The Card Player – Vinegar Syndrome (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 2003
Director: Dario Argento
Writers: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini
Cast: Stefania Rocca, Liam Cunningham, Silvio Muccino, Adalberto Maria Merli, Claudio Santamaria, Fiore Argento, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Vera Gemma, Conchita Puglisi

Release Date: July 22nd, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 103 Minutes 39 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 Italian, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $64.98

"In Rome, Inspector Anna Mari receives a macabre surprise for her birthday when an email lands in her inbox from someone calling themself “The Card Player” and claiming to be the one responsible for the recent kidnapping of a British tourist. In a sadistic twist, the kidnapper challenges the authorities to a game of online poker to determine whether the young woman lives or dies. When the police commissioner forbids his team to go through with the game, the maniac brutally slaughters the tourist before their very eyes via webcam, later dumping the body in a river. As more and more women are abducted from the streets of the Italian capital and subjected to the same treatment, Anna Mari joins forces with Irish policeman John Brennan and young poker whizz-kid Remo in an attempt to beat The Card Player at their own deadly game." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative."

The Card Player comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 61.7 GB

Feature: 61 GB

The source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic. That said, even if you already own Scorpion Releasing’s solid Blu-ray, this new release still improves upon that release.

The Card Player comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 43.3 GB

Feature: 29.4 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 Italian, DTS-HD 5.1 English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Italian and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. Both audio tracks sound excellent. Dialog always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, ambient sounds are well represented, and the score sounds appropriately robust. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an archival audio commentary track with film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include an archival Behind-the-Scenes featurette (9 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with actress Fiore Argento titled Game Over (8 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with set designer Massimo Antonello Geleng titled A Chip and a Chair (11 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with screenwriter Franco Ferrini titled Taking Risks (8 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with director Dario Argento titled Watch me when I Kill (17 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with editor Walter Fasano titled Sharp Cuts (20 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with make-up artist Sergio Stivaletti titled Like in War (10 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with composer Claudio Simonetti titled Digital Nightmare (19 minutes 10 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Stefania Rocca titled Playing the Game (26 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), and an archival audio commentary track with Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson.

Other extras include reversible cover art and a spot gloss slipcover (limited to 6,000 units).

Summary:

After the success of Non ho sonno (Sleepless), a film that marked Dario Argento's return to the visceral visual style for which he is best known, and the demise of a project titled Occhiali neri (Dark Glasses), he would shift direction once again with his next project, The Card Player, a film that had originally been planned as a sequel to The Stendhal Syndrome. The story of The Card Player and its protagonist would be revised when Asia Argento, who had starred in The Stendhal Syndrome, was unavailable to star in a proposed sequel.

There are many elements in The Card Player that are in line with the type of killer present in most of Dario Argento’s thrillers. The killer in The Card Player, much like those in many of Dario Argento’s thrillers, wears black gloves and disguises their voice, preventing the audience from discovering their identity and motivations until the finale. The pacing of The Card Player is well-executed, with just the right amount of time allocated between each new twist. There are plenty of red herrings offered along the way, including what many viewers feel is an obvious nod to who the killers are.

The most fascinating aspect of The Card Player is how Dario Argento adapts his style of storytelling to modern technology like cell phones and the internet. This more modern visual style is greatly bolstered by Benoît Debie’s (Irreversible) naturalistic approach to the look of the film. Frequent Dario Argento collaborator, composer Claudio Simonetti, delivers a score that complements the story at hand. Though the murders are mostly kept off-screen and are not as gory as they have been in earlier Dario Argento films, the mutilated corpses are sufficiently gory to convey the killers' brutality.

The one area where The Card Player excels the most is its superb cast, with the standout performance coming from Stefania Rocca in the role of the protagonist, Anna Mari (The Talented Mr. Ripley). Another performance of note is Liam Cunningham (Dog Soldiers) in the role of John Brennan, an Irishman who works for his country's embassy in Rome. Ultimately, The Card Player is a well-made thriller that does a good job of building tension and keeping things interesting throughout.

The Card Player gets a definitive release from Vinegar Syndrome, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer