Deep Red. Without question one of Italian film maestro Dario Argento's giallo masterpiece.
It's flawless. Nearly. Like a nick in the Mona Lisa. Still a thing of beauty despite it. Suspense, shocks, gore, sex, amazingly filmed. It's also one of the funnier of Aregento's films. But at times I wondered, was this meant to be a comedy? Some of the antics between Daria Nicolodi and David Hemmings are straight out of Hepburn and Grant in Bringing Up Baby. Especially the scenes with Daria's little ramshackle crapbox eurotrash Italiano car. Hemmings was never cooler than he was in this film and Daria Nicolodi was never sexier. After seeing this, who wouldn't want to give her the pyhton bone of love? I don't see how Hemmings could have resisted her. Still, the two leads have a razor keen on screen chemistry.
This is one the best giallos (pronounced jah-loh) ever set to celluloid. Argento was in his film-making prime when he made this. His work has gone steadily downhill in his later years. Even second rate Aregento is worth watching. But I fear he may never reach this creative and technical apex again that he hit with Deep Red. The worse Dario's teeth get, the worse his films get. We all get older but after seeing him in his later years he really needs to get his sometimes brilliant ass to the local Mambo Italino dentist, baby.
On the downside, the version of the film I saw had no complete English language translation. The film cut back and forth, sometimes in mid-sentence when an actor was speaking, between Italian and English. Just goes to show that you should always have an on set sound boom operator instead of recording everything in post as they did in those days. Here's hoping they recover the full English dubbing they had from the original theatrical release.
You can see American artist Edward Hopper's influence in this film. A bar seen multiple times in the film is a real life recreation of Hopper's world famous Nighthawks painting.
The suspense and shocks of Deep Red will make you jump out of your seat. Even if you're not easily scared. One downside is that the film ends way too abruptly. The film reaches its climax and BOOM! Roll end credits. Give us a moment or two to savor the exquisite climax of Deep Red. The film is like a night of wild sex and then getting your ass kicked to the curb the instant its all over. Buy us a damn proverbial drink afterwards, Deep Red filmmakers.
Ciao.
It's flawless. Nearly. Like a nick in the Mona Lisa. Still a thing of beauty despite it. Suspense, shocks, gore, sex, amazingly filmed. It's also one of the funnier of Aregento's films. But at times I wondered, was this meant to be a comedy? Some of the antics between Daria Nicolodi and David Hemmings are straight out of Hepburn and Grant in Bringing Up Baby. Especially the scenes with Daria's little ramshackle crapbox eurotrash Italiano car. Hemmings was never cooler than he was in this film and Daria Nicolodi was never sexier. After seeing this, who wouldn't want to give her the pyhton bone of love? I don't see how Hemmings could have resisted her. Still, the two leads have a razor keen on screen chemistry.
This is one the best giallos (pronounced jah-loh) ever set to celluloid. Argento was in his film-making prime when he made this. His work has gone steadily downhill in his later years. Even second rate Aregento is worth watching. But I fear he may never reach this creative and technical apex again that he hit with Deep Red. The worse Dario's teeth get, the worse his films get. We all get older but after seeing him in his later years he really needs to get his sometimes brilliant ass to the local Mambo Italino dentist, baby.
On the downside, the version of the film I saw had no complete English language translation. The film cut back and forth, sometimes in mid-sentence when an actor was speaking, between Italian and English. Just goes to show that you should always have an on set sound boom operator instead of recording everything in post as they did in those days. Here's hoping they recover the full English dubbing they had from the original theatrical release.
You can see American artist Edward Hopper's influence in this film. A bar seen multiple times in the film is a real life recreation of Hopper's world famous Nighthawks painting.
The suspense and shocks of Deep Red will make you jump out of your seat. Even if you're not easily scared. One downside is that the film ends way too abruptly. The film reaches its climax and BOOM! Roll end credits. Give us a moment or two to savor the exquisite climax of Deep Red. The film is like a night of wild sex and then getting your ass kicked to the curb the instant its all over. Buy us a damn proverbial drink afterwards, Deep Red filmmakers.
Ciao.