Dario Argento's DEEP RED (1975), long considered to be the best movie he has made (TENEBRE is a close second), has been released in various markets under many different titles.  This was a very common practice of foreign films in the 1960's and 1970's as there was a firm desire to hide the ethnicity of a movie's country of origin.  Also known as PROFONSO ROSSO, DEEP RED: THE HATCHET MURDERS, and even THE SHIVERS OF ANGUISH (in France), the film left a lasting impression on audiences with its new and breathtaking cinematic style, unorthodox marriage of quasi-jazz/rock music that was potent enough to inspire John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN theme, and extensive use of a large old house as the scene of a crime that has remained secret for years until a chance meeting with a psychic threatens to bring the murder out into the open.

Coming on the heels of Argento's phenomenal debut film THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970), his interesting THE CAT O'NINE TAILS (1971), the overlong and meandering FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1972) and his comedic THE FIVE DAYS OF MILAN (1975), DEEP RED announced the arrival of what most of us think of as a Dario Argento film.

While his first three films bore the name of a particular type of animal in their titles, the basic similarity holding them together was the employment of a regular Everyman as their protagonist-turned-amateur sleuth attempting to solve the puzzle of a murder victim's death. 

David Hemmings stars as Marcus Daly in a role obviously inspired by his turn as the photographer in Michelangelo Antonioni's revered BLOW-UP (1966).  He's a jazz pianist who is walking home late one night and witnesses the brutal murder of his neighbor, psychic Helga Ulmann (Macha Meril).  He runs to her apartment in the hopes of helping her, but is too late.  After the police arrive, Marcus has the distinct feeling that something has been changed or rearranged in the apartment.  This notion provides the basis for a very interesting puzzle that Marcus sets out to solve with the unsolicited help of newspaper reporter Gianni Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi).  Through a series of threads and clues, Marc is lead to an enormous abandoned house that holds the key to the crime he witnessed.    

DEEP RED raised the bar by showcasing a series of firsts for the director: it was the first time that he utilized the considerable talents of Goblin, the Italian rock group whose musical score elevates the film into the stratosphere, and Daria Nicolodi, his long-time girlfriend, appeared in her first role for him. She was also a story and script collaborator on his films until 1987. Ms. Nicolodi's performance and her unique ability to bounce off of her leading man is one of the film's greatest assets. Their comedic banter is a pleasant counterpoint to the mayhem at hand. While the Italian cut contains additional, non-essential exposition of a similar nature, in addition to an alternate opening, the American version is the preferable cut as it is more polished.  Longer is not always better, as is the case with DEEP RED. 

Shot between September and December 1974 in Rome and Turin, the film did not reach American shores until June 1976 and was dismissed by the New York Times as "a bucket of ax-murder cliches." I would be interested to know what version of the film played theatrically here.  If it was anything like the 100-minute mess released by Thorn/EMI Home Video in the mid-1980's, it is difficult to follow, and my sympathies to the late Vincent Canby. Argento has never received much respect here in the U.S., and in the early days of home video before the public was given access to the Internet, aficionados of his vision were forced to scour independent video stores in Italian neighborhoods to locate uncut bootleg versions of his films, which were usually in Italian with no English subtitles.  Now, thanks to the fine folks at Blue Underground, you can have as much DEEP RED as you like since the new Blu-ray disc possesses both the 105-minute American cut as well as the 126-minute Italian language cut. For the first time, viewers now have the opportunity to choose which version they would rather see. Diehard Argento fans will no doubt want to watch both versions, which are considerably different. Like INFERNO, the film has never looked better on home video. Reds are, well, deep, and blues are strong and bright, and flesh tones are accurate.

The transfer isn't the only area in which Blue Underground has improved DEEP RED. In addition, they have reinstated the cover with the original American ad slick, the one time wherein the American artwork bested all of the foreign artwork for an Argento film.

The extras have been ported over from the regular DVD, and include two additional music videos exclusive to the Blu-ray, as well as the following:

            Interviews with Dario Argento, Bernardino Zapponi, and Goblin

            Theatrical trailers

            Goblin Music Video - "Profondo Rosso"

Daemonia Music Video - "Profondo Rosso"

This Blu-ray is a must-have for the transfer alone. Here is hoping that SUSPIRIA, TENEBRE, PHENOMENA and OPERA will soon follow.

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