Dario Argento
Profondo Rosso

I was told that this film had once caused endless sleepless nights, all kinds of traumas, pathological anxiety, and who knows what other misfortune. Obviously, with such premises, I expected the unimaginable from Deep Red, the only other thing I knew about it being that Goblin had gifted the world of music a great work by composing the score for this film (after all, who doesn't know the wonderful title track from the album of the same name as the film?). The only thing this film has wrecked, however, I'm sorry to say, is my nerves. Not because of the tense atmospheres, not because of the violence or any other horror elements of the film, but because of the damned stupidity of the characters and the lack of logic in the events related to their choices. I don't want to publicly destroy a film that I believe deserves to be seen, but this aspect almost made me get up from the couch and leave the room, in addition to making me curse live several times. That said, let's move on to a somewhat more objective analysis.

The film, right from the start, puts the viewer in a position to expect the worst, with a disturbing murder (animated somewhat questionably, if we can use such a term) in the first scene snippet, which curiously fits between the first and second halves of the opening credits against a black background. From a technical and aesthetic point of view, I was immediately annoyed by the too quick and sudden fade-outs (especially audio) of certain scenes, something that will occur from time to time throughout the film's duration. The first few minutes did not disappoint me at all as they are capable of creating a good atmosphere filled with tension, potentially ready to escalate into some destructive atrocity. Some directorial choices (not just at the beginning of the film, to be clear) also highlight this atmosphere excellently. For example, the moments in which great use is made of what I would roughly define as the "now-you-see-it-now-you-don't technique", especially to keep the unknown identity of the killer intact while making the viewer believe they are a step away from seeing them face-to-face. Which indeed eventually happens: for a brief moment, it is possible to glimpse the features of the heinous criminal a couple of hours in advance by paying close attention to the details of a certain scene, which I will avoid revealing prematurely.

Despite, as mentioned earlier, not being able to explain some logical connections in the film (generally only explainable by admitting the absurd stupidity of almost all the characters, though it is obvious that these are perhaps necessary cinematic choices which, however, end up creating somewhat paradoxical situations), I must admit I was surprised by the ending, which reveals a well-orchestrated and appropriately complex mystery where, for once, everything seems to make sense. And I would also cite as positive the fact that during the two-hour film, I thought about every possibility, but the only character in the film I would have considered unsuspectable is ultimately guilty. Herein lies Argento's narrative skill, managing to set up numerous situations that only serve to divert suspicion fairly blatantly toward everyone else, except the culprit, without anyone noticing.

A couple more words on a couple of additional issues: firstly, the music by Goblin, which is spectacular in itself but I must admit I didn't always find it suitable for the context in which it was inserted, and imagining certain scenes with different music I could envision something more impactful, albeit perhaps less original. Secondly, the supposed atrocity of the film. I realize that in 1975 it wasn't as common as it is today to have industrial quantities of blood in films, or live mutilations of various kinds, but the brutal scenes cover at most about 10% of the film's total mass. And this means nothing if the atmosphere were kept tense throughout the film's duration (think of Shining, where fundamentally very little terrible is seen but one is constantly immersed in a dreadful emotional state dictated by the atmosphere and ever-tense music), something that unfortunately does not happen here. On one hand, rather long interludes between murders are positive for a reason of eclecticism within the film, but they also represent a destruction of the rotten atmosphere built with one or two minutes of gruesome scene. At a certain point, having understood the direction the film was taking, I stopped fearing anything and instead was more frightened by the pseudo-comic interludes daringly inserted during the investigation (purely thriller and little more, not very different from the Trilogy of Animals by the same author) throughout the film, and in some cases by acting (maybe it’s the dubbing, I don’t know) that’s not exactly convincing.

In short, it is indeed a pity that a film with such potentially interesting plot wasn't endowed with everything necessary to give its best in the horror genre, in my opinion. Some of the flaws that come to mind are the aforementioned ones of logic and especially the inconsistency of the atmosphere, which fails to traumatize as it should and could. Let's be clear, the historical importance of this film is indisputable, but aware of the fact that many will not agree, I cannot hide the fact that personally this film more often made me irritated or amused by its absurdity rather than scared me to death as it is rumored to be capable of doing, nor did it put me in a condition of emotional discomfort dictated by atmospheric factors for a sufficient period of time. And it should be above all this, in my opinion, the beating heart of the structure of every properly respected horror film.