Profond Rosso (Deep Red)
Director: Dario Argento
Writers: Dario Argento and Bernardino Zapponi
Starring: David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi
Body Count: 6
Review: Though it's much more of a straight murder-myster (with a few Argento-ish twists) than pure slasher (which isn't surprising, since it predates the true formation of the genre by about four years), Deep Red is Italian horror master Dario Argento's bonafide slasher masterpiece. If there is a film in Argento's filmography that can truly be called a slasher flick, it is definitely Deep Red.
An American pianist teaching at an Italian university witnesses a murder and becomes obssessed with finding the killer and uncovering the story surrounding the who's and why's behind the murder. Along the way, he encounters a plethora of possible suspects. In fact, these bizzare characters are one of the elements of the film that make Deep Red stand out from other Italian hatchet-murdering-freak movies.
The other stand-out elements are (of course) Dario Argento's awesome and inventive directing, and the first-ever musical score by the Italian band Goblin (who would later go on to score my favorite horror film of all time, Dawn of the Dead, among many others). The Goblin score actually became quite a sensation (reaching the #1 slot on the Italian music charts!).
The deaths are okay, and killer identity so-so, but overall, Deep Red is a pretty intriguing flick, and definitely one to watch if you dig Dario Argento and slasher flicks.
Trivia: Deep Red was also released under the titles Deep Red Hatchet Murders, Dripping Deep Red, The Hatchet Murders, and, most bizzare of all, The Sabre Tooth Tiger (don't ask me!).
