6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When beautiful police detective Anna Manni follows the bloody trail of a sophisticated serial murderer/rapist through the streets of Italy, the young woman falls victim to the bizarre "Stendhal Syndrome" - a hallucinatory phenomenon which causes her to lose her mind and memory in the presence of powerful works of art. Trapped in this twilight realm, Anna plunges deeper and deeper into sexual psychosis, until she comes to know the killer's madness more intimately than she ever imagined.
Starring: Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann, Marco Leonardi, Luigi Diberti, Paolo BonacelliHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 44% |
Psychological thriller | 6% |
Thriller | 4% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48 kHz / 16-bit), Italian & English: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX @ 448kbps
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
D-Box
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Works of art have power over us.
For many casual moviegoers, the term "Horror" likely brings to mind -- and rightfully so -- images
of Freddy, Jason, and Michael; it's the
American-style hack-and-slash of the 1980s and the more recent trend of grisly, ultra-realistic
fare like Saw that have
come
to define the genre. That's all well and good, but such films tend to only touch the surface of
what true terror is all about. Italian filmmaker Dario Argento has made a career of pushing
boundaries not of blood and guts but of the mind, painting through his films vivid pictures that,
yes, contain their fare share of carnage but, more importantly, examine true, deeply-inflicted,
psychological pain and suffering. That theme began with his debut work, 1970's The Bird With the Crystal
Plumage, and continues through to one of his more recent outings, 1996's The
Stendhal Syndrome, a psychological character study about the after-effects of rape and the
true terror, mental anguish, and emotional confusion that can manifest itself in even the
strongest of individuals.
Anna's life will never be the same.
The Stendhal Syndrome debuts on Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer alongside a 1.66:1-framed aspect ratio, which preserves the film's original presentation and places small, vertical black bars on either side of the image when projected on a standard 1.78:1 display. With that said, the transfer looks positively stunning. The Stendhal Syndrome features a thick layer of grain that, again, preserves the filmmaker's intended vision and has the added benefit of lending to the picture a dazzling film-like look and feel. Colors throughout are spot-on; neither overly bright nor in the least faded, the transfer simply offers a good, stable palette that does well to reproduce an entire spectrum of colors, from bright blue to blood red. Detail is wonderful, too. The film opens inside a museum and the camera lingers on several works of art. The 1080p transfer reveals plenty of fine lines, cracks, creases, wrinkles, and other signs of general wear and tear on the works, and again, they each retain a nice color balance. Detail throughout the remainder of the film looks great, too; the Italian brick-laden streets, building façades, clothing, and other assorted odds and ends all take on a fine level of detail, and both up-close and distant objects retain a nice bit of sharpness and clarity. Plagued by neither poor blacks nor faulty flesh tones, The Stendhal Syndrome is a marvel to behold on Blu-ray.
The Stendhal Syndrome features two lossless soundtracks, both in English and one each of the DTS-HD MA 7.1 and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 varieties; an Italian-language track is available via a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 EX offering. Though the film was screened in its entirety utilizing the DTS track, random back-to-back samplings yielded no discernible differences in quality between the two lossless mixes. The DTS track delivers a nice, spacious, satisfying listen throughout. During the film's open inside the museum, it offers footsteps and patron chatter spread nicely and cleanly across the front half of the soundstage. The music that accompanies it plays with a crispness -- particularly in the highs -- that makes for a compelling and, eventually, altogether haunting opening scene. All throughout the film, in fact, whispers and other varied sound effects pour forth from the front half of the soundstage to chilling effect as Anna experiences the Stendhal Syndrome; there's not much in the way of an obvious rear channel presence during such scenes, though the surround speakers do feature some nice discrete effects later in the film. Though even the film's more action-packed scenes -- featuring several gun shots -- don't boast all that much in the way of ear-shattering volume or absolute realism, there's still a nice bit of clarity to the entire proceedings that makes the lossless soundtracks superior to the lossy mixes. Also featuring sound dialogue reproduction, The Stendhal Syndrome makes for a very good, though not altogether compelling, audio experience.
The Stendhal Syndrome arrives on Blu-ray with several extras. Director: Dario Argento (480p, 20:02) features the director recalling how he became aware of the Stendhal Syndrome via an Italian-paper book review, his fascination with the psychology behind the syndrome, and how it morphed into a film with him behind the camera and his daughter in the lead role in front of it. The piece is in Italian with English subtitles. Inspiration: Psychological Consultant Graziella Magherini (480p, 20:39) features an extensive Italian-language interview with the author of the book The Stendhal Syndrome that inspired the film, provided with English subtitles. Special Effects: Sergio Stivaletti (480p, 15:47) takes viewers behind-the-scenes of some of the film's effects shots, again in Italian with English subtitles. Assistant Director: Luigi Cozzi (480p, 21:51) is another Italian-language-with-English-subtitles piece that features the assistant director recalling his relationship with Director Dario Argento and his participation on The Stendhal Syndrome. Also included is Production Designer: Massimo Antonello Geleng (480p, 22:40), another Italian-language interview piece that takes a closer look at the shooting locations, sets, and props that are found throughout the film. English subtitles are once again provided. Rounding out this collection of extras is the film's theatrical trailer (480p, 1:03).
Delivering a steady diet of frightening psychological terror alongside a healthy but not overdone dose of blood, The Stendhal Syndrome represents vintage Argento. Taking its rightful place alongside the Italian maestro's best films, including The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, Opera, and Suspiria, The Stendhal Syndrome captures the true meaning of terror in virtually every frame, the film playing as something of a macabre journey into a haunted mind that cannot escape the physical tortures wrought by a sick and twisted world. Once again, Blue Underground has released a top-notch Blu-ray presentation. Featuring a stellar 1080p transfer, a good lossless soundtrack, and a nice selection of bonus materials, The Stendhal Syndrome earns a recommendation for mature audiences prepared to enter the frightening world of Detective Anna Manni.
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1996
Limited Edition | La sindrome di Stendhal
1996
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1970
Profondo rosso | Special Edition
1975
Standard Edition
1982
Il cartaio
2004
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1973
Il gatto a nove code | Remastered
1971
1980
Giallo in Venice / Giallo a Venezia
1979
2018
מי מפחד מהזאב הרע / Mi mefakhed mehaze'ev hara
2013
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2001
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1963
4 mosche di velluto grigio
1971
2004
Hellraiser V
2000
キュア / Kyua
1997
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2014
Unrated Edition
2005
Unrated Edition
2006