Dario Argento‘s career spreads now over half a century of writing and directing horror movies. He is considered the master of the Italian cinema of the genre, which also bears the name of ‘giallo’ (yellow – the color of cheap paper on which pulp fiction used to be printed) combining the elements of horror with supernatural (magic, witchcraft) stories. His almost complete lack of limits into bringing violence to screen has earned him critics and led to being avoided by some, but his style and coherence make his films always worth being watched if you accept horror as a genre of entertainment. He is long enough in the industry to have been a contemporary of Fellini who appreciated his work and with whom he shared cinematographers, sets, and even themes. Viewers will find in ‘Profondo Rosso’ (or Deep Red as the title is known in the English version) many topics, techniques, or symbols used by recent films of the genre, but we should not forget that this film was made 42 years ago. We can consider Dario Argento as an intermediary between Hitchcock and the creators of modern slasher films.
sursa http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073582/
What makes a film like this one different from the rest of the crowd composed of ketch-up consuming horror films? First it’s a very well written crime story which succeeds to keep its logic despite the high rate increasing amount of corpses, and despite the apparent involvement of the super-natural elements. It creates thrill from the very first opening scene, and keeps the interest alive most of the time until an ending which makes sense and does not fall beyond the ending of some of its famous predecessors. Next it’s the setting – the city of Rome that we know from the films of Fellini which seems to be really quoted here, sophisticated apartments, abandoned mansions. Most and above all it’s the cinematography. Argento and his director of cinematography Luigi Kuveiller make alternate views of the set and close-ups, fixed and mobile camera work, and create a palette of colors where the red in the title takes a dominant role.
(video source Arrow Video)
The last element behind the success of the film was in my opinion the choice of David Hemmings in the lead role. The British actor had become famous with his role in Antonioni‘s Blow-Up . His role here is a continuation in a different setting (very Italian vs. very British) on that role, with the same obsessive search for truth. Two of the supporting actors – Daria Nicolodi (preferred actress and collaborator of Argento until today) and Gabriele Lavia succeed also to build very credible performances. All the above contribute to making of Deep Red a significant milestone in the history of thrillers.