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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
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9
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7 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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The
horror movie as art?
Unequivocally
yes, at least where the stylish films of Dario Argento
are concerned. His 1975 shocker Deep Red
(Profondo Rosso), never before seen uncut in the U.S.
and released on DVD in 2000 by Anchor Bay, is an influential
classic of the Italian giallo mystery thriller genre.
A twisted tale
of psychopathic compulsion, Deep Red
is a stunning journey through a shadow labyrinth of repressed
memories and madness. English jazz pianist Marc Daly (David
Hemmings - Blow-up, Gladiator),
who lives and works in Rome, witnesses the savage murder of
a renowned psychic (Macha Méril) who lives in his apartment
building. Though all he can definitively tell the police is
that the killer wore a brown raincoat, Daly is troubled by the
persistent notion that he saw something else in the victim's
flat —
something he can't
remember —
that holds the key to the murderer's identity. Obsessed with
jogging his memory of that fateful night, Daly begins his own
amateur investigation of the crime. But once the Englishman's
picture is published in a tabloid newspaper article about the
case, the murderer targets Daly himself.
Deep Red is
a tour-de-force thriller, overflowing with stylistic camera
moves and editing techniques that have been copied again and
again by filmmakers ever since. (Not that Argento isn't guilty
of a little "borrowing" now and then...) Eschewing
traditional suspense movie music, Argento tapped Italian rock
trio Goblin to provide the film's
pulsing, eerily unsettling score, perfect accompaniment to its
nightmare images. And what images! Though this movie is 25 years
old, some scenes managed to shock even this jaded viewer. Not
with copious amounts of gore — though it does have its share
— but rather in the artistry
with which such scenes are composed.
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Anchor
Bay did an incredible restoration job with this film. Deep
Red looks like it was shot yesterday, not over a quarter
century ago. The audio has been remixed in Dolby 5.1 stereo. For
the first time, U.S. audiences can see the authorized director's
cut of the film, which runs almost 30 minutes longer than the
butchered theatrical print shown here in the late '70s. The English
language dialog for these scenes was either lost or never recorded,
so they are presented in Italian with English subtitles, which
automatically kick in at the appropriate moments. (This might
throw you off at first, but much of the restored footage has no
dialog anyway; one can also opt to watch the whole film in Italian,
with subtitles, if
desired.)
And
now a friendly word of warning, if I may... While DVD is a fabulous
format, it can lead to
temptation. To wit: Just like the film's protagonist, we
the audience are shown
the killer's identity long before it is "revealed".
Please refrain from hitting the freeze-frame button at certain
moments! (Something movie theater patrons can't do... It’ll ruin
the ending!) Also, there's a neat 25-minute documentary included
on the disc that contains clips from the film which are major
"spoilers". View this after
seeing the movie itself. 3/30/01 |
| UPDATE
The AB edition reviewed here went OOP in 2005. In 2007 Blue Underground
reissued the same disc reviewed above, only with different cover
art. In May 2011 BU is releasing a newly remastered special edition
on DVD and Blu-ray.
Hooray! (The Blu will include two different cuts of the film.) |
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