Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

I just saw this movie the other night together with my girlfriend and needless to say we both agreed that it was just lame! I mean this movie started off really good when the police including the sexy main character come to find out about this psycho playing on-line poker with beautiful women's lives! Anyway the first game went where the main cop chick is trying to play the game only to get interrupted by some obnoxious police chief telling her not to believe the killer's serious which caused them to be out of time and in turn the poor victim gets killed! The next game they get someone at the police force whom they believe to be the perfect candidate to play and unfortunately he tries and doesn't even come close thus another victim sadly dies! In the midst of it all the beautiful/sexy main character gets partnered with and predictably falls in love with the sharp straight-laced Irish detective. And to my chagrin their love scene was not at all steamy or erotic cause there's ABSOLUTELY NO NUDITY! Anyhoo when they search around and question people they run into a super lucky poker player named Remo(played by that young guy from Trauma.Whom surprisingly hasn't aged much)Needless to say whe Remo wins 3 hands and saves the chiefs beautiful daughter(played by Dario's lovely daughter Fiore) the movie starts to get exciting! Unfortunately you will soon see that only the first 72 minutes of the movie are worth watching! The point at which it starts to get really stupid and go considerably DOWNHILL is Remo goes to a bar I guess to celebrate and runs into this smokin' HOTTIE of a waitress. Anyway he tries to seduce her and everytime he tries that and follows her around she behaves very childish and idiotic by giggling and running around like a 5 year old!!!(HOW REGRESSIVE!) And as if that wasn't bad enough she show great reluctance to give Remo this cryptic and vague message from the Card Player himself! After that somewhere from afar the killer shoots and kills the annoying Hottie! And even worse then that the killer somehow takes to dragging Remo accross the water from a boat! Even as Remo tries to escape he still gets snagged by some big hook. The details of Remo's death are never really explained!! The scenes with the Irish cop investigating around for the murders whereabouts were too long and plodding! And even worse than that is when he finally finds his hideout "The Card Player" isn't there and when he opens the door it's booby-trapped with a board and spikes which to my chagrin kills him! For some reason when the main character finally finds out who the killer is not only was he played by an excruciatingly bad actor but to truly make matters worse he ends up being all of a sudden really stupid! I mean who in there right mind would chain themself (along with somebody else)to a train track! Especially knowing that a train is on its way! The banter between the killer and the main character is painstakingly corny!! And how moronic is it that not only does the killer not even notice when the main character has found the key and freed herself but brags about having a spare all along, tries to use it at the last minute and still gets hit by the train?! How Corny and Stupid is this?!!! Needless to say this ending is better suited to be used as a blooper reel 'cause Me and my girlfriend "COULDN"T STOP LAUGHING IN HYSTERICS AT THE STUPID MURDERER! If you didn't think the ending to the movie couldn't possibly get any worse GUESS WHAT?!! IT DOES! 'CAUSE when our sexy cop main character's cell phone rings she gets some message about being pregnant!! 2 Problems with that: First of all I don't remember there ever being a sene at any time where she goes to the doctor, and Second I hated that she smiles about this news considering she neither thinks about her busy life,nor does she shed a tear led alone seem to care about the father being DEAD!!! VERY CALLOUS!! Other than that all I can say is I didn't understand why the killer kept on putting seeds inside of his victims, There were too many flat and undeveloped characters, and I can't be alone in this when I say that this movie is just a cheap RIP-OFF of FEARDOTCOM!

With "The Card Player," the Italian giallo enters the computer age. The Master of Horror, Dario Argento, said poker is an excellent metaphor for life; before directing this film, he spent a great deal of time researching card games and computer technology. He gives us a black-gloved maniac who likes to mutilate and kill his victims while the police watch helplessly via a internet web cam.

Excellent performances are given by Stefannia Rocca and Liam Cunningham. The beautiful Rocca is the no nonsense, professional Italian police investigator who falls in love with Cunningham even though she claims that she ". . . Never mixes business with pleasure." Cunningham is an unconventional British police investigator who has an Irish brogue and drinks too much. If you're a fan of werewolf movies, you've seen him in the excellent "Dog Soldiers." Fiore Argento (Dario Argento's daughter) costars as the police commissioner's daughter who is kidnapped by the Card Player.

"The Card Player" is very suspenseful, especially in the scenes where the serial killer is playing live online poker with the police. I feel just as helpless and stressed as the lead characters. Sometimes, I wanted to scream to release the tension.

Claudio Simonetti of Goblin has scored many of Argento's gialli. In "The Card Player" he provides a pounding techno score that is superior to that of Argento's masterpiece "Deep Red." It made me want to hit the dance floor and get down like I haven't done in years.

Unfortunately, because I have seen so many Italian gialli, I was able to correctly identify the killer very soon and ascertain their motive. However, this did not prevent me from enjoying the movie. I highly recommend it for fans of Dario Argento or Italian gialli. All others should rent before purchasing.