By Todd Garbarini
Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975), the best
movie he has ever made (Tenebre is a
close second), has been known under many titles such as Profondo Rosso, Deep Red The
Hatchet Murders and Les Frissons de l'Angoisse. The film astonished audiences with its
breathtaking cinematic style, unparalleled marriage of quasi-jazz/rock that
inspired John Carpenter’s Halloween
theme, and extensive use of a huge old house as the scene of a crime that has
remained secret for years until a chance meeting with a psychic threatens to
bring the murder out into the open.
Coming on the heels of Mr. Argento’s
phenomenal debut film The Bird with the
Crystal Plumage (1970), his interesting The
Cat O’Nine Tails (1971), the overlong and meandering Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972) and his comedic The Five Days of Milan (1975), Deep Red announced the arrival of
what most of us think of as a Dario Argento film. While his first three “faunaâ€â€“titled films all
employed a regular Everyman as its protagonist-turned-amateur sleuth attempting
to solve the puzzle of a murder victim’s death, Deep Red raised the bar by showcasing a series of firsts for the
director: it was the first time that he utilized the considerable talents of
Goblin, the Italian rock group whose musical score elevates the film into the
stratosphere, and Daria Nicolodi, Mr. Argento’s long-time girlfriend, appeared
in her first role for him. She was also
a story and script collaborator on his films until 1987. Ms. Nicolodi’s performance as news reporter
Gianni Brezzi and her ability to bounce off of David Hemmings’s Marcus Daly is
one of the film's greatest assets. Their
comedic banter is a pleasant counterpoint to the macabre mayhem at hand. While the Italian cut contains additional,
non-essential exposition of this same nature, the American version is the
preferable cut as it is more polished.
Shot between September and December
1974 in Rome and Turin, Deep Red did not
reach American shores until June 1976 and was dismissed by the New York Times
as “a bucket of ax-murder clichés.†I
would be interested to know what version of the film played theatrically here,
and if it was anything like the 100-minute mess released by Thorn/EMI Home
Video that I saw on VHS in September 1985 it is virtually incomprehensible, and
my sympathies to the late Vincent Canby. Mr. Argento has never received much respect here in the U.S., and in the
early days of home video, aficionados of his vision were forced to scour
independent video stores in Italian neighborhoods to locate uncut bootleg
versions of his films.
Now, thanks to the fine folks at Blue Underground,
you can have as much Deep Red as you
like since the new Blu-ray disc possesses both the 105-minute American cut as
well as the 126-minute Italian language cut. For the first time, viewers now have the opportunity to choose which
version they would rather see. Diehard
Argento aficionados will no doubt want to watch both versions, which are
considerably different. Like Inferno, the film has never looked
better on home video. Reds are, well, deep, and blues are strong and bright,
and flesh tones are accurate.
The transfer isn't the only area in which
Blue Underground has improved Deep Red. In addition, they have reinstated the cover
with the original American ad slick, the one time wherein the American artwork
bested all of the foreign artwork for an Argento film.
The extras have been ported over from
the regular DVD, and include two additional music videos exclusive to the
Blu-ray:
- · Interviews
with Dario Argento, Bernardino Zapponi, and Goblin
- · Goblin
Music Video – “Profondo Rossoâ€
- · Daemonia
Music Video – “Profondo Rossoâ€
This Blu-ray is a must-have for the
transfer alone. Here is hoping that Suspiria, Tenebre, Phenomena and Opera are on their way to Blu-ray.
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