Christmas Horror Movie Review: Deep Red (1975)

Deep Red (Profondo Rosso), also known as The Hatchet Murders, is a 1975 Italian thriller- giallo film directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Bernardino Zapponi. It stars David Hemmings as a musician who investigates a series of murders performed by a mysterious figure wearing black leather gloves. The cast also stars Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, and Clara Calamai. The film’s score was composed and performed by Goblin, the first in a long-running collaboration with Argento.


During Christmas at a family home, one figure stabs another to death. A bloody knife falls to the floor at a child’s feet. Twenty years later in Turin, Professor Giordani chairs a parapsychology conference featuring psychic medium, Helga Ulmann. Helga is suddenly overwhelmed by the “twisted, perverted, murderous” thoughts of someone in the audience. Claiming to hear a child’s song. She believes she can identify this person; an unseen figure suddenly leaves the theatre.

Later that night, a black-gloved figure invades Helga’s apartment and attacks her with a meat cleaver. English Jazz musician and bandleader Marcus Daly sees the murder from the window as he passes by. He rushes to her apartment, finding her mutilated corpse. After the police arrive, Marcus thinks one of the apartment’s paintings has disappeared, but he cannot pinpoint what exactly is missing.

The media identifies Marcus as the eyewitness and shows reporter Gianna Brezzi’s photo of him. The next morning, visits his friend’s home, Carlo, to check on him but only finds Carlo’s eccentric mother Martha, who seems interested in Marcus. Back in his house, someone plays a recording of a child’s song outside Marcus’ door. Hee manages to lock the door before the person can enter, but he hears the gruff whisper, “I’ll kill you sooner or later.” Marcus tells Giordani, whom he met at Helga’s funeral, about the encounter. Giordani, noting that Helga also heard a child’s song, recalls a book of modern folklore describing a local haunted house where a child’s song is sometimes heard. Feeling guilty for taking his photo, Gianna begins helping Marcus.

Marcus reads the folklore book and finds a photo of the house in it. He rips out the picture, planning to learn more from the book’s author. However, the killer, who has been watching Marcus, attacks the author and drowns her in scalding water. Using the photo, Marcus finds and investigates the huge abandoned house. Under sheetrock he uncovers a disturbing mural: a child holding a bloody knife over a dead body.


Who an earth is the killer? What was it that drove them to murder on the merriest day of the year? Watch and find out.

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Deep Red was a bit of a tricky one to review! Due to various reasons ranging from editing, restoring and releasing, some scenes are missing their English dubbing so you have but little choice to watch it in a mix of Italian and English. I did my absolute best to ignore this but it was pretty jarring.

Despite this, Deep Red’s story is intriguing and engaging enough to pull you through the dredge and random dialogue. The kills were unique and realistic. After reading a little, I appreciate the thought behind them. Everyone knows how painful hitting a pointy corner is, but not everyone knows what it’s like to get shot.

I found the red herring to be disappointing, simply because I felt they made an excellent candidate for being the killer! Obvious, yes, but their acting was pretty manic and suited the profile. In terms of character, I honestly found Marcus to be insufferable. It’s not the actors fault, of course, but he just didn’t make any sense. Wandering around looking bored and solving a case with no motive to do so.

I always love Argento’s signature vivid red blood, which is full use throughout the film. But I did think the Christmas element could have been really hammed up. It’s presented in the opening and during flashbacks, but it could have been utilised much more strongly.

Overall, Deep Red has an interesting mystery, but there’s too much filler, lacklustre character work and a very weird soundtrack that doesn’t fit at all.




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  • Editor/Writer - Stay at home mum educating the horror minds of tomorrow. If it's got vampires or Nicolas Cage in it, I'm sold. Found cleaning bums or kicking ass in an RPG. (And occasionally here reviewing all things horror and gaming related!)

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