Deep Red (1975)

November 22, 2019 11:47 PM

Dario Argento's giallo to end all gialli from 1975. An engineer jazz pianist witnesses a murder and becomes obsessed with finding the killer, no matter how creepy the hallway, how Art Nouveau the spooky mansion, or how loud the Goblin.
posted by fleacircus (2 comments total)

It's been forever since I've seen this and I'm still distressed by the teeth bashing scene. I always liked what Argento said about the violence in that scene. Seeing someone get shot in a movie, while awful, is not an experience that everyone has personally had and can relate to. But everyone knows what it feels like to accidentally bump their teeth/mouth on something. So there's an immediate, visceral reaction by the audience because we can relate to what that actually feels like, if not as severely as the poor character.

A couple years after seeing the movie, I accidentally broke a tooth on the edge of a table (bent down to pick up something I dropped while in a dark room, oops!). So yeah, that scene flashed in my mind as I was bleeding from the mouth.
posted by acidnova at 12:05 AM on November 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

I watched Bird With the Crystal Plumage just before watching this. Deep Red feels like a sweet spot in terms of style and straightforwardness.

Like when the protagonist hacks apart the secret wall in the mansion, and it's just shown somewhat realistically as a thing that takes a little time and determination. In other movies things would be going stylistically insane but Deep Red is kind of weird-but-grounded. Just like a really synthy 12 bar blues I guess.
posted by fleacircus at 9:31 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]