dark dreams - the films of dario argento

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[video][sound][extras][conclusion]

If you want a review of the actual film, click here.

video

To start with, this is the English language print of the film with all the computer screen and email cutaways in English. I had no idea what quality I would get from my first eastern european dvd. Thankfully I was not disappointed. Hollywood Classics have provided a lovely 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer which makes the film look better than I remember it being (unfortunately it doesn't improve the story!).

There is no discernable digitally induced artifacting or grain - in fact there is little grain on the print. Colours are good; no blurring or bleeding and flesh tones are natural. The film is very dark in places - due to Debie's 'natural' lighting methods. This means that the black levels need to be just right. This disc seems to handle that very well. Any other release will need to go some to be significantly better picture quality wise.

sound

Listening to the English 5.1 soundtrack, I immeadiatley noticed that the music was biased toward the rear speakers. I found this a little disconcerting and cannot remember that being the case in the cinema. Maybe it's the English language soundtrack?

The dynamics of the soundtrack are OK without being outstanding. It's a little bass light - the pounding bass line at the finale for instance - but Simonetti's music comes across well - everytime I hear it I like it more.

At lower volumes the speech was difficult to hear in places. This especially affected the character of John Brennan as Liam Cunningham is very softly spoken. This maybe because his voice was recorded on set and not dubbed afterwards. Talking of which, the dubbing appears above par considering some of Argento's previous films.

Surround effects are used sparingly but are all the more noticable when they occur. As you might imagine considering the story, Police radio's and mobile telephones can be heard throughout.

extras

Not a great deal of extras here. However, the short making of featurette is a refreshing change. It is a compilation of behind the scenes footage and film clips edited together to a soundtrack of Daemonia's music. There is no narration or interviews so it is suitable for all countries (the titles and credits are in English). A warning though, DO NOT watch this before the film - it gives away a lot of plot points! There is a small stills gallery (with spoilers once again) and some trailers of other Hollywood Classics releases.

The menu's deserve a mention as they are nicely animated to a background of the films soundtrack.

conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised by this dvd and cannot see a reason for buying any of the releases that are due later this year. That is purely personal as I don't find the film itself good enough to warrant multiple copies whatever else they might have on them. As long as you dont mind a bit of guesswork when navigating the menu's (unless you can read czech of course), I cannot see anyone else significantly bettering this dvd.

reviewed by NJD

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THE CARD PLAYER
MEDUSA FILM ; ITALY

dvd specification
original year of release: 2003
approximate running time: 100 minutes
aspect ratio: widescreen anamorphic 1.85:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 15
sound: english dolby digital 5.1, english DTS, czech dolby digital 5.1, czech subtitles
dvd release: hollywood classic entertainment
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
making of featurette
stills gallery
trailers

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