Director/Writer Dario Argento's 5th Film.

Demonstrates a Maturation of Style and Presentation that would, along with Mario Bava, Create the Template for the Slasher and Gore Movies.

That Others could Barely Approach.

An Audacious Use of Staging, Editing, and Violence (always containing "Deep Red" Gore).

Along with Pulse-Pounding Music (usually from the Heavy Sounds of the Group "Goblin"),

was So Strikingly and Shockingly Different that the Films, and Therefore the Creator Argento were Celebrated Universally as a "New Wave".

Having Virtually Invented the "Giallo" (Italian for Yellow that "adorned" the lurid sex and crime paperbacks in Europe) Genre.

Argento Didn't Stop There.

"Giallo" Category Tropes Included a Black-Leather Gloved Serial-Spree-Killer Yielding a Variety of "Killer" Weapons...

Knives, Hatchets, Scissors, Razors, etc.

The Killer's Identity was the Mystery, Usually Filmed Obliquely and Usually Clad in a Dark Rain-Coat.

Argento's First Film, "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" (1970) Set the Stage.

On What was to Follow in the World of Italian, and then World-Wide Horror.

This Movie, and Mario Bava's "Bay of Blood" (1971) would be Mirrored ad Nauseum in the Slasher Craze.

But Very Few Reached the Pinnacle of Entertaining and Artistic Panache, or Approach the Outrageousness of Argento or Bava.

Many would See Argento's Auteur Accomplishments Reach its Zenith with His Next Film "Suspiria" (1977) as His Masterpiece.

Some Critics and Fans have Proclaimed "Deep Red" as a Better Movie.

But No Matter what Opinion You Have of the 2 Seminal Works, it is Assured that Once You See an Argento Film,

You are Unlikely to Forget it.

I remember the young David Hemmings from Blow-up, Antonioni's masterpiece. He played the young, inquisitive, danger seeking young photographer. Here he is a musician, but has that delicate artistic temperament. He works his way through an investigation that is most puzzling. Like Blow-up, the devil is in the details and Hemmings' character must sift through a melange of misdirection and red herrings and finally throw everything away and start over. There are a whole raft of quirky characters who expose their psychoses or idiosyncrasies to him. He must keep on a true course. The truth is in a "wicked" little girl who is actually as observant as he is. There are moments of blood and violence, but they are not superfluous. There's a bit of Hitchcock in this (or Brian DePalma, though who's the master). The attacks are aggressive and horrible to behold. Just to get our attention. I'm hoping to see some other films by this director.

Dario Argento's exhilarating suspense thriller has all the ingredients you could wish for in a giallo: a sinister black-gloved killer, a dogged lead investigating a series of grisly murders, elaborate murder set-pieces, grand locations, a pervading and oppressively mysterious atmosphere and style to spare. Argento truly earns his nickname of the 'Italian Hitchcock' with this movie, which the maestro would have been proud of himself.

Having seen and loved this film many years ago, I decided to check it out again recently to see how it holds up. Despite some cheesy special effects work (done by Carlo Rombaldi, so I'll forgive him) and some misogynistic dialogue, it hasn't really dated all that badly. Argento's direction counts for a lot and the murder scenes are inevitably highlights of the film. The bit with that dummy is still an unforgettably chilling moment in cinema.

The film isn't perfect. It's slightly overlong, and there are some lengthy sequences where not a lot really seems to happen aside from a lot of chit-chat. Still, the other parts where stuff is definitely happening, like Hemmings's exploration of a haunted house, are filmed very well generating maximum suspense from the audience. My favourite part of the film is undoubtedly the twist ending regarding the murderer's identity, which makes perfect sense and ends the movie on a real high.