Above: One of the six collector cards
The Story ? No, no, everyone of you has seen this film
already as it's a giallo horror classic, so i won't bore you much.
A lovely German Psychic (Macha Méril) is killed by a psychopath
and a British (?) pianist played nicely by David "Blow
Up - Barbarella" Hemmings starts to investigate by himself. The
Hallway with the paintings scene must be one of the most
ingenious in the history of Horror. The killings by the psycho are gruesome
and effects were created by Carlo Rambaldi.
In the Amanda Righetti (Giuliana Calandra) murder scene the eye in the
closet is a homage to The Spiral Staircase, 1946,
and Argento used the eyes again in Suspiria (but more demonic then in
the eyes outside of window scene) and then again
in Inferno (demonic again and painted by Mario Bava in the Irene Miracle
chase scene).
Some thoughts: In the beginning we the viewers, not
David Hemmings, get to see that the killer uses a Kajal pencil around
the eyes .... who in the film has Kajal made make-up around the eyes?
There are only 2.
Dario is playing with open hands and later also let us see the killer
for some second. So, the killer is no big mystery to us.
Why is the killer leaving Marc Daly (David Hemmings) unconscious in
the Ghost house and not killing him before setting
the house on fire, when she has bestially murdered all the others ?
(..... OK, if so, then Daria wouldn't have rescued him).
(Yes, and the optical effect of the burning mansion was AWFUL and should
have been made better. I'm sure Mario Bava
would've made it look great).
Clara
Calamai (1909-1998) is
brilliant as the sweet old mother of Gabriele Lavia's Carlo, and finally
in the extras we do get
some information about her and how she got the role, told by i.a. Dario
Argento. She's fascinating in the role.
Fulvio Mingozzi is Not a cab driver in this film, as
in Suspiria when driving Jessica Harper to the Ballet Academy in Freiburg,
or as in Inferno when driving Eleonora Giorgi to the Library in Rome,
or as in Phenomena when driving Jennifer Connelly
and Daria Nicolodi to the school, in Deep Red he's a cop named Mingozzi
taking David Hemmings to the police station.
We've 2 creepy kids in this one, red-haired Nicoleta Elmi and Jacopo
Mariani plays Carlo as a boy, and he also could be seen
in Suspiria where he played the evil boy and member of the witches clan
(and really creepy when looking at Suzy Bannion).
Macha Meril's Helga Ullman is the German psychic speaking at the Parapsychology
conference early on in the film, and in
the english language version one can hear the professor Giordani (Glauco
Mauri) introduce her as a .... Lithuanian !?
Above: Reversible sleeve
Disc 1: Original version 127
minutes
2.35:1 widescreen
Audio - DTS-HD MA Italian Mono or Italian 5.1 or English-Italian Hybrid
English Subtitles
Extras: Six Collector Cards, a Poster and a Booklet
Audio Commentaries by 1. Troy Howarth and Nathaniel
Thompson, and 2. Thomas Rostock
Deep in the Red - Interviews with cast and crew Arrow
Video 2018 and Archival (58 minutes) i.a. with Daria Nicolodi
R.I.P. 1950 - November 26th 1920
The Medium Wore Black - Interview with actress Macha Méril (21
minutes, 2018 Arrow)
16 Years in Red - Interview with production manager Angelo Lacono (46
minutes, 2018 Arrow)
Death Dies - Interview with composer Claudio Simpanetti (15 minutes,
2018 Arrow)
Carlo Never Dies - Interview with actor Gabriele Lavia (15 minutes,
2018 Arrow)
I am the Screaming Child - Interview with actor Jacopo Mariani (8 minutes,
playing Carlo as a child)
Bloodstained - Interview with actor Lino Capolicchio (5 minutes, 2018
Arrow) Originally meant to be playing David
Hemming's role, Trailers and Image Galleries
Above: Booklet
Disc 2: 105 minutes Export version
2.35:1 widescreen
Audio - DTS-HD MA English Mono
English Subtitles
Archival introduction by Claudio Simonetti
Profondo Giallo - Archival Video Essay by Michael MacKenzie (33 minutes)
Archival interviews with Dario Argento (12 minutes), Daria Nicolodi
(19 minutes), Claudio Simonetti (14 minutes),
Luigi Cozzi (14 minutes)
