The Guilty Spectator: Sexuality, Age, Crime and Dario Argento’s Deep Red (1975)

This article performs a close reading of Dario Argentos Deep Red (1975) together with a speculative reading of how the film seems to address its spectator and what that spectator might think about the film. It argues that Argentos murder mystery invests in the contemporary association between homosexuality and crime to concentrate suspicion in the character of Carlo, who is innocent. The film also exploits the disassociation of old age from crime to divert attention from the character of Martha, who is guilty. The double revelation of Carlos innocence and Marthas guilt effects a sudden foregrounding of the spectators own flawed process. Deep Red does not simply unmask the murdererit unmasks the spectator.1