Deep Red (1975)

Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) is an English jazz pianist who is currently teaching in Rome.  On his way home one evening, he encounters a fellow pianist, Carlo (Gabriele Lavia).  While the two chat, they hear a woman shriek.  Though startled, neither goes to investigate, but Marc bids farewell.  He has hardly turned the corner than he sees glass shattering in his apartment building and his neighbor, Helga, shoved neck-first onto the remaining glass.  He rushes upstairs.  The intruder is gone and Helga is quite dead.  Soon, the police arrive and so does an intrepid reporter, Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi).  The following day, Marc feels as though he saw something in a painting that is no longer there.  Both Carlo and Gianna suggest he get out of Rome lest the murderer come after him.  He declines.  Instead, he starts an investigation of his own, consulting with Helga's associates.  To his concern, the murderer seems to know his every move and leaves more bodies, which start to implicate Marc himself as the murderer.

Here is a horror murder mystery by one of the masters of horror.  Though I very briefly considered the true culprit while watching, I instead settled on the wrong person.  There were repeated hints toward a particular wrong culprit and I didn't suspect.  Interestingly, the murderer had been revealed when Marc had rushed into Helga's apartment, this being the change that Marc sensed.  After the conclusion, I went back to that scene and there was the killer, clear as day.  Very clever.

Hemmings is fine, though he clearly can't play the piano.  Or if he could, it was badly filmed.  It was peculiar how resistant his character was to Gianna throwing herself at him.  There is often a flirty vibe between them but nothing physical, not even a peck on the cheek.  At one point, he is going to leave Rome and take her with him.  Daria Nicolodi is quite good as Gianna.  Her appearance at the crime scene puzzles the police; how did she know so soon?  She gives the impression she has a crush on Marc and often taxis him from place to place.  Though not normally a crime reporter, she is eager to get this story to advance her career.  There is a bit of 70's feminism to her character.  Carlo is an amiable drunk who has deep philosophical thoughts.  He is self-destructive with his excessive drinking.  When Marc warns that he won't last long if he continues this path, Carlo offers an indifferent shrug; who wants to last?

Though set in Rome, it was largely filmed in Turin.  The Fontana del Po is prominently featured, a stand-in for the Trevi Fountain perhaps.  As with other Argento films, blood is too red.  Of course, the name of the film is Deep Red.  Nor does blood congeal, it just remains as a red puddle.  All of the deaths are quite gruesome.

Recommended for any fan of horror films.