Deep Red (1975)

It is Christmas time, and in silhouette against the wall of a living room, one figure stabs another to death. A bloody knife falls to the floor at a child’s feet. 20 years later in Turin, Professor Giordani chairs a parapsychology conference featuring psychic medium Helga Ulmann. Helga is suddenly overwhelmed by the “twisted, perverted, murderous” thoughts of someone in the audience. After the lecture, Helga tells Giordani she also heard a child’s song during the psychic link. She believes she can identify the person she sensed; in the shadows, someone watches them.

That night, a black-gloved figure invades Helga’s apartment and kills her with a meat cleaver. Jazz musician Marcus Daly sees the attack from below and rushes to her apartment, finding her mutilated corpse. After the police arrive, Marcus thinks one of the apartment’s paintings has disappeared, but he cannot pinpoint what is missing. Reporter Gianna Brezzi arrives and photographs Marcus. Outside, Marcus encounters his alcoholic friend Carlo, who he helps get home. The next morning, after arguing with Gianna about women’s liberation, he visits Carlo’s home to check on him but only finds Carlo’s eccentric mother Martha, who seems interested in Marcus.