Director: Dario Argento
Year: 1975
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Profondo rosso; The Hatchet Murders; The Deep Red Hatchet Murders
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Following the brutal murder of a renowned psychic, a pianist witness teams up with a reporter to investigate the psychic's death but the twisting case provides plenty of clues with no connection to each other and they race to stop the killer before he strikes again.
Review:
This here was one of the better gialli's ever made and one of Argento's strongest efforts. What really stands out here is that like most gialli's of the time period there's a great deal of effort paid to the strong story as it's one of the finest ever concocted in the genre. This is set up from the beginning with the fantastic murder scene committed in shadows on a living room wall while an eerie lullaby plays out in the background, and then once the killings properly start this draws out plenty more to like within this. Following up the lullaby, they find the connection with the house and the shattered memories locked up in there and that leads to the connection with the children's drawings found at the elementary school and the struggle to piece all these together with the lone puzzle piece that he can remember from the initial attack he witnessed.
As always, we're given a clue to who the killer is, but the killer is always seen with such an item that using it as the definitive piece to prove the identity would be impossible. Giving only the traditional pair of black gloves, a brown jacket, and blond hair, which are very common items or traits, are nearly impossible to use as evidence to name a killer, is a very rare and even completely refreshing thing to use as a manner of identification rather than either hardly seeing who it is or by not even showing them at all. All of this works incredibly well in leaving the film with a strong and engaging central mystery that comes across really well here and setting the stage for the centerpiece kill scenes that are known for the visually-creative methods of killing people. There's plenty to like about these graphic, brutal kills that manage to look stunningly beautiful as well as horribly graphic and brutal, which makes for a much better time here, and given that there's a slew of strong suspenseful stalking scenes scattered along the way there's plenty of stylish and impressive work here. Even the score is pretty creepy and is one of Goblin's best, all making for a good time to hold out over the film's very few negatives.
The one main thing negatively about this is it has a tendency to simply stop the plot altogether and concentrate on a particular character trait that doesn't need to be in the story. Here, it's a middle act that is completely devoid of any activity. He really does nothing except simply have him play the piano at odd intervals which have no tension, no suspense, hardly anything other than the typical penchant for filming boring scenes with odd shots and angles. Likewise, the one thing about the soundtrack was that it was used as a sound effect, popping out occasionally to surprise the viewer. It works well the first time, but grows repetitive and doesn't work as time goes on, but otherwise, this here is one of the genre's best efforts.
Overview: *****/5
A boring middle-half that's not really interesting or enjoyable is really all that keeps this one down as the rest of what's on display is not only top-notch Argento but the genre in general. This is definitely worth a look, not only for Argento fans but also for Italian horror fans and giallo alike while only those who aren't into the genre or his other films won't like this one.
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