Deep Red - The Reviews

[James Morton]

Success!!
I played my DEEP RED blu ray in some scenes with directors cut with the Italian lang and the Eng subs came on at last
I went to the scene when Daria Nicolodi makes her first appearance and a few seconds after, she speaks Italian and the Eng subs came on!
The same happened some time later when Hemmings is taking to Gabrielle Lavia
Yesterday, when I first saw the film, I remember having some connection problems, the screen went blue and came back on. I rewound the dvd and it was ok
i'm terrible at the technical stuff, some signal in the area went out or whatever
Anyway, my apologies to Arrow (sincerely!) and my great giallo is now ok!!

[springjack]

Originally Posted by hallo37

This is an excellent release, you can't please everyone. Top marks to Arrow for getting this classic out there. In the 4 years I have been reading about DVD releases there are some labels that seem beyond criticism, but Arrow's are way up there. Keep up the good work!
ps
I am really looking forward to the other Arrow Argento releases!

Originally Posted by James Morton

I honestly agree with you about Arrow getting DEEP RED and of course others released uncut etc. but no Eng subs when Italian lang is played
Dsappointed with Arrow there

Said it all...

Originally Posted by James Morton

I rewound the dvd and it was ok

Rewound a DVD???

How it that possible.

Sorry but english is not my first language but when I did a search, the word "Rewound" is for VHS, no?

[skyofcrack]

Just finished watching both versions and all the extras. Here are my thoughts.

Pros: PQ looks much better in motion than the screencaps lead you to believe. Caps looked too green-ish to me. I did NOT see any blocking/breakup in the picture during the feature presentations. I've always preferred the longer cut but the scene in the house has needed to be shortened. We don't need to see him leaving and going, finding a scraping tool, etc...The way it's cut in the export version is perfect. Speaking of that cut, I rather like it. It still keeps some of the comedic dialogue between Marcus and Gianna and some of the car stuff. It cuts down some of the talk with Marcus and Carlo. It's a good alternate version now that you can see it with all the gore intact and anamorphic on BD. As for the extras, Thomas Rostock's commentary is great. I've heard it before on the AWE release. Lot's of interesting info there. The trailers are good, especially the Italian one which I think is one of the finest horror trailers of all time. The best featurette is The Lady in Red. Daria is very forthcoming in her comments and I really like how the clips are sprinkled throughout to comedic effect. Packaging is always good with these Arrow BD's. End titles in motion restored for both Italian and export versions.

Cons: Simonetti's introduction is forced upon us every single time we want to view the film. There should always be an option to skip this. I don't care how short it is. I don't want to see it ever again. My back way around it is to start playing another thing such as a trailer then choose Title 2 from your remote which takes you straight to the opening of the film. When you watch the export version of the film, there's no way to have the translations appear on screen without ALL of the English subs on. I did notice that the House book page was an English insert while the Italian had the translation. When Marcus is carrying out the record, there should be a title card translation for both versions. All the titles seem to be a tad early. There are no lobby/post cards in the packaging. So much art was produced around the world for this film, we should have gotten cards AND a section on the disc for promotional materials. The tour of the Profondo Rosso shop was almost useless. It had almost nothing to do with Deep Red and was very hard to see. Back to the film, there were several instances of jump-cuts, meaning missing frames. This was very jarring to the eye. I don't recall any other versions having these problems. The export version was fine. There is some blocking/breakup during some of the clips in the featurettes. Lastly, Rick's original artwork should not have been censored. When he does fantastic work, you say thank you and pay him. You wouldn't alter the Mona Lisa, would you?

Overall rating: ****

PQ: ****
AQ: Can't really comment on the audio as I watched on my laptop.
SF : ***1/2

[springjack]

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

Simonetti's introduction is forced upon us every single time we want to view the film. There should always be an option to skip this. I don't care how short it is. I don't want to see it ever again.

Press "Next" button. Works for me in player player. Both for the DVD and the Blu-Ray.

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

When you watch the export version of the film, there's no way to have the translations appear on screen without ALL of the English subs on.

If you are talking about the english export version, what partial translations are you referring to?

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

I did notice that the House book page was an English insert while the Italian had the translation

Typical for Italian movies.
The Card Player is the same with both prints. Cannot say it´s a con because this is in the print.

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

The tour of the Profondo Rosso shop was almost useless. It had almost nothing to do with Deep Red and was very hard to see.

Better than to spent money travelling to Italy like I did.
Almost nothing to do with Deep Red? Well, the store is open because of this movie alone.

[skyofcrack]

The Profondo Rosso store was opened because there were other similar stores around the world and Dario asked Luigi to run it. They didn't even show anything from the film at the store. Filler.

The export version has inconsistent English elements. It has the English insert of the House book and the end titles yet Marcus' note to Gianna is still in Italian. The other bits in the film that require translation: the record title, the school rooms, sections, the red sign at the House. All these are still in Italian and when you watch without the subs there are no translations on screen. There should always be a subtitle track dedicated solely to title translations for imported films. This version should have English inserts but obviously some are missing. This is a mix of an English and an Italian print.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I've watched The Exorcist about 100 times (more than that because of watching The Version You've Never Seen) with William Friedkin's introduction on so I'm used to just hitting the 'next' button as soon as the film begins which will be the case here. Either that or just go to scene selections and then you can avoid the introduction altogether.

I think a sign subtitle track (as they have with most anime series) would have been a good option but it isn't essential to know what the sign means outside the house and the ones in the school are fairly self-explanatory. I also have no problem with substituting the Italian page for an English one as this is, as has been said, fairly typical for Italian movies and blends seamlessly.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

The Profondo Rosso store was opened because there were other similar stores around the world and Dario asked Luigi to run it. They didn't even show anything from the film at the store. Filler.

Well the shop is called Profondo Rosso which speaks for itself. Getting the story behind the shop - for those who perhaps don't know it exists (and some fans do not) seemed like a good thing to do because:

1) We were in Rome and it felt like the sort of thing *I* would want to see (as a fan) before I had the chance to visit the store and see for myself what it's like.

2) Luigi agreed to give us a tour of the museum (and, yeah, sorry if some of it was a tad dim down there - but there's not much in the way of lights in the shop's basement)

3) Not every extra featurette has to be academic - sometimes it's good to have a little fun with these things (like what we did with the Travelogue piece on Day of the Dead and like what you will see on Island of Death).

As it happens, a few folk have emailed me to tell me that - after watching the piece - they can't wait to visit Profondo Rosso. So mission accomplished: it's spread more awareness about a small part of Dario history.

If there was a shop out there called, I dunno, Zombi 2 then I'd sure as hell think it would be relevant including it on a new Blu of Zombie Flesh Eaters

(As a side note, there's a good piece about the shop in Alan Jones' Profondo Argento book so I'm clearly not the only Argento buff who thinks this deserves some reflection)

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I enjoyed the guided tour as, although I knew that shop exists, I didn't know exactly what was inside it. I think my parents are going to Rome at some point some might show it to them although, as they can't stand horror movies, I doubt there will be much mileage in them going unless it is to buy a book or T-shirt for me!

[BAKA]

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

Back to the film, there were several instances of jump-cuts, meaning missing frames. This was very jarring to the eye. I don't recall any other versions having these problems.

I noticed this too, I don't recall the film being quite like that the last time I saw it either. I also noticed the colour seemed to flicker on occasion a couple of times, most noticably towards the end.

Aside from those two issues I have no problems with the release at all, thoroughly enjoyed watching the film (first time I've seen the Director's Cut), and the extras, particularly Lady In Red. The time just seemed to have vanished!

[antmumford]

If there was a shop out there called, I dunno, Zombi 2 then I'd sure as hell think it would be relevant including it on a new Blu of Zombie Flesh Eaters

Is that a hint that Arrow are thinking of working on a Blu-ray of Zombie Flesh Eaters??