonderfully orchestrated deaths are all present. But Deep Red doesn’t have the same dream-like beauty of Suspiria (1977) or Phenomena (1985), perhaps because it caters towards the more traditional boundaries of the giallo film than the supernatural horror that would make up more of his later films.  For most of the film we follow pianist  Marcus Daly (David Hemmings, who looks like the love-child of Paul McCartney and James Spader) as he steps out of the boundaries of his profession to learn about the murder of someone he had no relationship to. Along with reporter, Gianna Brezzi (played by frequent Argento collaborator, Daria Nicolodi) Daly links the murder to a piece of music, connected to a children’s ghost story which has ties to an abandoned house. The connective tissue between these clues are tenuous, and Hemmings doesn’t make or the most compelling leading man, but there’s enough oddness and instances of tonal whiplash to keep the film engaging.

The highlight of Deep Red are the murder scenes and the reveal, both executed with a kind of stylishness that makes the lack of character development forgivable, if not entirely forgettable. The motives of the killer are ultimately nothing more than a vague sort of madness, but the way Argento constructs the film, with a madness of his own, is, from a horror film history perspective, a fascinating experience. There’s nothing in modern cinema that can quite compare to this genre smorgasbord.

Scream Factory: 2/5 While Deep Red isn’t anywhere near Argento’s top-tier, it’s a must-see for fans of the director. Its influence is evident, and in between some of the more impractical detective work are genuinely chilling moments that lead up to impeccably crafted death scenes that are each works of art in themselves, the film suceeds. Deep Red is arguably not the best introduction to Argento, but it is a great introduction to his take on Italian giallo films.