Asia Argento Movie:

		List Price: $29.95		Label: Blue Underground Salesrank: 46283 Released: November 18, 2008
		Our Price: $16.49
		Used Price: $16.98
		MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
DARIO ARGENTO'S Masterpiece Of Terror - Completely Uncut And Uncensored!

When beautiful police detective Anna Manni follows the bloody trail of a sophisticated serial murderer/rapist through the streets of Italy, the young woman falls victim to the bizarre "Stendhal Syndrome" - a hallucinatory phenomenon which causes her to lose her mind and memory in the presence of powerful works of art. Trapped in this twilight realm, Anna plunges deeper and deeper into sexual psychosis, until she comes to know the killer's madness more intimately than she ever imagined.

Horror maestro Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA, OPERA) reaches new heights of florid fantasy and Grand Guignol with this warped work of art starring Maxim Magazine's "Sexiest Woman in the World" Asia Argento (LAND OF THE DEAD, XXX), Thomas Kretschmann (KING KONG, BLADE II) and Marco Leonardi (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3). Previously edited outside of Italy, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is now presented here in stunning High Definition, transferred under the supervision of cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno (ALL THAT JAZZ, AMARCORD) from the original Italian 35mm interpositive, and loaded with exclusive Extras.

EXTRAS:
"Director: Dario Argento"
"Inspiration: Psychological Consultant Graziella Magherini"
"Special Effects: Sergio Stivaletti"
"Assistant Director: Luigi Cozzi"
"Production Designer: Massimo Antonello Geleng"
Theatrical Trailer

Description of The Stendhal Syndrome [Blu-ray]:
The first half of Dario Argento's heady psycho-thriller is a mesmerizing merging of dream and reality. A beautiful young Italian detective (Asia Argento, who does little to convince us she's a tough, seasoned cop) investigating a serial rapist is suddenly overwhelmed when the paintings in an art museum erupt with life. According to the film, this is "the Stendhal Syndrome," an intense and overwhelming response to art that turns the viewer mad. As Anna steps in and out of fantasy worlds like Alice through the looking glass, she's kidnapped by her quarry, who repeatedly rapes and tortures her in a dark, dank underground cave. The delirious nightmare of shattered reality becomes a sadistic, mean-spirited spectacle of murder and degradation--perpetrated on, of all people, the director's own bound and beaten daughter!--and the thriller disintegrates into a paranoid mystery of amnesia, split psyches, and shadowy phantoms. At its best this is a mesmerizing vision of madness: paintings melt into the real world while objectivity disintegrates before our eyes. But before the unexpectedly sensitive conclusion, Argento puts the viewer through a bravura but brutal series of gory murders (a slow-motion bullet passes through both cheeks of a helpless victim, and another shooting is viewed from inside the body) and unsavory violence. The poetic beauty of Phenomenon and the craftsmanship of Suspiria and Deep Red are sorely missed. --Sean Axmaker

The Stendhal Syndrome [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Blu-ray edition is the best I've seen this look
2009-06-24 - I thought the picture quality of the bluray was beautiful, far better than the previous BU release (I won't even discuss the trauma release). Watching it on this disk was like seeing the film for the first time (not to mention how good it sounded). I came here expecting to see praises for the release, but instead I mainly see complaints about how grainy it looked.

I couldn't remember seeing any excessive grain, so I put the disk in again and still didn't see any problems. It was only when I moved 5 feet closer to the TV where I could see some grain, but even then it wasn't much and hardly enough to make the film unwatchable. I read online that part of this grain problem might be from people having the sharpness turned up on their TVs. Maybe someone who has complained about the gran could perhaps check this on their TV and see if the disk looks better with this turned off?

As long as Blue Underground continue to put out these high quality releases, I'll continue to double dip. I would recommend for anyone who is scared off by the reported problems to at least rent the disk and decide for themselves.

The Stendhal Syndrome - Blu-ray Info
2009-04-05 - Version: U.S.A / Blue Underground / Region Free
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / AACS
Running time: 1:59:31
Movie size: 37,70 GB
Disc size: 44,52 GB
Total bit rate: 42.07 Mbps
Average video bit rate: 33.01 Mbps

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2611 kbps 7.1 / 48 kHz / 2611 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1767 kbps 7.1 / 48 kHz / 1767 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1-EX / 48 kHz / 448 kbps)
Dolby Digital EX Audio English 448 kbps 5.1-EX / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital EX Audio Italian 448 kbps 5.1-EX / 48 kHz / 448 kbps

Subtitles: English SDH / English
Number of chapters: 24

#Director interview: Dario Argento (SD - 20 min.)
#Inspiration: Interview with Psychological Consultant Graziella Magherini (SD - 20 min.)
#Special Effects: Sergio Stivaletti (SD - 16 min.)
#Assistant Director: Luigi Cozzi (SD - 22 min.)
#Production Designer: Massimo Antonello Geleng (SD - 23 min.)
#Trailer (SD - 1 min.)

The Stendhal Syndrome
2009-04-02 - This, The Stendhal Syndrome was an absolute thriller with great performances. I would Highly Recommend this DVD giving it a full 5 Star Rating!!!

blu ray argento
2009-03-08 - This flick is not my favorite argento movie but that being said it's still a good movie. This is more of a psychological thriller and that may not please some argento fans who want a straight forward giallo or murder mystery. Asia argento is a excellent actress and she carries this movie as well. The blu ray edition is a better edition than the standard one however the blu ray process really brings out the grainy style of filming. The "evil dead 2" also is this grainy and it leads to a sparkle like effect that is only slightly distracting in some scenes. Perhaps on future blu ray releases the producers can tone down the grain if a movie utilized it as a technique in filming. Personally I have never been a fan of grainy filming it's not artistic it's just grainy. But the picture is crystal clear and the movie has never looked better so it's a proud addition to my horror collection. If you enjoy murder mysteries with a psycholical theme you may enjoy this movie but if you want a straight forward murder mystery you might be more happy with 'the bird with the crystal plumage" blu ray instead.

The Worst Quality Blu-ray ever!
2009-02-17 - I couldn't get through the first ten minutes because the quality was as if it was a DVD from the dollar store. The quality of this Blu-ray makes VHS look fabulous. I even wrote a letter to the company and got no response. I buy lots of Blu-rays and DVD's and I will NEVER buy one from this company again.