Dario Argento action figure by Luca Bartole.

“Is it right to be obsessed with looking at terrible things and sharing them with other people?”

—Dario Argento

I feel like these words of director Dario Argento are a part of my job description here at Dangerous Minds. Over the years pretty much every DM contributor has brought to light a vast array of car-crashy-can’t-look-away content. On more than several occasions, DM has highlighted the work of both Argento and the Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci. Today, the films of both directors collide with the strange, ever-expanding world of action figures. If you’re into collectibles and giallo, you know that a very creepy version of the deranged puppet from Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) exists. Sculpted by the very talented Charlie Lonewolf, only 25 of the officially licensed figures were made. You may also know that Argento opened the Profondo Rosso Horror store in Rome in 1989. It’s full of every kind of Argento-related memorabilia that you could shake your favorite razor-sharp stabbing knife at. According to a person who visited the museum, there were also Argento-centric “action figures” on display.

As I sadly haven’t yet been to what sounds like the happiest place on Earth (to me anyway), this mention of the existence of such action figures sent me on a quest to find them. And find them I did.

Artist Luca Bartole has made all of our nightmares come true by creating a line of custom, handmade action figures based on characters in films directed by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. The collection includes 3.75-inch versions of Argento and Fulci as well as Fulci in character as Inspector Carter from the film Demonia (1990). Others include the hatchet-wielding Marta Manganiello (played by actress Clara Calamai) from Profondo Rosso, Jennifer Corvina (played by actress Jennifer Connelly) from Phenomena (1985), and the unfortunate Father William Thomas (played by actor Fabrizio Jovine) from Fulci’s City of the Living Dead (1980). Are these the same action figures displayed at Argento’s museum? Who knows? What I do know is if you’ve always wanted to have your own pocket-sized figure of Dario Argento, now you can.

All the figures retail for $65.59 and ship for free.
 

 

 

 

 
More bloody toys mayhem after the jump…

 
Well, I say in full, but this is actually the shorter US edit, which cuts out twenty odd minutes of the film. Gone are most of the scenes between David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi, which are actually quite sweet and charming, and add to whatever vague arc these characters are meant to have. This isn’t a great transfer (with a fair amount of color loss) but if you haven’t seen this before it’s worth a watch. The brutality is intact, and most importantly so is the soundtrack by Goblin. It’s one of those films that is worth watching just for the music.

The Profondo Rosso score is as good as any score that came out in the 70s. Yes, that’s saying a lot, as the mid-to-late 70s were a golden age of soundtracks—from Blaxploitation to John Williams to big commercial hits like The Exorcist/Tubular Bells, Grease and Saturday Night Fever—but with its combination of horror-atmospherics and tightly woven sleuth-funk it’s truly brilliant.

If Dario Argento is anything, he’s a master of atmosphere, and it seems obvious to say that he was at his zenith when he worked with Goblin. Profondo Rosso is the first fruits of that collaboration, and while they may have topped it with their work together on Suspiria, this is still a filmic landmark.
 

 
Goblin’s Profondo Rosso - The Complete Edition is available to buy on CD.

Deep Red has just been released on Blu-Ray, you can find it here.