dark dreams - the films of dario argento

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During a conference on parapsychology, a noted physic (Macha Méril) picks up the thoughts of a murderer in the audience. Later at home she picks up these same thoughts outside of her door and someone bursts into her apartment and tries to kill her with a hatchet.

Marc Daly (Hemmings) is walking home late at night and witnesses the woman's head being pushed through her apartment window by the killer. He also lives in the same building and so rushes inside to try and help. He finds nothing except the dead woman but sees a figure walking away from the building through the window.

The police immediately start treating him as a suspect. When newspaper reporter Gianna Brezzi (Nicolodi) arrives, Marcus tells her that he is sure that there is a picture now missing from the apartment that was there when he first entered. Together they start to mount their own investigation into the murder...

This is a truly great film and perhaps the best giallo of all time. Argento uses his style and skill to create a unique cinematic experience that is not to be missed. This dvd is the full 126 minute version and is presented in it's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This is of vital importance as Argento uses the full available area and if it were cropped a lot of the films impact would be destroyed.

video

The picture is quite simply stunning! There are many dvd's out there with inferior picture quality and when you also consider that this film is 25 years old, there is no other word that describes how wonderful it is. The ONLY thing that I find slightly irksome is that the end credits have been frozen in a still frame when in the original film, there is still movement as you see Hemmings reflection in the pool of blood as he moves around. However, this is a very minor point in my opinion and in no way detracts from the quality of the film the proceeds it.

sound

Anchor Bay have come up with a new Dolby 5.1 soundtrack which really helps to enhance the wonderful music score. It using the surround effect sparingly but when they are used they work well to create an eerie atmosphere. There are parts of the English language soundtrack that were not available for this 126 minute version and so at these points the language reverts to Italian and English subtitles are displayed. I prefer to watch the film in Italian with subtitles anyway and so I did not find this a problem.

extras

I always expect the worst when the word 'featurette' is mentioned and the 25th Anniversary Featurette on this disc is a disappointment in so far as it is too short. 12 minutes on such a landmark film is no where near long enough. It features interviews with Dario, Bernardino Zapponi and the members of Goblin which is good but they must have had more to say than this surely?. NOTE: Do NOT watch this before the film if you have never seen it before as it gives away the ending. The US and Italian Theatrical Trailers are included as are the usual Talent Biographies.

conclusion

Being the Argentophile that I am, I cannot fail to give this dvd 5 out of 5. Not only is it my favourite Argento film but Anchor Bay and Bill Lustig have ensured that it is probably the best version that we are ever likely to see. For this I and many others are grateful. For anyone else not familiar with Dario and his films, this disc is a great place to start.

reviewed by NJD

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buy the deep red dvd from www.amazon.com

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DEEP RED
SEDA SPETTACOLI ; ITALY

dvd specification
original year of release: 1975
approximate running time: 126 minutes
aspect ratio: widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1
system: NTSC (colour)
rating: unrated
sound: english/italian dolby digital 5.1
dvd release: anchor bay entertainment
region: 1
region coding: none
dvd extras
italian theatrical trailer
us theatrical trailer
25th anniversary featurette
talent bio's
animated menus
english subtitles

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