DEEP RED

Italy, 1975, 100 minutes, Colour.
David Hemmings.
Directed by Dario Argento.

What films really scare you? Horror, giant rats and parasites? But what of baroque Italian thrillers with knife-wielding murderers lurking menacingly in the dark and slashing in swift close-ups. After all, who is sitting behind you in a dark theatre? And the most terrifying master of these heavy, bloody thrillers is Dario Argento, and this is his goriest (deaths in The Omen vein). (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage was another scary one.) With David Hemmings on the job. the murderer is finally revealed and horribly disposed of and the screen goes deep red. One for the addicts.

1. The quality of this murder thriller? Audience response to murder thrillers: interest, thrills, scares, gore?

2. The particular qualities of this film: the intricacy of the plot, fright and shock, murders and the goriness of the deaths? The significance of the title and its presentation at the end?

3. The style of this particular director: the baroque style, the use of Panavision, the intensity of the close-ups, the closeness of the sets. strident music? Shocks and gore?

4. The importance of the pre-credits: The signature for the deaths? The paintings? The mystery of the murder and the people involved? The puzzle throughout the film, the paintings, the satisfactory explanation at the end?

5. The atmosphere of E.S.P.? Audience empathy with the characters, situations and issues? Involvement because of the lecture, the medium and her clairvoyance? The fright? The subjective roving around the audience at the lecture? The clues provided for the murder? The fear of the woman?

6. The lecturer and her fear, her seeing violent death, the violence of her killing and its mystery? Marcus and his involvement and witnessing the death? The encounter with Carlo at the time and the later explanations?

7. How interesting and credible a character was Marcus? Audience identification with him, involvement in investigating the case, his searching out of clues, the meticulous following them up, the lateness of his arrival and the deaths?

8. The atmosphere of madness, the occult? The settings, the houses, the people consulted?

9. The importance of the house and its mystery, the detailed sequences in the house and their shock value, the drawing and the explanation of the mystery. The search in the school?

10. The people who died and the violence of their deaths? How necessary, how revolting Especially the woman who wrote the book? The fact that Marcus' friends were also killed? The girl and the threat at the school? The mysterious identification and audience expectations of a man?

11. The importance of the showdown and the revelation of Carlo's involvement? The final puzzle and Marcus' solving of it?

12. How credible was the mother of the murderess? The explanation via flashback? The effect on Carlo? The previous scenes in which the mother appeared and their meaning? The violence of her death and the ending?

13. What is the value of this kind of thriller? What effect does it have on audiences?