The giallo you’ve either seen a loved or have never seen, there is no in-between, there is no disliking this.
Image 2 – The Reversed Blu Ray box art
Image 3 – The Back of the Blu Ray box
When I first watched this it was during a 24hr horror film marathon at a local independent cinema, and I wont lie it was not an ideal experience as the audio was a complete shit show as the language kept jumping from English, Spanish, Italian and German with no subtitles at all. Once it finished I completely wrote it off as a bad giallo just off this experience.
However later that year Arrow had their yearly “Shock-tober” sale and surprise surprise Deep Red was on sale (for around £10 if I remember correctly) so thought id give it one last chance to impress me. Deep Red is now one of my favorite giallo’s and one of my favorite films flat out.
Synopsis:
After a psychic has a vision of an audience member committing a murder, she unwittingly makes herself a target for the deranged killer.
Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) is the sole witness to this killers sadist actions which puts him as top priority for a meeting with the killer’s knife edge.
With every new clue discovered another body is added to the pile in an attempt to keep the crimes of history in the dark bowels of the past. Can Marcus solve this string of brutal murders before he himself is added to the pile?
The Review:
There is not much I can really say about this without spoiling huge twists or plot points, but what I can say is you’ve got to watch this it is the complete package. It has an engaging story, a great goblin score, the cinematography is beautifully shot with the finale being a huge twist.
Marcus is also used to great comic effect to be emasculated at any chance possible by Gianni Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi), with her little Fiat being the comedic highlight.
SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT
The balls on Argento to give away the killer in the first act so obviously but at the same time so subtly that you only really appreciate it on a second watch is why i keep coming back to this, every time I’ve watched this I’ve taken a small piece more from it.
If I was to point at a personal highlight of Deep Red it would definitly be Carlos’ death, both from its tragedy as well as comedy.
Tl;dr
⭐4.5/5
Just watch it.
The Amateur Film Watcher 