[amzn_product_inline asin=’B0009RQRSS’]
Plot: Police officer Anna Mari tries to stop a card playing serial killer in this chilling tale from Dario Argento. Anna’s forced into a dangerous game with the maniac, and if she loses, she must witness the gruesome deaths of the man’s victims via webcam.
Review: Many things in life are seemingly determined by luck. Meeting the girl of your dreams on a random stop at a coffee house or hitting the daily lotto numbers are two great examples. However, in the Dario Argento film The Card Player, a serial killer uses luck as the ultimate form of terror.
The premise of the film revolves around a serial killer that goes by the name of The Card Player. He kidnaps women and kills them over the internet based on the outcome of a single game of Video Poker. If the killer’s opponent loses the hand, the person on screen is tortured and then killed.
As the film progresses, the film winds up being a game of cat and mouse between the serial killer and the local police. The killer presents several potential victims to the police and each time they play against him, they lose and the victims are killed.
When the commissioners daughter is kidnapped, the police enlist the help of a poker prodigy to try and free the girl. The poker pro is successful in securing her release but the killer is now suspect something is amiss and things go downhill from there.
This films sees the police use state of the art technology and criminology in order to track down this killer. Overall, this film comes across less as a horror movie and more like an episode of the hit TV series CSI.
That is not necessarily a bad thing as CSI is one of the highest rated shows in CBS history. Those looking for lots of blood and gore will be a bit disappointed as this film does not take advantage of that as other films created by Argento in the past.
However, The Card Player is a solid attempt to integrate the madness of a serial killer with modern technology. If one does not go into watching this movie expecting a classic horror movie and approaches it more like a psychodrama, it should prove to be a rather enjoyable experience.
Overall Rating – 6.5/10
[amzn_product_post]
