Deep Red (1975)

A jazz pianist and a wisecracking journalist are pulled into a complex web of mystery after the former witnesses the brutal murder of a psychic.

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Dario Argento, Bernardino Zapponi

Stars:

David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

A psychic who can read minds picks up the thoughts of a murderer in the audience and soon becomes a victim. An English pianist gets involved in solving the murders, but finds many of his avenues of inquiry cut off by new murders, and he begins to wonder how the murderer can track his movements so closely.

---

Plot Keywords:

black gloved killer | giallo | color in title | slasher | brutality | 

---

Taglines:

You will NEVER forget it!!!

---

Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian German English

Release Date:

11 June 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dripping Deep Red

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rizzoli Film, Seda Spettacoli

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min 101 min (R-rated) 105 min (export)

Sound Mix:

Mono 4-Track Stereo (Japan theatrical release)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's French title "Les Frissons de l'angoisse" means "The Shivers of Angst". The German title "Rosso - Die Farbe des Todes" means "Red - The Color of Death".

---

Goofs

When Giordani is having his teeth banged into furniture, the edges of the furniture can be seen bending.

---

Quotes

Gianna Brezzi: I think that a woman's gotta be independent so she can...
Marcus Daly: Oh, don't start with me about all that woman's stuff. It is a fundamental fact... men are different from women. Women are... weaker; well, they're gentler.
Gianna Brezzi: They're what? Weaker? Gentler?
[she howls in laughter - stops laughing, stands, unbuttons jacket, moves to the table, determinedly clearing it]
Marcus Daly: What on earth are you doing?
Gianna Brezzi: [sitting again and holding her arm up, wriggling her fingers] Come on, Tarzan. Why don't you try me?
Marcus Daly: What's that?
Gianna Brezzi: ...
[...]

---

Crazy Credits

The opening credits are interrupted halfway through by a murder scene

---

Alternate Versions

In the original theatrical version, the end credits are displayed over a shot of David Hemming's reflection in a pool of blood. The image is moving (blood drips into the pool, Hemming's face changes expression etc.) while the credits are displayed. The Anchor Bay R1 DVD version features the credits over a freeze-frame of the original scene. Other than this change, the Anchor Bay DVD is the full uncut version of the film

---

Connections

Referenced in Phenomena (1985)

User Reviews

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.