2. Profondo Rosso
Music teacher - Marcus Daly, is investigating the death of Psychic medium Helga. He notices that one of the pictures on her wall has been stolen and he is alerted to some children's music that plays as the killer's calling card. When he hears the music later on, he is able to foil the attacker. He plays the music to a psychiatrist who says it was an important part of the trauma the killer suffered as a child. While investigating, Marcus finds a book that may yield answers but someone gets to the writer and kills her before Marcus us able to quiz her. He goes to the house which was connected with the book and chips back a wall to discover a corpse. The killer arrives and bashes him over the head. He wakes up to find the house on fire and Gianna his girlfriend who pulled him to safety. For a while it looks like Carlo, a friend of Marcus, is the killer. He threatens Marcus with a gun but is dragged to death by a garbage truck. But he is not the killer. His demented mother Martha stabbed his father when he tried to put her in the loony bin. She enlists the help of Carlo to entomb him in the house. Martha chases after Marcus with a meat cleaver but ends up being decapitated by the lift. The black glove clad murderer's hands that you see in Profondo Rosso are those of Argento himself. Profondo Rosso has enjoyed widespread critical acclaim over the years, and for what my 2 cents are worth, it is definitely the best of Argento. The film is stylish without being too heavily stylised (this can be a fault of Argento's which reduces the fear element in his films). Profondo Rosso is a very scary film - especially the music and the doll preceding each murder. It has an excellent cast that stay on the right side of hysteria. Available in lots of different cuts out there, be sure to choose the correct edition - which I believe to be The Blue Underground blu ray release of the film in 2011. It has both the uncut version and the original Italian release.