Deep Red a.k.a. Profondo Rosso a.k.a. Mondo Bizarro…

You know when you watch something that you know is supposed to be a cinematic masterpiece, but no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to subscribe to that view yourself? Well I had that feeling when I sat down to watch Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) recently.

Now I know that Dario Argento is a skillful film maker, and a master of his craft. I have watched many of Argento’s other films, and enjoyed them thoroughly. I had however not seen what had been described to me as Argento’s best film, Deep Red.

What's this...

Let me start with what I felt were the film’s good points. Firstly, the cinematography for the most part was quite stylish. The plot was much more straightforward and generally coherent than some of Argento’s other works (this is not necessarily a “good” point, just a “point” actually), and two or three scenes were genuinely pretty terrifying (the best being the scene when a freaky mannequin emerges from the dark!).

Now for the not-so-good. The film was half dubbed in English, and half left in the original Italian. I read that there was some reason for this (lost footage, different versions sliced together, or some shit), but really I don’t care why. The dubbing meant that I felt completely removed from the experience of this film. The immersion that I would usually feel was non-existent. I understand that having a film in English probably helps it to be sold overseas, but I hate it. What’s wrong with having subtitles? If someone finds it too hard to read and watch at the same time, then skip the film and do something less mentally challenging, like eating sand. And thanks to all the (really badly performed) dubbing, the characters seemed really overblown, like caricatures, and again this really detracted from the experience.

Chucky's dad...

Secondly, the score was irritating. The spooky children’s song that played prior to each murder was ok (although the excuse for why the killer played it before each murder was unconvincing), but this was followed by outrageously inappropriate Italian 80′s synth pop which totally killed the mood of the scene.

Thirdly, the entire middle part of the film was pretty boring, with a whole lot of nothing going on (well the protagonists were investigating the murders but I kind of zoned out). For a film that had a really great first ten minutes, this was disappointing. The climax of the film was again pretty good, but it was too little too late.

If you’re a horror fan then this film is probably worth a look, simply because it’s Argento. If not, and you want to see an Argento film, check out Suspiria, Phenomena, or Tenebrae instead.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think…

CS.