Now, “Deep Red” was a 1975 giallo, which is a subgenre of horror that is a close cousin to the North American slasher. You get killer POV, brutal slayings, and, usually, a mystery to be solved. Who is the killer and how can they be stopped? Sometimes there’s a supernatural element, but usually, they don’t go too crazy into that area, preferring to stick to regular people as their killers. Argento has been known to go pretty wild with these films with some witch stuff and even deformed human killers, but on the whole, they’re usually not unkillable boogeymen or hockey mask-wearing zombie slashers.
Now that “Scream VI” has been out for a while, let’s talk about why Ortega’s suggestion of “Deep Red” as a good double feature title for “Scream VI” is right on the money. Spoilers below for both films, naturally, so proceed at your own risk if you haven’t seen either.
First of all, there are two killers in “Deep Red” and they are a mother and a son. The mother is doing most of the killing and the son was so traumatized as a child that he’s been in and out of psych wards ever since. But he’s taking part, too, and once you see “Scream VI” you know that this one is also a family affair, just twisted a little. It’s a dad and his children this time around.
That could be simply a nod to “Scream II” since this is the sequel of the new round of “Scream” films and it probably is, but that doesn’t make Argento’s twisty-turny giallo any less of a great fit as the second part of a double bill.
The only thing “Scream VI” is missing is a super creepy mechanical doll, but maybe there’s room for that in the inevitable “Scream VII.”
