Deep Red / Dario Argento / Shudder / Brief

 

Nicolodi's reporter investigates while Hemmings pianist searches for a drawing tied to a killer

Nicolodi is more or less a supporting character, but she is still on the mind so I added her as the "lead screengrab". Hemmings seeing a psychic murdered after a performance in a theater deeply concerned the killer. That Macha Méril's German psychic/clairvoyant could possibly expose a long held secret meant she was marked for death. Anyone tied to her was also in danger, including Hemmings, a pianist and composer, who happened to be out for a walk, hearing the psychic scream from her apartment. Gabriele Lavia turns out to be very important, as he was down on the street when the killer leaves the dead psychic's apartment. A drunk keyboardist who considers himself a second-rate pianist, especially next to Hemmings; Lavia is also miserable because he's homosexual, a dynamic Argento doesn't spend too much time on. It must be said that Argento was one of the Italian horror filmmakers giving gay characters a place in his developed stories, although I'm thinking the community might ponder how he represents them. I was watching Tenebrae (1982) just the other evening, and a lesbian book critic, who took a horror novelist's books to task for being misogynistic, is not only nastily killed by a religious zealot but she was also poked fun at by her bisexual lover. Lavia is also linked to the killer, present when the murder took place, shown at the beginning before the credits roll and the memorable Goblin score delivers that catchy tune stuck in my head this very moment I write this.

What's cool is Dario gives you the killer and it is a quick catch-it-if-you-can moment as Hemmings is moving to help Méril.

Those kills are still brutal in Deep Red, especially a poor guy's mouth smashed into furniture corners and a knife stabbed in his neck, some hatchet to shoulders, a face scalded in a tub or running hot water, and face smashed through a window with the neck slicing broken glass. But Dario certainly upped what he does here in Tenebrae seven years later.

Nicolodi doesn't impact this film as much as she does others, with this rather underwritten but still featuring her winning an arm wrestling match with Hemmings. Still that opening setup, a memory that truly traumatizes the kid as a grownup as he boozes it up every night, with the children song, a bloody knife on the floor, and a kid in the room with a killer and a victim just out of frame is a hell of a wallop. I think why this works as an effective Giallo is because the story and why the killer commits to protecting herself is solid and the framework is expertly told. *****/*****