Deep Red (Widescreen)

People weren't lying when they said this was Argento's masterpiece. Everything from murder scences to the ones where people were just talking kept me in interest. Once again the music was incredible. All of Argento's music in his movies seem to be well done. The ending of this movie was fantastic! I enjoyed this film a lot more then Tenebrae because it was more interesting. This movie made more sense..and kept me in suspence more. I don't know why some people said that this movie is boring, because it is not.

After thirty years from its original appearance in 1975, Profondo Rosso (as Deep Red is titled in Italian) is still an exciting movie to watch. Unlike many of Argento's subsequent movies, Deep Red's plot is very well constructed, and the careful viewer (well...the VERY careful viewer) can pick up at least two crucial clues. The first, in the very first minutes of the movie, is central to the plot, but it is very easy to miss. It makes for a nice challenge to the first time viewer. Deep Red marks, in my opinion, the highest level of Argento's work. The atmosphere of the movie is greatly enhanced by the first collaboration of Argento with the musical group Goblin. A great soundtrack. I saw this movie first when I was a young student. Now,I saw it again to keep me company during my weekly long run on the treadmill. It made the run exciting, and time just flew!

Though I truely wanted to like this film, I just had a hard time doing so. I usually like Argento films. I loved Suspiria, Inferno, and Phenomena and I read that Deep Red was one of his best, so I bought it. I for one thought this uncut version would be great, but it's actually the cut material spliced back in the film that hinders it, at least for me. The newly restored material was never dubbed, so through out the entire film we get little pieces here and there spliced in that are spoken Italian with subtitles. It's really annoying because the characters will be talking in English at one moment and then suddenlly halfway through their sentence, their voice changes sound and they are speaking Italian. I found this quite annoying and distracting because it takes you out of the film. Also most of the "new" restored material doesn't add a whole lot to the film. Most of it is just talking that adds really nothing new to the plot. I would have probably liked this film better if I saw the cut version, which is strange for me to say because I usually like "extended" versions of films. Overall Deep Red had plenty of style but little substance. I can see why die-hard Argento fans like this film because it is thick with his style, but for casual fans like me, we have seen him do much better. I for one found this film to drag and, should I dare say, get boring in some parts. People new to Argento are better to start off somewhere else.