The Card Player (2004)

A Rome policewoman teams up with a British Interpol agent to find a crafty serial killer whom plays a taunting game of cat-and-mouse with the police by abducting and killing young women and showing it over an Internet web cam.

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Dario Argento (story), Franco Ferrini (story)

Stars:

Stefania Rocca, Liam Cunningham, Silvio Muccino

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stefania Rocca	...	Anna Mari
Liam Cunningham	...	John Brennan
Silvio Muccino	...	Remo
Adalberto Maria Merli	...	Police Commissioner
Claudio Santamaria	...	Carlo Sturni
Fiore Argento	...	Lucia Marini
Cosimo Fusco	...	Berardelli
Mia Benedetta	...	Francesca
Giovanni Visentin	...	C.I.D. Chief
Claudio Mazzenga	...	Mario
Conchita Puglisi	...	Marta
Micaela Pignatelli	...	Professor Terzi
Luis Molteni	...	Pathologist
Carlo Giuseppe Gabardini	...	Anti-Hacker #1
Alessandro Mistichelli	...	Anti-Hacker #2

Storyline

In Rome, after the abduction of a British tourist, the police inspector Anna Mari is contacted by the criminal, who self-entitles The Card Player, challenging the police department to dispute a video poker with him where the prize would be the life of the victim. The Chief of Police refuses to participate and the victim is tortured and killed in front of an Internet web cam. The British detective John Brennan is assigned to investigate the case and when another woman is kidnapped, they invite the addicted player Remo to play for the police. Anna and John lead the investigation trying to disclose who might be the serial-killer.

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Plot Keywords:

serial killer | psychopathic killer | psychopath | homicidal maniac | slasher | 

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Taglines:

A serial killer with a vice for Video Poker.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

2 January 2004 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Card Player

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

€2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

€874,371 (Italy), 4 January 2004, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Opera Film (II), Medusa Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dario Argento stated in an interview with Alan Jones that Stefania Rocca was an actress he could actually talk to about film theory. Which lead to Dario being more flexible working with Stefania compared to the other actresses he has previously worked with.

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Connections

Referenced in Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)

User Reviews

Yeah, it's alright....

Of course it's not Dario's best, but it's not his worst. I give it a 5.5, leaning more on the 6 side.

Anna Mari (Taras Kostyuk) is a policewoman working with an Irish policeman (Liam Cunningham) and a young poker champ (Silvio Muccino) to catch a killer who kills his young female victims if the police loose a game of video poker.

This movie seems like an okay mix of "Silence of the Lambs", "Saw 2", and "CSI".

The music, like in all of Darios films, is great. The look of the dead bodies are also fantastic and spooky.

However, Phoebe Scholfield and Jay Benedict (both first time writers) did a horrible job of the dialogue. In fact, I didn't like most of the writing. It was confusing at times but as long as you don't think too deep into it, you can enjoy this as a neat little screaming-and-crying-girl flick with great special effects and so-so kills. They're so-so because most of them are offscreen and similar, but towards the end they get great and unique.

So you could easily enjoy this if you just want to pass the time, but don't expect another Argento classic.