Deep Red (1975) Profondo rosso (original title)

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Dario Argento (written by)
Bernardino Zapponi (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The maker of "SUSPIRIA" now takes you on a journey through the macabre, the bizarre. . . the unnatural.

Plot:

A musician witnesses the murder of a famous psychic, and then teams up with a fiesty reporter to find the killer while evading attempts on their lives by the unseen killer bent on keeping a dark secret buried.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Psychic | English | Reporter | Pianist

Awards:

1 win

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	...	Marta
Aldo Bonamano	...	Carlo's father
Liana Del Balzo	...	Elvira
Vittorio Fanfoni	...	Cop taking notes
Dante Fioretti	...	Police photographer
Geraldine Hooper	...	Massimo Ricci
Jacopo Mariani	...	Young Carlo (as Iacopo Mariani)
Furio Meniconi	...	Rodi
Fulvio Mingozzi	...	Agent Mingozzi
Lorenzo Piani	...	Fingerprint cop
Salvatore Puntillo	...	Police agent
Piero Vida	...	Fat cop
Nicoletta Elmi	...	Olga
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dario Argento	...	Murderer's Hands (uncredited)
Salvatore Baccaro	...	Fruit Vendor (uncredited)
Bruno Di Luia	...	Concerned Man in Restroom (uncredited)
Attilio Dottesio	...	Florist (uncredited)
Tom Felleghy	...	Surgeon (uncredited)
Glauco Onorato	...	(uncredited)
Franco Vaccaro	...	Pietro Valgoi (uncredited)

Directed by
Dario Argento

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Dario Argento		written by
Bernardino Zapponi		screenplay

Produced by
Claudio Argento	....	executive producer
Salvatore Argento	....	producer

Original Music by
Giorgio Gaslini
Goblin
Walter Martino		(as Goblin)
Fabio Pignatelli		(as Goblin)
Claudio Simonetti		(as Goblin)

Cinematography by
Luigi Kuveiller

Film Editing by
Franco Fraticelli

Production Design by
Giuseppe Bassan

Set Decoration by
Armando Mannini

Costume Design by
Elena Mannini

Makeup Department
Giuliano Laurenti	....	makeup supervisor
Giovanni Morosi	....	makeup artist (as Gianni Morosi)
Nicla Palombi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Carlo Cucchi	....	assistant production manager
Angelo Iacono	....	production manager (as Angelo Jacono)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Stefano Rolla	....	assistant director

Art Department
Maurizio Garrone	....	assistant to art director
Aldo Taloni	....	construction foreman

Sound Department
Nick Alexander	....	sound editor
Massimo Anzellotti	....	foley artist
Mario Faraoni	....	sound recordist
Eugenio Fiori	....	boom operator (as Eugenio Fiore)

Special Effects by
Germano Natali	....	special effects
Carlo Rambaldi	....	special effects

Stunts
Giorgio Ricci	....	cinematic stunt team

Camera and Electrical Department
Antonio Annunziata	....	assistant camera
Francesco Bellomo	....	still photographer: action stills (as Franco Bellomo)
Sergio Coletta	....	gaffer
Sergio Emidi	....	chief grip
Ubaldo Terzano	....	camera operator
Antonio Tonti	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Angela Viglino	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Piero Bozza	....	assistant film editor (as Pietro Bozza)
Rick Greenhead	....	telecine colorist

Music Department
Agostino Marangolo	....	musician: drums (as Goblin)
Antonio Marangolo	....	musician: piano (as Goblin)
Walter Martino	....	musician: drums
Massimo Morante	....	musician: guitar
Fabio Pignatelli	....	musician: bass guitar
Claudio Simonetti	....	musician: keyboards

Other crew
Luciano Anzellotti	....	studio effects
Carlo Du Bois	....	production accountant
Cesare Jacolucci	....	production coordinator
Ernesto Triunveri	....	cutting room assistant
Vivalda Vigorelli	....	continuity
Corrado Gaipa	....	voice dubbing: Furio Meniconi (uncredited)
Gino La Monica	....	voice dubbing: David Hemmings (uncredited)
Emanuela Rossi	....	voice dubbing: Nicoletta Elmi (uncredited)
Wanda Tettoni	....	voice dubbing: Liana Del Balzo (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Rizzoli Film
• Seda Spettacoli

Distributors

• CFM Filmverhuur (1976) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Howard Mahler Films (1976) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Ambassador Film Distributors (1977) (Canada) (theatrical) (edited US version) (dubbed)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Another World Entertainment (2008) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Ascot Elite Home Entertainment (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Blue Underground (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Blue Underground (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-Ray)
• Catcom Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• EastWest Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2004) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• Future Film (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) (video)
• Medusa Home Entertainment (2004) (Italy) (DVD)
• Movies Select Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• New Movie Video (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• New Vision Video (1991) (Germany) (VHS)
• Platinum Media Distribution (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Quality Video Inc. (video)
• Redemption Films (1993) (UK) (VHS) (subtitled)
• Reel Media International (2004) (USA) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)
• Seven Keys Home Video (Australia) (VHS)
• Synergy Entertainment (2008) (worldwide) (DVD) (DVD-R)
• Tamline (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2006) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2006) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-release)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (video) (VOD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2012) (Australia) (TV)
• Videocast (198?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Works Editora (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2002) (2004) (2005) (Finland) (TV)

Special Effects

• Germano Natali

Also Known As:

"Profondo rosso" - Italy (original title)
"Profoundly Red" - Europe (English title) (informal literal English title)
"The Deep Red Hatchet Murders" - USA (DVD box title)
"The Hatchet Murders" - USA (censored version)

Runtime:

126 min | USA:98 min (R-rated version) | Japan:106 min (theatrical version)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | France:-16 | Italy:VM14 | Netherlands:18 | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Finland:K-18 (2001) | Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:X (original rating) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) (2006) (uncut) | Argentina:18 (re-rating) (1982) (cut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Sweden:15 | Chile:18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (Original rating) | France:X (Original rating) | USA:X (original rating) | Germany:18 (video rating) | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Rizzoli Film

Trivia:

Director Dario Argento's shop in Rome is named 'Profondo Rosso' after this film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the camera is panning across the record player, when Marcus is playing the 'child's song', the stylus is silver whereas in the next shot when the record is stopped the stylus is completely different (a red one instead).

Quotes:

[Back at the car with Marc]
Marc:What'd you do?
Olga:Nothing. Don't pay any attention; my father's just a little crazy.
[At Rodi's feet, a lizard with a pin through it's head, squirming on the ground]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! Part 2 (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

School at Night

Symphony in red.

Young generations might find it hard to believe ,but most of Argento's works were greeted by poor receptions when they were first released.Critics dismissed them as gaudy ,flashy,showy,you name it.

And now we are in 2005 ,and thirty years after,with hindsight ,that most fruitful part of Agento's works which begins with "Ucello della piume di cristalli"(1967) and ends -roughly- with "opera" (1987)shows how the frequently demeaned director was ahead of his time.Argento's work is art-house film!If Mario Bava or John Carpenter are,he is too.

Influenced by the former (color,lighting effects,depth of field,baroque settings),he had a strong influence on the latter,particularly for his use of music,which may seem trite at first listening but literally grows on you and leaves you completely panting for breath.

There's really an Argentesque geometry,a non -Euclidean one,and few other directors ( Alfred Hitchcock , Roman Polanski ) know how to depict a place and make it threatening for his characters.Argento,who certainly read Gaston Leroux ("le fantôme de l'opera" ) when he was young,loves the opera houses(or theater)."profondo rosso" begins on a stage where some kind of medium (Macha Meril) sees horrible things.People who have read Hergé's adventures of Tintin will notice the similarities between this scene and those pages in "the seven crystal balls" where Tintin and Haddock are watching Mrs Yamilah in a music hall."Opera" 's first scene also would take place in a theater as if the director told us "it's only a movie,do not worry" before treating us to the delight of the best scene with birds since Hitchcock's eponymous movie.

The sense of space which Argento displays is mind-boggling: depth of field,high and low angle shots,impressive lighting effects.His characters become Tom Thumb lost in the huge forest:think of the ballerina ,running away through the corridors ("Suspiria" ),James Franciscus in the graveyard ("il gatto...) ,Tony Musante in the lighthouse (Ucello ...),or Irene Miracle in the basement (Inferno).Here it's a true anthology:almost every place is memorable,from the corridor where the drama is resolved to the house where bad things happened long ago ,from the isolated house in the country -where Argento uses condensation as only a Conan Doyle,a Gaston Leroux or an Ellery Queen could have done it- to the school where weird drawings might be the final clue.To top it all,there's a sensational scene in a corridor ,which recalls Orson Welles' "lady from Shanghai.A "they do it with mirrors" trick which is still very impressive today.

Not only Argento creates fear with his disturbing settings ,but he makes us also ill-at-ease with his supporting cast:the gay with the androgynous face,the little girl who seems to be out of Fellini's "Toby Dammit" (1968),and of course Clara Calamai who was famous in the fascist years (Visconti's "ossessione" from "the postman always rings twice").

What about the screenplay?Well,like all Argento's movies I mention ,it's far-fetched and derivative ("psycho" ,"Marnie" for the final flashback).But it's delightfully far-fetched and smartly derivative .When today's horror flicks screenplays consist of one page (maybe two)of clichés ,Argento's ones have always been painstaking and labyrinthine .

It is one of the best works in Argento's much debated but absorbing filmography.No horror movie buff can ignore him.