Dario Argento Double Feature: Deep Red and Suspiria

As stated in my last review of Demons... I'm heading into a double hitter of Dario Argento's films. I've only seen one of his movies, Inferno, which I liked, but I think Deep Red and Suspiria are generally considered better films, so I thought it was time to school myself.

Deep Red
(1975) [Full Movie]
Director: Dario Argento (IMDB)

Synopsis: A man witnesses the murder of his psychic neighbor which sends him into investigator mode as he tries to figure out who the killer is.

There are lots of things in this film that I really love.

#1: The soundtrack. It's awesome. It's not actually scary, but funky. It'd be good at a party to get down too... or... cut a rug too.

#2: The cinematography. This might be one of the prettiest horror movies ever.

#3: The reference in the film to this picture.

#4: The creepy ass toys and also that extremely scary puppet.. holy shit... the arm hairs stood up a little when that bastard came prancing across the screen.

#5 The pictures in the hallway... I want to own one. Talk about fine art.

I also enjoyed David Hemmings, who I dug in Blow-Up, but haven't seen in another movie since.

I don't know man... there's not a lot here that I didn't like, the pacing of the second half felt a little off at times, and there was one plot hole I noticed, but other then that it's perfect.

Suspiria
(1977) [Trailer]
Director: Dario Argento (IMDB)

Synopsis: A dancer enrolls into a ballet academy and realizes that her stay is about to get crazy as all is not what it seems.

This movie is definitely a mind fuck and I wouldn't recommened watching it on hallucinogenic drugs. Its not as gory as Deep Red but more weird and artful. It's main source of horror, for me, was provided through the use of sound and cinematography.

First the sound. I would recommend using headphones with this movie. I watched the first half of the film without them and had to constantly adjust the volume between the music and the dialog. The second half I watched with headphones on and it was intense. The score is extremely eerie and I think it's mixed loudly to make more of an impact. It helps ramp up the tension of the film and makes for a unique viewing experience.

Second the visuals. The cinematography in this is just as amazing as Deep Red. It's lends itself to an odd nightmarish state where nothing seems real, this is achieved through the use of bizarre lighting and a set piece (the school itself) that's unlike any thing I've seen in cinema. The closest comparisons I can think of might be Twin Peaks or The Shining.

The plot isn't ground breaking and like Deep Red I felt it had a few pacing issues, but nothing that came even close to ruining it. Again, another must watch for horror fans, especially if you like art house stuff and horror combined.

Inferno

Inferno
(1980) [Trailer]
Director: Dario Argento (IMDB)

My buddy Justin is in town and last night we were trying to figure out something to watch. We decided to go ahead and throw on a Dario Argento film, because that's the kinda mood Justin was in. I'd never seen this movie and Justin telling me that "I don't really recommend this, but I kind of wanna watch it" doesn't really help get me very pumped up on it. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Fuck... trying to explain what this movie is about is hard. There's a book and a building.... yeah.... There's a lot of people who die, and I don't really know anything about them. They're some witches or something.

This movie is awesome in a lot of ways and not so awesome in a lot of other ways. The story is completely lame, and really slow. The acting isn't all that impressive, and the character building is almost nonexistent. I do love the direction however. The lighting and colors in this stand out in a good way, it reminds me of Mario Bava's Black Sabbath (the movie not the band.) The set pieces are really fantastic and there's ton of rad imagery scattered throughout. The practical effects are really cool too, especially the knife through the throat and the floating corpse. I don't know, I'm mixed on this, you can check it out on Netflix instant HERE.