Recently I attended the Horrorfind Weekend convention. One thing I was wanting to do while I was there was pick up more of Dario Argento's work. I had only seen the butchered R rated version of Creepers(aka Phenomena) and was craving more of it, preferably uncut. I ended up picking up Suspiria and The Stendhal Syndrome. One may wonder why I didn't pick up one of his older films that had more hype behind them instead of The Stendhal Syndrome and there are two reasons. One, is so I could review it here. The second can best be described in two words: Asia Argento.
The film stars Asia Argento(as you probably know, the director's daughter and the star of the big Hollywood film XXX) as Anna Manni, a police officer on the trail of a serial rapist-murderer. She is effected by a strange affliction, known as The Stendhal Syndrome, which causes artwork to come to life when she views them. What she doesn't realize is that the serial rapist knows of this and takes advantage of it to rape her. However, he doesn't kill her as he does the rest of his victims. She knows it's because he wants her alive. But when he comes after her a second time, she's more prepared and ends up killing him. After this, her personality changes and she begins to act like her predator. Anna begins to believe he's still alive inside of her.
I know I'm an Argento newbie, but I don't see how The Stendhal Syndrome is a bad movie, despite Argento fans often bashing it. In fact, I think it's a brilliant film. I'm sure that you'd think Asia Argento only got her role by being Dario Argento's daughter, but that's far from the case. Asia is a wonderful actress and definately shines in The Stendhal Syndrome. Of course, I found myself a fan of Asia Argento years before I saw any of her father's work, so that may have something do to with it. You know, actually, I could go on for another paragraph about Asia Argento, but I'll try to focus on the movie a bit more. As most reviewers have mentioned, I too wonder what Dario's thoughts were while directing his daughter in the film's rape scenes.
The film features some computer generated effects, which are the first ever to be used in the Italian cinema. However, you must remember this was made in 1996 and as usual in the world of technology, they appear very dated. Then again, I've never been a fan of CG effects. There's not a strong amount of gore, but it's not very essential to the story and with a film like The Stendhal Syndrome, you should be focusing on the story more than the effects. The film's score is a bit bizarre, but definately effective at creeping the hell out of you.
For the record, Miramax was originally supposed to release the film, but they kept it on the shelf for years and the Troma Team saved it. If you're at this site, there's a strong chance your a Troma fan and this must leave you to wonder how exactly The Stendhal Syndrome fits in with other Troma films. Hopefully, if you're a Troma fan, you're a bit more open-minded toward independent art, due to the fact that Troma releases several films that do not fit into the "explotation" mold they've been placed in. It has a different style than what you'd be used to from Troma, but it's still a brilliant film. The Stendhal Syndrome is highly recommended to everyone, not just Troma fans.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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