Deep Red

Deep Red is like a pearl inside an oyster. It forms as a reaction to a foreign body. In Dario Argento’s career, after the success of his first three giallo films – the so-called “animal trilogy” (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, 1970; The Cat o’ Nine Tails, 1971; Four Flies on Grey Velvet, 1971) – the grain of sand becomes the director’s desire to push the genre further, to cross a boundary: the boundary of logic. The result is a rare gem – a true masterpiece. Deep Red was an enormous commercial success and has remained a cult classic ever since. All the classic elements of giallo are here: a killer dressed in black, a foreigner conducting his own investigation, a string of brutal murders, countless false leads, and the truth revealed only at the end. But there is something more – the touch of a true master. Argento introduces a new, personal formula into the perfectly calibrated mechanism he himself had created, suddenly sending the audience’s pulse racing. From this moment on – and throughout the second half of the 1970s – the giallo genre experiences a rebirth, propelled by this exemplary film toward new and more terrifying directions.

Stanisław Bardadin

Dario Argento (b. 1940) – Italian master of cinematic macabre and maestro of giallo, producer of emerging talents and author of numerous screenplays (including spaghetti westerns). Before becoming a director, he collaborated with, among others, Sergio Leone and Mario Bava. Argento’s films explore the metaphysics of evil, often delving into themes of magic, alchemy, and the coexistence of the material and immaterial worlds. His distinctive poetics, mastery of suspense, and ability to create an atmosphere of dread have had a profound influence on contemporary horror cinema. He comes from a family of filmmakers; today, the tradition is continued by his daughter, Asia Argento.

14th New Horizons IFF Catalogue

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