Arrow Video - The Card Player

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Rick must spend his time (when he isn't painting) curled up in a corner and babbling to himself like a mad man as he tries to come up with more and more covers for Arrow.

[DVD Trash]

I need to admit the first 3 cover from House, Sleepless and Macabre did very little for me, HOWEVER Card Player, Opera, Stendhal and Two Evil eye covers are absolutely fantastic! (Probably better than some of the films but hey!) Congrats to Rick and Almar who had them commissioned!

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Lovely stuff! - just when I thought these covers couldn't possibly get any better...

[iluvdvds@Cult Labs]

Hoochie mama!

That artwork is mind-blowing! Rick you have done an incredible job AGAIN! This is now my new fav Arrow artwork - easily!

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by Calum

Don't you mean its better than Mother of Tears?

Oh yes, it's certainly better than Mother of Tears. I love Argento and have great respect for the man and his body of work, but it took me months to forgive him for that monstrosity. We're at least being civil to one another now, metaphorically speaking. I'll even give Giallo a fair shake when it hits DVD over here.

I quite liked The Card Player myself. It's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but it's entertaining enough.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

I'll even give Giallo a fair shake when it hits DVD over here.

Prepare to weep (as an aside every UK distributor it's been offered to has turned it down. See it and you will see why).

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by stevoj

Rick must spend his time (when he isn't painting) curled up in a corner and babbling to himself like a mad man as he tries to come up with more and more covers for Arrow.

That Almar's a sadist....

But he seems to get results....

[Splatterdragon73]

I admit, with the exception of Two Evil Eyes and Sleepless i tend to have little faith in most post-Opera Argento output so i'm sitting on the fence as to wether i'll be picking up TCP.

I'll just wait and see how this imminent release shapes up before making up my mind.

However, Rick has yet again impressed with his latest artwork. A truly stunning cover make no mistake!

[bedorca]

Looks like my copy of The Card Player will need a new home soon!!

[Almar@Cult Labs]

And here's the official press release along with the specs for the all-new Arrow Video release of The Card Player. Marc Morris has has his hand in this release and the booklet is by Argento expert Alan Jones:



A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE ITALIAN MASTER OF HORROR.

Starring Liam Cunningham (Dog Soldiers), Stefania Rocca (The Talented Mr. Ripley), Claudio Santamari (The Son's Room) and the director's daughter, Fiore Argento (Demons; Phenomena), and featuring an innovative score by regular Argento collaborator, former Goblin keyboard player Claudio Simonetti (Sleepless), The Card Player sees Italian horror maestro Dario Argento (Suspiria; Tenebrae) moving into classic detective thriller territory in what is generally considered to be his most commercially accessible work to date.

A serial killer is on the loose in Rome, kidnapping women and using them as the stake in a series of deadly games of poker played with the police over the internet. If the police win, the victim is set free; if they lose, the victim dies and the police are rewarded with a gruesome video of the murder being committed. When a British tourist becomes involved, disgraced Irish cop John Brennan (Liam Cunningham) is sent to Rome to investigate. There, he teams up with Anna Mari (Stefania Rocca), the no-nonsense Italian detective heading up the investigation. Once they set about tracking down the killer, they are forced to play the game themselves, but the stakes are raised even higher when a police chief's daughter (Fiore Argento) is abducted and it becomes apparent the ‘Card Player’ knows more about Anna than she would like.

Full of all the trademark elements that have earned Argento such a huge and loyal fanbase among horror aficionados, The Card Player is an innovative, modern day thriller highlighted by a dazzling set-piece set around a breathtaking ‘cat and mouse’ chase between Anna and the film's eponymous killer.



The Card Player (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (15.99) by Arrow Video on 22nd March 2010.

Special Features include: double sided sleeve featuring new artwork; exclusive collector’s booklet; poster; ‘The Making of The Card Player’ featurette; ‘The Card Player’ promo; trailer; Dario Argento trailer gallery; English 5.1 and 2.0 audio options.