Deep Red
Composite Score: 83.8
Starring: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, Eros Pagni, Giuliana Calandra, Piero Mazzinghi, Glauco Mauri, and Clara Calamai
Director: Dario Argento
Writers: Dario Argento and Bernardino Zapponi
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R
Box Office: $2.75 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Deep Red is a giallo-style slasher film from Dario Argento about a pianist and reporter seeking to solve a psychic’s murder in the city of Rome. The film stars David Hemmings as Marcus Daly, the pianist, and Daria Nicolodi as Gianna Brezzi, the reporter. The film has been celebrated for Argento’s excellent direction and the influence that it had on the budding slasher genre in the United States. A compelling mystery full of modern social critiques, the film doesn’t just succeed in its horror/thriller elements. It is a well-shot film with a wildly unique score and surprisingly engaging thematic explorations of gender roles, sexuality, family drama, and folklore.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
**[SPOILER ALERT] The biggest critique that I can bring against this film has to do with the identity of the killer and the reveal in the third act. If you’d rather watch the film and find out on your own, here is your warning to skip to the next section.**
The entire characterization of the film’s homosexual character, Carlo, is wildly problematic. For starters, the introduction to the characters sexuality also involves the use of the f-slur – not a great start – and a cross-dressing man (not an issue on its own, but in this case, it feels intentionally making an “other” out of the film’s queer characters). This problematic start feeds into the film’s climactic moment where we first see Carlo confront Marcus and Gianna at the school, revealing himself to be a killer (and a victim of childhood trauma). Obviously, he’s not the only killer, but choosing to make the gay character one of the primary antagonists and using his childhood trauma as an excuse for those actions (and implicitly also the potential cause of his sexuality) feels like a choice that has aged rather poorly in the modern day. The details of Carlo’s life – his traumatic relationship with his father and close relationship with his mother – feel like intentional typecasting of homosexuality and its causes for a 1970s audience and come across as a rather problematic stereotyping of that community in a modern context.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Like so many of Argento’s films, Deep Red is a beautiful looking piece of horror filmmaking. From the shot composition of the opening scene, featuring a murder in shadow against the backdrop of a Christmas tree to the close-ups on the killer’s many tchotchkes to the red of the curtain behind Helga when she is giving a psychic reading, just the opening moments of the film immerse you in a world of near otherworldly beauty and aesthetic, putting the audience in a position of discomfort through the aggressive off-ness of the cinematography, shot composition, and colors. This continues throughout the film, giving the audience a gorgeous work of art with every shot, enhancing the feeling of everything being put on display but nothing being made clear.
Serving to enhance the feeling of discomfort and unfamiliarity is the music of Goblin and the twisting of Giorgio Gaslini’s “School at Night”. The whole soundtrack/score serves to create a feeling of otherworldliness in the film thanks to Goblin’s use of unique instrumental sounds and incredibly dissonant riffs in moments of tension. Obviously, the chilling sound of children singing along to “School at Night” serves as the eerie theme song of the film’s mysterious killer, amping up the scare factor and tension before all of the on-screen kills and confrontations. Together with the film’s excellent, if mildly off-putting, visuals, the music helps set a truly horrific tone for this entry in Argento’s filmography.
Dario Argento’s unique directorial style, full of color, P.O.V. sequences, and eerie music, helps make Deep Red into the iconic piece of giallo filmmaking that it is, influencing the future of Hollywood slashers in the process, and earning itself a place among the Greatest Films of All Time. Its problematic treatment of its homosexual character cannot go without acknowledgment and should give viewers pause even if they enjoy the atmospheric horror and mystery of the rest of the film. It is currently available to stream with ads on Vudu and Plex, without ads with a Shudder or Mubi subscription, or to rent on most other streaming services if you’re interested.
