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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (AV Channel) (1975)

Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (AV Channel) (1975)

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Released 21-Apr-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Main Menu Audio
Featurette-An Eye For Horror (56:48)
Interviews-Cast & Crew-Dario Argento & Claudio Simonetti (12:59)
Featurette-Making Of-25th Anniversarry (10:48)
Theatrical Trailer-(2)
Trailer-Tenebrae; Phenomena; The Bird With the Crystal Plumage
Trailer-Deep Red; The Cat O' Nine Tails
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 1975
Running Time 126:32 (Case: 123)
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (90:28) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Dario Argento
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring David Hemmings
Daria Nicolodi
Gabriele Lavia
Macha Méril
Eros Pagni
Giuliana Calandra
Piero Mazzinghi
Glauco Mauri
Clara Calamai
Aldo Bonamano
Liana Del Balzo
Vittorio Fanfoni
Dante Fioretti
Case ?
RPI ? Music Giorgio Gaslini
Goblin
Walter Martino


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement Yes, soft drinks and cigarettes.
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) stands along with Suspiria as not only one of the finest thrillers of the 70s, but also one of Dario Argento's finest efforts.

    Marcus Daly (David Hemmings), an English pianist, teaches at a conservatory in Rome and finds himself often working late. On his way home one evening he discovers a woman, brutally murdered in his building. The police attend the crime scene, as does a vivacious reporter, Gianna (Daria Nicolodi), who drives a car with a mini-bar in the glove box. Marcus is fascinated by the crime and takes it upon himself to begin his own investigations. Gianna tags along in the beginning, against his wishes, and together they discover that the key to the killer's identity lies in an old, dilapidated house on the outskirts of Rome. The problem is, the killer seems to know all of his moves in advance. As he draws closer to discovering the culprit, the risk of falling prey to a madman becomes greater and greater.

    Deep Red is a fascinating film on several levels, most notably as an analysis of the interpretation of truth and the reliability of human memory. Marcus is continually struggling to make sense of what he sees and doubts what he remembers. Argento's direction is smooth and dream-like throughout, buoyed by the fabulous score by Goblin. The interaction between the leads Hemmings and Nicolodi is exceptional, and a key to the film's believability.

    If you've been considering checking out some of Dario Argento's work, Deep Red is a great place to start.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    This video transfer seems to be derived from an NTSC source and exhibits film artefacts identical to the Region 1 Anchor Bay disc I have on hand. Their runtimes are identical, however, the conversion process and excessive MPEG compression have left our transfer looking very poor indeed.

    The film has been transferred to DVD in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement.

    The image is not particularly sharp, nor is the level of detail worth recognising. Shadow detail is a little muddy, but black levels appear to be relatively solid.

    Most colours are handled adequately. Being derived from an NTSC source, the transfer does exhibit rendering flaws when it comes to extreme reds such as blood. Otherwise, there are no dire colour issues.

    MPEG over-compression is the dominant issue here. The conversion from PAL to NTSC has created overlapping frames that are difficult to render at a low bitrate. The NTSC Anchor Bay transfer (which I presume is the source for our transfer) has been encoded with a variable bitrate averaging over 6 Mb/s. Our transfer has been compressed further, averaging 4 Mb/s. Film artefacts can be seen intermittently, but never become overly concerning. There are a few dirty spots and the odd scratch or two, but the source print is in an otherwise good condition.

    An English subtitle stream is activated by default to translate a few passages of Italian dialogue that appear.When the ideal cut of the film was restored, it was realised that some portions of the film has no English dub. In these scenes the Italian dub has been inserted.

    This disc is dual layered, with the layer transition placed during the feature at 90:28 during a still, silent moment mid-scene.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The only soundtrack included is English Dolby Digital 2.0, encoded at a rather flimsy 192Kb/s. As I mentioned above, there are some passages of Italian that have been inserted to fill gaps left by missing passages of the English dub. The cast clearly perform in a mixture of both Italian and English language, so determining the 'original' soundtrack language is irrelevant because both are fully dubbed.

    The dialogue varies in quality, but is generally stable. The ADR quality is pretty rough. Some scenes appear to be synced well, while others are like watching an episode of Magic Monkey.

    I attempted to process the audio with Pro Logic II enabled, but the result wasn't inspiring.

    The score by Goblin is pure magic. This score started a new wave of film scoring and founded a sound that would become synonymous with Argento's work in the 70s. Not only does the score blend perfectly with the visuals, it is highly memorable.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu

    The menu system is static and includes 16x9 enhancement. The main menu is accompanied by an audio clip of Goblin's fantastic score.

Documentary - Dario Argento - An Eye For Horror (56:48)

    This is a well made documentary, following the life and career of Argento from his childhood, through his work as a movie critic and into his early work in the industry as a script writer for Sergio Leoni. Each of his major feature films are touched upon, as well as a number of his more obscure projects and collaborations. An array of recognisable celebrities lend themselves to this biography, including filmmakers John Carpenter and George Romero, actor Michael Brandon, his ex-wife and former muse Daria Nicolodi, actress Jessica Harper and horror fan Alice Cooper. Members of his family also offer their thoughts on his visual style, enduring popularity and work ethic, most notably his brother Claudio and daughters Asia and Fiore. This docco is presented in an aspect of 1.78:1 but is unfortunately not 16x9 enhanced.

Interview - Dario Argento (Writer/ Director), Claudio Simonetti (Composer) (12:59)

    Argento and Simonetti discuss their past work and what led to their specific approach in Profondo Rosso. We also get to have a look at Argento's Profondo Rosso Shop in Rome while Tim Burton has a browse through the bargain bins.

Featurette - 25th Anniversary (10:48)

    Taken from the Region 1 Anchor Bay disc, this short featurette crams a lot of info into its short runtime. Argento discusses many aspects of the production, while a reunited Goblin explain how they came to participate in the film.

Theatrical Trailer (2:43)

    A few flashes of scary imagery from the film, with the obligatory deep-throated voiceover.

Italian Theatrical Trailer (1:50)

    A very stylish trailer, impressive even by today's standards.

Argento Trailers (5)

    In addition to the two above trailers for Deep Red, there are trailers for Tenebrae, Phenomena, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage and The Cat O' Nine Tails.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 1 Anchor Bay release (126:32 NTSC) includes the following additional extras:

    The Region 1 misses out on:

    Our disc wins on extras, whereas the Anchor Bay release has far superior transfer quality. For me, a quality transfer will always win over extra material. You decide.

Summary

    Deep Red is a fantastic thriller and one of Argento's best.

    The video transfer has been sourced from an NTSC master.

    The audio transfer is thin.

    The extras are worthwhile viewing.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Rob Giles (readen de bio, bork, bork, bork.)
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-3910, using DVI output
DisplaySanyo PLV-Z2 WXGA projector, Screen Technics Cinemasnap 96" (16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVR-3806 (via Denon Link 3)
SpeakersOrpheus Aurora lll Mains (bi-wired), Rears, Centre Rear. Orpheus Centaurus .5 Front Centre. Mirage 10 inch sub.

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