MovieChat Forums > Profondo rosso (1976) Discussion > Seriously, why is this considered among ...

Seriously, why is this considered among his best?

posted 12 years ago by Rvrgm
8 replies | jump to latest

I don't mean to be deragatory... I'm seriously asking, what is it particularly about this film that finds it constantly in the top two of any critics list of Argento films!?

I wouldn't say it was terrible, it was ok and entertaining in parts... there were some well-composed shots... but there were a lot of problems with it. The music is horrendous, but that's pretty much par for the course for any 70s/80s Argento movie. The writing is sloppy - the edit looks like it was done by a first year college student, with so many pointless shots crammed into every scene - and the story is ludicrous. A mother killed a man in front of her child, and 20 years later a psychic thinks she knows all about it, so the mother panics and kills the psychic. Okay, so far, not too bad...

... but then the mother goes on a killing spree, complete with leaving hanging dollheads to taunt each victim. WTF!? Oh, and at one point, she decides to send an automaton dummy through a window to freak a guy out... WTF WTF WTFFFF!!?

I'm sorry, but the movie elicited more howls of laughter than screams of fear! I really enjoy Argento's balls-out violence, and on many of his films his inventiveness and visual skill knocks it out of the park (SUSPIRIA / INFERNO)... how in the world did this movie come to be considered his best work!!?

[–] mwhite182 12 years ago

I agree. I like this movie a lot, but I think Tenebrae is easily the better giallo. Suspiria and Inferno are really good too. Deep Red was well done, but you make some good points about the plot and how things fit together. The motivation for the murders doesn't really seem to make any sense.

That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.

[–] AnneOnymous 12 years ago

On critics' lists or not, it is the best Argento film for me, both plot, visuals and soundtrack-wise. What you consider to be pretty daft and funny, I think is frightening. In fact it scared me so pooless I couldn't go to bed when I watched it on my own once, even though I'd already seen it before, so its horror is enduring - a good quality in a horror film. I just love the plot, the characterization, all the twists and turns - brilliant. Of course itàs ludicrous, most horror films or films about serial klllers are - embrace the madness!
p.s. I didn't much like Suspiria or Inferno, and Tenebrae is fun but not a serious contender for the no.1 spot - horses for courses, though, eh?

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] armanmarok 11 years ago

I consider this movie to be his best work cause I didn't find one single aspect of the movie I don't like. It gives such sustained and dazzling proof of a director's command over every aspect of film making. You can tell there is no one shot where Argento didn't want it: the characters, the creative kills, the scares, the music, and the visual pleasure were all done pretty well.

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Akira Kurosawa is the greatest movie director that ever lived.

[–] jade-mail 11 years ago

You might want to add "includes SPOILERS" to your question title!!!!!

[–] dullfinboy 11 years ago

This is my favorite. Disturbing, gruesome, and suspenseful. His best film in my opinion.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] IrinaOma 10 years ago

Great movie but I've seen better films fy Argento - Tenebrae, Trauma, Suspiria, Phenomena, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage,......maybe even Sleepless