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It is a very difficult job for me to pick between this and Suspiria as Argento's best work. Both are masterpieces in their own right. Deep Red is about a man that sees a murder committed and then tries to unravel the mystery of finding the killer. David Hemmings does a fine job in the lead as he walks the streets of an Italian city in search of this homicidal killer. As with most of Argento's work, the viewer should not try to make too much sense out of the plot, but rather enjoy the rich subtext and visual tapestry with which Argento paints the screen. The killings, most notably done with a hatchet, are inventive and decidedly gruesome. More than one time I found myself jump and wince(I suppose those are good things!) The acting, even though most dubbed, is very good. The set locations are very atmospheric as well. Argento's camera, however, is the principal character as it shows us all kinds of images related to plot and otherwise and reached into our subconscience for real meaning. This is first and foremost a visual film, and it certainly shows Argento's homage to his mentor's work, the films of Mario Bava.

What's the big damn deal with this film? I've got five words about Dario Argento: Don't always believe the hype. I know I'm not the only horror fan that thinks Argento is a tad too overrated. It seems like the Argento films I enjoy are the ones that aren't so well received by everyone else. And the ones I hate, are the most well known and well loved. This movie is the strongest example of this. Deep Red is confusing, terribly hard to follow, and just plain boring. The pace crawls along l-i-k-e...t-h-i-s. Just like Suspiria, this movie starts with a bang and slowly dwindles away...along with your sanity. It's sad when I'm watching the DVD counter waiting for a film to end. I hated this movie. I think I'm going to start a scale based on how many fingers I would chop off just to never see this crap again. On the fingers scale, Deep Red gets a 7. That may sound harsh, but it's my honest opinion. But, my comments are to no avail because, just like I did, you will probably ignore the two negative comments and listen to everyone else and rent this movie.

#201 Deep Red (Italian: Profondo rosso) - 1975 (126 minute version) (This Film Rates a B ) The films starts off around Christmas and someone being stabbed to death off screen. Fast forward to a music ensemble practicing their jazzy tune. It then pans to a conference about parapsychology and features a medium named Helga. She has "extraordinary psychic powers". In dramatic fashion she predicts her own death by an unnamed person in the audience. Shortly after she is brutally murdered with a meat cleaver. One of the jazz members (Marcus) sees her being murdered and can't help but touch and move the body. He becomes a suspect and then is broadcasted that he could identify the murderer. The only initial connection is the children's music playing with each death. In an abandoned mansion, Marcus discovers a disturbing piece of artwork which shows a child holding a bloody knife after stabbing someone. Eventually he finds a skeleton corpse behind one of the walls. He gets knocked out and finds himself outside the house which is now burning. After all that, Marcus, is well enough to break into an elementary school where he finds a similar drawing. The killer is then revealed but dies in a horrific car accident. Who is the real killer? The twist ending is short and to the point but is a winner. The film is overlong but offers some effective build. Maybe the shorter dubbed version has a better pace. The killer is methodical and creates giallo type suspense. "He" also isn't always the main focus of the film which adds to the suspense. The artsy cinematography is really top notch and one of the biggest highlights that make this film successful. There are many fine examples of scenes and still shots that are so well crafted. The soundtrack is also superb, but what else would you expect from Goblin! No one can make murder sound so groovy! The electronic progressive rocks music fits each scene like a glove and makes the simplest scenes pop, it also gives them some texture. The gore and effects are decent for a film of this era but not extensive. It just feels like there isn't enough and at times felt empty. There is an awful fake bird scare at the 1 hour 1 minute mark. That poor bird! Mostly it is all the little details that make this film succeed.

A slaughtered psychic sets the scene, a vicious killer that can't be seen, but Marcus Daly's on the case, to unmask the villains face, it takes some time to follow clues, more red spills in shades and hues, an author takes an unplanned facial, it leaves her feeling far from glacial, a haunted house near derelict, it's still not easy to predict, help from Gianna and her small car, the end reminds of abattoirs.

Disgraceful lizard torture scene aside (appalling if we're honest), this takes you on a fine old ride, with doubts aplenty about whodunit, the slices, cleaves, slashes and head splits. As engaging today as it ever was (apart from the lizard, which was always wrong).

Italian cult director Dario Argento, master of arty gore, brings this eerie and stylish story plagued by depraved gore murders, it concerns about a composer(David Hemmings) who observes a chilling assassination of his neighbor, an Occultist-medium (Macha Meril). When he gets clues , the musician visits a woman and discovers that she has been cruelly killed , as well. The composer along with a reporter(Daria Nicolidi, wife to Argento and mother of Asia) start following the tracks on a strange mansion.Other key roles are his friend Carlo(Gabriele Lavia) and the psychic's assistant Doctor Giordini.

One of the best ¨Giallo¨with oneiric,effective esthetics packs lots of gore, guts and twists plots. This is a trademark terror work for the Horrormeister Argento with high tension quotient and equally high suspense by means of an ever-fluid camera that achieves colorful shots similarly to Giorgio De Chirico paintings. Noteworthy for intelligent edition work that tightens the mystery, glimmer use of color and distinctive utilization of shock images. Sometimes weak screenplay is added by nice but gory special effects by Carlo Rambaldi(ET).Screeching musical score by Goblin with stereophonic whispers combining to fortissimo soundtrack which help achieve incredible creepy moments.The terror pieces are well staged with eye-opening flair-play and contain obscure tracks to the denouement of the script.As trivia, Argento appears as murderer's hand. The motion picture is originally directed by Dario Argento, one of those film-makers(other examples are Mario Bava and Riccardo Freda ) who set off simple for frightening us to death. His period of biggest hits were the 70s when he directed the animals trilogy: ¨Four flies over gray velvet,The cat of nine tails, Bird with the crystal plumage¨, after he directed ¨Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre¨ and of course ¨Deep red¨. This bloody fun plenty of graphic gore and weirdness may not be for all tastes but to be liked for Argento connoisseurs especially.