Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Leofwine_draca A fairly middling-to-good thriller from Dario Argento; not up there with the best of his, but worth watching anyway, even if just for the stylish photography and twisting character study of madness. It's a very brutal film, too - not particularly gory, but unflinchingly violent nonetheless. Asia Argento is this film's lead, and she has both her good points and bad. Physically, she is able to convincingly look flaky and neurotic, but it has to be said she isn't much of an actress. She's capable, yes, but this is a demanding role and she doesn't quite convince in it. On the other hand, the villain of the piece, Thomas Kretschmann, goes frighteningly over the top as a rapist/psychopath, sweating profusely while spinning a razor blade in his mouth.However, I felt more for Marco Leonardi's supporting character than I did for Asia. He's an obviously doomed, hopelessly lovestruck cop, Asia's previous boyfriend who doesn't have a chance but who keeps coming back, rejection after rejection. You have to admire his persistence. The film is in typical giallo territory - nice locations, a serial killer brutalising women, a slow police investigation, a tormented lead - and the idea of the Stendhal Syndrome of the title is both original and interesting, in that it really exists. Argento enjoys having us transported into the world of pictures (although unfortunately this reminded me of King's disappointing novel, Rose Madder), where things go really weird.There are a couple of nasty rape sequences which are difficult to watch, but the gore isn't too bad. One scene has our killer taking a massive beating and getting drenched in blood, which is pretty impressive. The expected twist ending is well-handled, yet rings a bit hollow. Overall, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is a passable thriller, with some nice suspense, excellent scenes of psychological insanity and another good score from Ennio Morricone, but is a bit too long and both very cold and very distant.

LakiM9 Being a big fan of Argento's(especially early work, like Suspiria) I just had to see this movie. As I have seen "The Card Player" before "The Stendhal's Syndrome", I was a bit concerned. It is in fact more intelligent and mature affair than previous Argento's movies. Anna Manni, the character played by his daughter Asia Argento(She also played in her father's Trauma), has more compassion than any other character in an Argento's movie, quite unlike the carelessly created cartoon-like characters of his other works. Also it is not as gore as for example Tenebrae.About technical parts. editing is done very nice(showing of 2 parallel actions happening in the same time and quick flashbacks). Also, like in all Giallo movies, color/lightning plays an important role in understanding of the movie itself. It's got flexible camera, especially in the beginning(when Anna walks through the museum). Unfortunately, it's got some bad effects and the dialogue is average, like in most Argento's movies.Won't spoil the ending, but the movie itself holds story nice and the ending is twisty, like in all Dario's movies.

Scott LeBrun Veteran horror film director Dario Argento visits the popular "cop vs. killer" genre with interesting if not spectacular results. His stunning daughter Asia stars as Anna Manni, a police detective on the trail of a serial rapist / murderer. When she herself gets nabbed by the charismatic psycho (Thomas Kretschmann), and seems to overpower and defeat him, she actually becomes more obsessed with him than ever before.Give Argento credit for handling things with a little more restraint than usual. He doesn't go overboard in giving his film stylistic flourishes, instead focusing more on the story. He does meld more traditional varieties of horror - gore lovers should walk away from this one fairly satisfied - with more psychological ones. "The Stendhal Syndrome" (the title is taken from the emotional / mental reaction that susceptible people have to powerful works of art) has enough of a brooding atmosphere to make it acceptable entertainment. One very worthy component is the typically solid music score composed by Ennio Morricone. However, as the film moved onward, it worked towards a too predictable denouement. In the end, it doesn't offer much to people who have seen more than their fair share of films in the genre.Competent filmmaking at every level does help. It's true that the acting throughout Argentos' filmography has often come up lacking, and while none of it here is exemplary, the actors do their best. Asia is sexy from start to finish, as her character makes a few changes in her appearance, either cutting her dark hair short or wearing a blond wig on top of it. Kretschmann is fine as the psycho; devotees of Italian cinema will recognize some of the names in the supporting cast, such as Paolo Bonacelli (as the psychologist), Veronica Lazar, and Cinzia Monreale.If you're inclined to appreciate the more garish and virtuoso touches of past Argento productions, then "The Stendhal Syndrome" may not have as much appeal.Six out of 10.

ernesti Argento had seen his better days as a movie director and surely it's not easy to top such masterpieces such as Suspiria and The Inferno.Asia Argento as detective Anna Manni isn't the best casting choice but as an actress she certainly did her best. It's difficult to believe that she really is a police detective at such a young age. It's obvious that a more mature actress should have been cast. Nevertheless that obscurity could have been used to make the film better. Would it be a better film if Anna Manni was just a woman living in her delusions.The film certainly had it's moments but on the other hand it has some annoying flaws such as very bad cgi effects. Why use experimental effects if they look dumb. They should have gone back in time to the 70's or 80's how they made the effects without computers.Ennio Morricone's score is amazing though and certainly does a big favor for the film's atmosphere. To sum it up this film is watchable even for Argento fans but it isn't anything like his films used to be. It's really evident that Italian film industry had been in a recession since the late 80's.