Profondo Rosso (1975)

Director: Dario Argento

Writers: Dario Argento (written by)

Bernandino Zapponi (screenplay)

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.

Cast: David Hemmings – Marcus Daly

Daria Nicolodi – Gianna Brezzi

Gabriele Lavia – Carlo

Macha Meril – Helga Ulmann

Eros Pagni – Supt. Calcabrini

Review:

Everyone who knows a little about Dario Argento and his movies, knows that the tagline of this one is retarded because Suspiria was made after Profondo Rosso.  But ofc Suspiria was so famous at it’s time that Profondo Rosso was even promoted in some countries like Suspiria 2, a sequel, but no matter. I’m not here to compare those 2, both of them are masterpieces which you must watch if you haven’t already.

Anyways, up to the review. One may ask what does exactly make Profondo Rosso so good? My first reply would be: music! Yeap, the soundtrack made by an experimental italian rock band that goes by the name Goblin. They were one of the best bands from their era and Argento relies on them very much in his movies. They are one more thing you must check out before you die. Their sounds give the movie some additional depth and I just can’t explain the feeling which followed me during their songs.  Also, many times in the movie you’ll hear a freaky children’s nursery rhyme which freaked me out.  All of it was perfectly combined in the movies atmosphere.

My second reply would be: camera angles! Argento uses them in some strange ways which can’t be so easily explained, you have to see them for yourself. They are somehow deep, sometimes uncomfortable but you have the feeling that everything is so close to you, that you can almost touch anything. I was simply blown away by some scenes in the movie, especially by those camera angles. I couldn’t believe that some of Argento’s ideas could be so simple and complicated at the same time. Truly genuine.

My third reply would be:  story! Combine the awesome effective audio/video experience with a nice story which is believable and actually makes some sense. There are some nice twists in it. Very early in the movie the plot tries to play tricks with your mind, so you could say that is full of mind fucks (in a good way). If you don’t believe the words that I say, check out Profondo Rosso, you won’t be sorry. While watching it you’ll have a feeling that you are directly in it, it will suck you in!

And here you go, you have Profondo Rosso ( or Deep Red – the english translation ). Just remember, this much more than your average slasher, it’s a masterpiece.

I hope I interested you a little in watching this movie, I know my arguments may be a little too general or shallow ( because it’s really hard for me to say everything that’s on my mind ) but you’ll see for yourself if you give it a try.

My Rating: 10/10 … A must watch classic!