Deep Red (Profondo Rosso/ The Hatchet Murders)
Italy
1975
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi,
Gabriele Lavia, Macha Meril

Marc's friend and fellow pianist Carlo (Gabriele Lavia) in a drunken stupor gets Marc thinking that whatever is missing from Helga's apartment may be a very important clue to working out the identity of the murderer.

Gianna and Marc follow an ever increasing trail of corpses and are thrown deeper into trouble with each move, every move seeming to be predicted by the killer. Getting them deeper and deeper in danger until the ultimate Grande Guinol finalé.

The playful bickering between David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi is brilliant. Her, the new woman, the feminist, him the non believing old fashioned man. This sets us up for a few very funny scenes between the two of them, most of the time with Marc left in a submissive position with Gianna towering above him, and with his cool, in control sexy and sexist exterior undermined by the simplest of things, like Gianna's car.

Black gloved killers like here have been extensively copied in later horror films, as have the some of the murder methods, zoobie abuse (which the Freudians will tell you is a masturbation fantasy, but it just looks like a hell of a lot of pain to me) and lip red curtains.  The first one that comes to mind being Antonio Bido's The Cats Victim/Watch Me When I Kill (1977) where curtains and face frying and black gloved killers are all included.  The style of the film is the same; a witness to a  murder with help tries to find out the identity of the killer, and becomes a potential victim herself.  The Cats Victim is interesting enough on its own, but is obviously inspired by Argento's masterpiece.

Deep Red was available in different lengths, obviously people say the shortened one made no sense, the only version I have seen is the long version which was released in the UK by Redemption\Salvation Films, and this version of the film is easy to understand (not meaning of course that you will work it all out before the end, if you don't though it does all make sense, I do not see how a shorter version could), it should probably be seen in the longer version. If possible make it widescreen. Those of you who may not be familiar with Argento's work may not know that he uses the full width of the screen to portray all his stories. And a great deal of this is lost when it is not viewed in its original format.

The score is by those Argento favourites Goblin, it pounds through the movie with its brilliant bass lines, and as always with Goblin and Argento, it perfectly compliments the atmosphere of the film.

This review will appear in the next issue of the movie fanzine "Dynamic Frame" by Martainn Russell.
Martainn can be contacted at: rodriguezruscw4@supanet.com