Deep Red is generally considered -- along with Suspiria -- to be the best work of Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento. I've only seen three of his films (the aforementioned Suspiria and his debut The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, which I barely remember) and I won't be in a hurry to see many more. It's not that Deep Red is bad, in fact it's fantastic a good chunk of the time. Whenever Argento focuses on violence and mystery, Deep Red is a lot of fun. It's never actually frightening but there's plenty of style and some very inventive murder sequences that make the film worth seeing. Whether it's stabbings, boilings or car accidents, Argento presents death with a darkly beautiful precision. It's easy to see why he's such a huge influence on the slasher genre and specifically the early films of John Carpenter. The problem with Deep Red is that those moments take up about a half hour of the films two hour run time. The rest of the movie drags and drags. There are no intriguing characters or deep messages to involve the viewer without that violence. Deep Red is a important film in horror history (and the violent scenes earn an "A") but I'm guessing only the most hardcore of Argento fans will stick up for the movie as a whole being a classic.
Rating: 3
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