Mini Bio : Daria Nicolodi

Born June 19, 1950, in Florence, Italy, actress Daria Nicolodi started performing at an early age. She dabbled in theatre and underground film before making her bigscreen debut in 1970's "Men Against". Her first daughter, Anna was born in 1973. She continued with theatre and TV appearances until her big break in 1975, when avant-garde thriller director Dario Argento cast her in his hugely successful Deep Red. A romance blossomed between the two, and that same year their daughter, actress Asia Argento, was born. Their union, which would last until 1985, started to unravel in 1977, when the two cowrote the masterpiece, Suspiria, based on a story Daria's grandmother had told her. Though the lead role was written for Daria, it was instead given to American cult-goddess Jessica Harper when the distributors demanded an American play the part. Perhaps the greatest injustice she was dealt was not being given any credit for her part in the film when it was released. It wouldn't be until two decades later that Dario finally gave her writing credits. It wasn't all doom and gloom though, as that same year she starred in Mario Bava's Shock. She continued to act in Argento's films until 1987, though throughout that time period she also acted in horror films for Lamberto Bava,and Luigi Cozzi, and even wrote Cozzi's Paganini Horror and Demons 6/ The Black Cat. Sadly, her daughter Anna died in an accident in 1994. To this day she continues to appear on TV, and not long ago had a part in Argento's Mother of Tears, where she performed alongside Asia.

Selected Filmography

Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975)
Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977 - writing and cameo appearance)
Shock (Mario Bava, 1977)
La Venere D'Ille (Mario Bava, 1979)
Inferno (Dario Argento, 1980)
Tenebre (Dario Argento, 1982)
Phenomena (Dario Argento, 1985)
Opera (Dario Argento, 1987)
Delirium (Lamberto Bava, 1987)
Giallo Natale (Turno Di Notte, TV Series, 1987)
Demons 6/ The Black Cat (Luigi Cozzi, 1989 - writing)
Il Gioko (Lamberto Bava, TV, 1989)
Paganini Horror (Luigi Cozzi, 1989 - writing and actress)
Scarlet Diva (Asia Argento,2000)
Mother of Tears (Dario Argento, 2007)

Visit Daria's official site HERE.

PROFONDO ROSSO aka Deep Red

(Dario Argento, 1975)



I cannot stress enough the importance of this film within the realm of gialli, Italian horror, and horror films in general. It was huge in Italy upon its release, and an astounding worldwide success for Dario Argento. Some (myself included) believe this to be his most accomplished film technically and artistically.



The story follows Marcus Daly (David Hemmings, of "Blow Up" fame), a jazz pianist who has the misfortune of witnessing the brutal bludgeoning death of renowned psychic Helga Ullman, who had at an earlier conference picked up "twisted" thoughts from an unseen murderer in the audience. Marcus later believes that something in the apartment might have been moved or is slightly different, a clue that may lead to the killer's identity. Thus he begins his own investigation with reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi), a firm supporter of womens' lib. The list of suspects is long, and the clues in between cryptic and stretched to the point of incredulity.One would, however, be hard-pressed to correctly identify the killer before the end of the film.



The story is one of Argento's best-written, and the characters among his most quirky and memorable. Care was taken to develop them, which is a a rare occurrence in the bulk of his work. This does add quite a bit to the running time, but the scenes between Marcus and Gianna are never boring and add dimension. Marcus' friend Carlo is also well-rounded, and even after the revelation that he is a closeted homosexual who is seeing a transvestite he is never portrayed as mincing and effeminate (as they so often are in other Italian films from around the same time).



Okay, enough about the story! The real star of the show is Dario's INSANE compositions, lighting, and camerawork. He uses dark, muted color schemes and stark, atmospheric lighting throughout. His camera glides over the sets, lingering on knives, dolls, and closeups of red-rimmed eyes. A hundred screenshots from this film could be printed off and framed as art. Indeed, the whole affair DOES feel like a murder mystery by way of art house flick, with a few healthy doses of all-out horror. The murders, though spaced out, are extremely violent (especially considering when this came out) and well-filmed. Finally, there's the music to mention. It's by Goblin. Need I say more? One of their absolute best soundtracks, too. I give Deep Red 10 out of 10, and recommend it as one of The Top 3 Italian horror films to check out. Like now.



Buy It