Sure, Friday the 13th Part 2 is a great slasher and one of the most legendary ones of it's era, but...
Deep Red is a phenomenally well shot and intelligent film. It pulls no punches with it's forshadowing, red herrings, mystery, and even the deaths, which are realistically brutal. Furthermore, its soundtrack is one of the best pure soundtracks an entire movie can have. Just listen to the fucking theme and tell me that Friday the 13th's is better. It isn't, not by a long shot. It might be more iconic, but it isn't better.
Deep Red also has the grace of letting you know WHO the killer is, if you're paying attention. It's one of those "blink and you miss it" moments, but it's a fantastic twist on the giallo genre, which is why Dario Argento is considered the greatest giallo director ever; Argento also has the grace of having one of the greatest streaks of any horror director ever, from 1968 to 1987, never having a bad film he either co-wrote, directed, or produced. Such films include:
Once Upon a Time in the West (co-wrote), Bird With The Crystal Plumage, Cat O' Nine Tails, Four Flies on a Grey Velvet, Five Days of Milan, Deep Red, Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead (Produced), Martin (Produced), Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, and finally Opera. That's 13 films that were all good to great.
I'm still of the opinion, that while Suspiria was a more influential and prominent film, that Deep Red is Argento's magnum opus, his masterpiece of thrills and suspense.
