Deep Red

Dario Argento’s DEEP RED establishes horror through truths that are slowly uncovered by a normal man. This man, a pianist and music teacher named Marcus Daly, becomes entrenched in the horror. His neighbor, a psychic who has enough credence to speak at public events with scientists, is brutally stabbed to death. Hearing her screams from the street, Marcus rushes upstairs to save her, but is only able to pry her body from the glass of the window. He sees a painting though, which later disappears, and is immediately drawn to the case, acting detective even though he really just knows how to play the piano. But Marcus is thrown deeply into a horrific world, his perceptions of everything changing, from an old house he would have considered quaint containing dead bodies and weird pictures, and his friend Carlo being unmasked as gay, and a little crazy. Argento’s storytelling is perfect though, with little mysteries being unveiled as an ultra-regular man tries to make sense of it all: unfairness following his every move, artily rendered under the deep red of flowing blood or a boiled face.

★★★★/5