Ocular Bonanza. When a psychic is murdered after picking up the thoughts of a psychotic killer, Marcus Day is the only witness to the crime and sets about trying to figure out who is responsible. But he then finds that the killer is shadowing him and targeting anyone who files in to help his investigation. Dario Argento’s Deep Red (AKA: Profundo Rosso/The Hatchet Murders) is rightly regarded as one of the leading lights of Giallo. Argento pitches Marcus Day (David Hemmings working from a splinter of Blow Up) into a rousing and visceral world of murder and mystery – and takes the viewers along as well! It doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is, Argento always has a sinister edge pulsing through his movie. The mystery element is also strong, including for first time viewers a cheeky opportunity to solve it very early on. Painting it all in vivid coloured strokes, Argento unleashes a myriad of stylish sequences, adding in children’s toys and mannequins to further up the creep factor. Musically not all of it works, but the running children’s thematic motif works strikingly well. Negatively the dubbing is often iffy at best and some of the now infamous murder sequences veer close to comedy because the director allows them to be protracted. Uncompromising, thrilling and striking, some quibbles aside, Deep Red is a very positive experience. 7.5/10
