Deep Red
Dir: Dario Argento. Starring David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia. 1975
I saw this - my first Argento – during the VHS boom of the 1980’s. It had all the gore that I’d come to expect from my beloved Italian horror imports, but Deep Red also had suspense, a plot with entertaining twists and turns, and sequences that have rightfully become classics of the horror genre. What perhaps appealed to me the most, though, was that this is a movie painted with broad strokes – bright colours, a first rate pounding score from Goblin, bizarre close-ups, extreme violence, ripe dialogue, broad characters – all elements that actually serve to showcase Argento at the top of his game as a director. After all, we watch Argento movies to be thrilled, to see where he’s going to take his camera next. Present too in Deep Red are some of Argento’s favourite themes – the outsider/artist involved in a murder investigation, the protagonist struggling to unravel that one piece of information he’s misinterpreted, and murder as terrible beauty. What these pieces add up to for me is the ultimate Dario Argento movie, aided in no small way by his then-wife, star, and co-writer, Daria Nicolodi.
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