Can it really be true... A bloodless ARGENTO flick? Well, for the most part yes. Actually for the whole sum of the movie, yes.

Does that take away from his new masterpiece? Not one damn bit and I'm set to tell you why.

The 1st ARGENTO movie I ever saw was a flick called DEEP RED and at the time it was actually called "DEEP RED THE MATCHETT MURDERS" throughout the course of time they dropped that part off for some reason... anyways, point is... I was hooked ever since. He had such raw visceral style that just made you want to watch his stuff... keep in mind this was when I was 8... yeah, being subjected to a brutal movie such as this at the age of 8, probably didn't help much... but hey, it was at a friends house.

So then... I've seen every ARGENTO film ever made and tout myself as a huge fan of his and feel I understand his work, his mind a little better than the average run of the mill American horror buff does.

The card player is a movie about, well, cards! The story he crafts into that is one that you'll never forget. A killer is on the loose, kidnapping women and then taunting the police with live video feed "via the net" and forcing them to play a game of high high stakes poker with, him/her, over the net.

The rules are simple. They play five hands. The 1st one to win 3 in a row, wins. Each hand the police loose, the girl looses a finger, arm, leg or whatever he feels like cutting off. If the police win, he'll do nothing to the woman. If they win all 3 hands, he lets her go.

It's a brilliant movie with some of the best lead offs I've ever seen. They even bring in a crack pot poker player, who seemingly can't loose to try and beat this guy and it works... 1 but the killer catches wind of who he is and snuffs him out with a hooking in the throat.

In the end... the movie leads us down a dark and twisted road of terror, questions and answers learned. Culminating on a set of train tracks with handcuffs, a lap top and a fair, even, game of poker... the looser dies via a TRAIN... it's good stuff!

The only down fall to this movie is, as always with these movies, you can't take them seriously if you're an American who doesn't speak Italian cause the absurd nature of the moronic American actors who do the voice overs is just that... ABSURD!!! They really need to stop letting these yodels ruin fantastic movies with their lame dick acting.

Anyways... at the end of the day... DARIO makes, yet, another successful attempt at pissing on HOLLYWOOD with his new masterpiece "THE CARD PLAYER" in which it makes every American attempt at horror look like Lego's in its wake.

Check this one out... better yet, buy this one if you are a fan of thrillers/horrors. You won't regret it's incredible pace and plot setting.

5 out of 5: The best thriller/horror movie I've seen in a long long time.