1. Giallo - Profondo Rosso/Deep Red (1975)
Profondo Rosso is definitely the best known Giallo - coming from the Master of the genre Dario Argento, and I believe it is both Argento's best film and also the best Giallo film out there. Marcus Daly - a music teacher - decides to do some amateur sleuthing (as all good Giallo heroes do) in the case of Helga - a psychic medium murdered after a lecture. The killing of Helga was proceeded by a child's tune which serves as a calling card for the murderer. Marcus hears this music and is able to foil his attacker later on. He takes a recording of the music to a psychiatrist who says it is probably associated with a childhood trauma in the killer's past. The deeper Marcus investigates, the deeper he is drawn into a web of mystery and murder. He draws a link between all the events to a book called House of the Screaming Child. He goes to visit the author Amanda Righetti but the killer has arrived before him and has slaughtered the poor woman. He finds the house mentioned in the book and a caretaker tells him that it hasn't been occupied since the owner died in 1963. Upon entering the house, Marcus sees a scrawled picture of a young boy holding a knife next to a bleeding man on the wall. finding out who the artist is takes Marcus a long time but eventually it is revealed to be his friend Carlo. There is an armed confrontation between the pair but Carlo gets knocked down by a garbage truck and trailed along the road to his death. The case is apparently sorted. However this is all a smokescreen to hide the identity of the real killer who is flushed out into the open for a gripping fight to the death finale. Undoubtedly the jewel in his canon, Argento employs all of his inventiveness to make a fiendishly clever and sneaky Giallo with Profondo Rosso. The film benefits from great performances from both David Hemmings as Marcus and Daria Nicolodi as his reporter girlfriend. This was the first film that Argento used Goblin for a soundtrack to his films and their score has become iconic. There is huge emphasis on colours and visuals in the film which is Argento's trademark, inspired by the camerawork of the late, great Mario Bava. Argento fans tend to put Profondo Rosso second to Suspiria but I disagree. I think Suspiria overdoes the colours and visuals, plus the plot is flimsy. With Profondo Rosso, you get all the beauty of Argento's style which is just perfectly pitched. You also get a cracking and involving storyline which is quintessential Argento. This is a film with class and panache. Argento really sets the bar for subsequent Giallos to follow in his wake. Most Giallos traded on sleaze and debauchery to sell themselves. In fact Profondo Rosso has virtually zero sleaze and it relies on good old plot mechanics and storytelling. If you can think of a greater Giallo, I would be interested to hear your choice.