Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33662 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-04-25
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, PAL
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 126 minutes

Customer Reviews

the last great whodunnit!
Precious few 'Whodunits' demand repeat viewings. Once you know the killer then that's it. Deep Red on the other hand will leave you desperate to watch it again - to marvel at the audacious plot and the clues to the killers identity - and admire the skillful way the greatest director of this genre piles on the suspense before executing the insane and glorious killings. It's all great entertainment and it's little surprise that amongst horror fans this film is held in such high regard.
If you have not seen an Argento thriller before this is the one you must begin with. See it uncut from Anchor Bay (region 0).

A GOOD ARGENTO
During a special conference on the paranormal, renowned psychic Helga Ulmann (Macha Meril) gets a strange message that a killer is in the audience. Rushed back to her apartment, she is brutally killed by an unknown assailant. A witness (David Hemmings) turns out to be a pianist, Marcus Daly, and teaming up with reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi) to investigate the psychic's death. After interviewing her business partner, Calcabrini (Eros Pagni) they hit a small snag and go their separate ways. After both have hit dead ends with their respective investigations, they put aside their differences and decide to try to solve it together. Following a loose assortment of clues that seem to have no connection to each other, they discover that the killer has been targeting Marcus. As they continue to investigate, a trail leads to Amanda Righetti, (Guiliana Calandra) but the killer strikes again. Calcabrini joins in on the investigation, and immediately makes an important contribution: Amanda saw who the murderer was and was trying to spell it out, but gave up before she could finish the name. Armed with this new clue, Marcus, Gianna, and Calcabrini start putting the clues together and race to stop the killer before he strikes again.

The Good News: Argento has always been known for his more than creative methods of killing people visually, and here is the first example of this style. He manages to make a simple slashing look entertaining visually. There is a way that he moves around a death scene that no one else can follow or imitate. As well as filming a murder like no one else this side of Hitchkock, he can also film a great shock sequence. My favorite is from the opening minutes, when Hemmings is walking around outside a building, he looks up and sees Helga suddenly being forced through a window on an upper floor. It provides a great shock upon first viewing. Also impressive is Amanda's death. The scene is a personal favorite as it is clearly demonstrative of how Argento can show a murder scene. He starts with a small shock, having the lights in the house go off, then a pet bird starts making loud noises, so she grabs a pair of netting needles to defend herself. The bird then attacks her, accidentally stabbing the bird. Then the killer appears and grabs her, dragging her off into the bathroom to finish her off. It's classic, as the scene is full of small scares, shocks, and even a false appearance. In Argento's best movies, he always manages to give the audience a clue to who the killer is, but the killer is always seen with such an item that using it as the definitive piece to prove the identity would be impossible. Giving only a pair of black gloves, or a brown jacket, or blond hair, very common items or traits, which are nearly impossible to use as evidence to name a killer, which is what Argento always gives us to use. That is a very rare and even completely refreshing thing to use as a manner of identification. Rather than either hardly seeing who it is or by not even showing them at all, Argento gives us common items and from there we have to guess who. It's such a shame that others have not picked up on this style that resides only with the best giallo movies. Even the score is pretty creepy, and is one of Goblin's best, but I still hold 'Tenebrae' as the best score for an Argento movie. This one isn't bad, but 'Tenebrae' had a great quality to it that helped to flesh out the scenes even better. Surprisingly, this isn't a big gore-fest like other Argento films, but there are still some particularly nasty scenes in here. The death of Helga was the goriest, as we see several slashes at different places than we've seen before, as well; as well as glass bits imbedded in other parts of the body. One other gory death was Amanda's, as I've explained earlier, but this did have some good death scenes.

The Bad News: The one thing many people say negatively about Argento is that his films have a tendency to simply stop the plot altogether and concentrate on a particular character trait that doesn't need to be in the story. Here, Argento is at fault for having a middle act that is completely devoid of any activity. He really does nothing except simply have Marcus play the piano at odd intervals. There is no tension, no suspense, hardly anything, other than the typical Argento penchant for filming boring scenes with odd shots and angles. The one thing that bothered me about the soundtrack was that it was used as a sound effect, popping out occasionally to surprise the viewer. It works well the first time, but grows repetitive and doesn't work as time goes on.

The Final Verdict: A boring middle half is the real main reason why this one isn't in the upper tier of Argento's films, but it is very close. Still, it is a great Argento movie and is definitely worth a look, not only for Argento fans but also for Italian horror fans and giallo alike.

profondo rosso !
at last in its entirity "deep red " or "profondo rosso" it is known in italy.considered to be dario argentos most popular film .see how he got the nickname "the italian hitchcock" with this whodunnit amazing murder masterpiece,remastered though some scenes are still in italian with english subtitles unlike other dvd releases.and the spooky soundtrack by goblin(suspiria,tenebrae) apparently john carpenter
got the inspiration for the "halloween" music whilst watching this.
david hemmings & daria nicolodi (mrs argento,mother of asia of xxx fame)
be warned,the murders are graphic & brutal but this holds nothing back!