Italian movie poster for ‘Profondo rosso’ for sale at Westgate Gallery
Dario Argento’s 1975 giallo film, Deep Red (Profondo rosso), stands as one of the auteur’s greatest works. It’s been given the 4K treatment, and the restoration is about to be released on Blu-ray in the US for the first time. We’ve got a preview in the form of a clip, and it’s one of the highlights of the picture. Creepy, scary and so sadistic it’s painful to watch. But in a good way!
Well-known British actor David Hemmings plays Marcus Davy, a professional pianist, who witnesses a brutal murder. Daria Nicolodi is journalist Gianna Brezzi, who, like Marcus, wants to know who committed the murder. As Marcus learns more and more about the case, the body count mounts.
This is the first Argento movie for Nicolodi, who went on to be a regular in his films. Argento and Nicolodi also became a couple, with their daughter, Asia Argento, arriving a year after they met.
For his co-writer, Argento chose Bernardino Zapponi, a frequent cohort of Federico Fellini. It was Zapponi who came up with the idea of incorporating relatable injuries, like begin scalded by hot water, and banging your head.
Argento fans might notice that the theme of faulty human memory, a concept first explored in his debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, is also the central motif of Deep Red.
Alfred Hitchcock was an early influence on Argento, and Psycho most certainly comes to mind here, while the original Italian poster recalls Saul Bass’s artwork for Vertigo.
Argento was disappointed with the Giorgio Gaslini’s score for Deep Red, so he asked Pink Floyd if they’d come aboard; they declined. The director was subsequently given a demo tape of an Italian group called Cherry Five, and was so impressed he hired them. The band would soon change their name to Goblin. The jazz rock score the unit composed and performed for the film is fantastic, and went on to sell millions of copies on vinyl. Argento and Goblin would work together on other pictures, including the director’s follow-up, Suspiria, which resulted in one of the scariest (and most stylish) movies ever made.
Argento on the set of ‘Deep Red.’
The excerpt we have for you is taken from one of the murder scenes, and includes one of the aforementioned relatable injuries, so you’ll need to be ready for that (my teeth hurt just thinking about it). But what’ll haunt your dreams is the super-creepy mechanical toy (known as the “mad puppet”) that emerges from a closet at the start of the clip. Every shot choice Argento makes here is just perfect.
Arrow Video’s outstanding 4K restoration of Deep Red arrives as a two-disc, limited edition Blu-ray set on April 10th. It’s sure to sell out, so pre-order yours today by way of Diabolik or Amazon.
US poster
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The original ending for Dario Argento’s 1971 thriller, ‘The Cat O’ Nine Tails’ (a DM premiere)
Deep Red: Blood-drenched movie posters & artwork used for the films of Dario Argento
Dario Argento’s horror classic ‘Suspiria’ and the most vicious murder scene ever filmed, 1977