Profundo Rosso

I'm still trying to catch up on my Metal Psalter stuff, as well as get through the CDs and DVDs that I bought from another weekend in Portland, but somehow today, I managed to find something to talk about other than really bad hockey jerseys. And let's face it, no matter how bad some of those jerseys look, odds are that if I have a chance to grab one of those and wear them, I just might go for it.

Today's piece is a Dario Argento classic in Profundo Rosso, which is better known here in the United States as Deep Red. This 1975 film was his first film after the "Animal Trilogy" of giallo films that had some mixed results. Judging by what he did on Profundo Rosso, it is obvious that Argento learned from all three of those films because this ended up being his best film ever. I know you're probably saying that Suspiria should be mentioned in the same breath, but there's a difference between being the most well-known film and just simply being the best film, and Suspiria is in the former, although it would be hard to argue that the film had some great moments.

For reference sakes, I will be referring to this film under the Italian name instead of the English name, so if you're confused at all, just remember that Profundo Rosso and Deep Red are the same movie. The basic plot of the movie is that a medium that feels a murderer gets killed that same evening and it is up to an American music teacher who saw the murder to figure out who that murderer is, and he gets some help from a nosy reporter. While trying to find clues, those who try to help out are picked off one by one by the murderer, whose infatuation with children's songs and other things are driven home by the song that plays prior to the murders and a close-up view of all the dolls lying around. The murders are done in a stylish manner that relates to the viewer in the sense that one would know about the feeling of being scalded with hot water and running into an edge of a table. The movie actually runs a little longer than it should, but this is one of those films that leaves no detail behind, even if it leads to a dead end. Profundo Rosso is the definitive Argento giallo, and that is saying a lot, considering that The Bird With the Crystal Plumage and Tenebre also had his fingerprints all over them.