| THE STENDHAL SYNDROME MEDUSA FILM; ITALY dvd specification |
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| [video][sound][extras][conclusion] |
| If you want a review of the actual film, click here. If you want a review of the documentary included as an extra, click here. |
| video |
| The first thing that meets you is the main menu. Morricones haunting main theme is played in stereo giving it a nice atmosphere. The menu's are not animated, but look nice and navigate easily. Now to the movie presentation itself. I compared the framing with Openings dvd release of Stendhal and the DFW release seems to be correctly framed which is not the case with the French version. During the opening sequence you can clearly see that quite a bit of the artwork is missng on the right side, this is not the case with the DFW release. Rumours are that this is a fake widescreen, but this hopefully takes care of that. I have seen THE STENDHAL SYNDROME in a cinema in Sweden during the Stockholm film festival and this version seems to be the correct framing. Also it is clear that this transfer is not based on the French one. When Anna Manni (Asia Argento) is seen strolling down the crowded street on her way to the museum there are a few dust spots at the bottom of the screen. However the transfer looks very good. When she walks by the wedding the red dress seen does not show any bleeding. The colors are warm and vibrant, the softness seen on some versions is not evident here. Compared to the French version that transfer is a little bit sharper bur that is only seen if you compare the versions side by side. When I compared the DFW version with Troma's I got the impression that this version is based on the same master as Troma's: the DFW release shows exactly the same dust spots and this can't be a coincidence. But the bad mastering that Troma's version suffers from is not seen here. |
| sound |
| Soundwise the DFW is superior to the French, during Asia's first encounter with the syndrome the surround channels are nicely bursting out the bubbles as she swims up to the surface of the water. The ambient sounds of the museum are also sounding good and natural. Dialogue is clear and easy to comprehend. The French version suffers from a bit of a "muffled" sound, no problem here. The DFW shows a nice addition in the treble that other versions do not have. The best sound so far, and probably will be until someone (Anchor Bay, please!) does a really good Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on it. |
| extras |
| Needless to say, it's quite amazing from a small company like DFW to give us a full hour documentary as an extra! It's Michele Soavi's decent WORLD OF HORROR that they included. Image wise it looks OK, a lot of scratches and smudges can be seen and the picture is in pan and scan. Honestly I think its impossible to get a better version since it seems that the original film elements are gone. The sound is in stereo and gets the job done, not exciting in other words but the sound is clear. The trailer is the same as on the French release showing a few frames not in the final movie cut (from one of Annas rapes). The biographies are in Dutch, but at least you will be able to understand the filmographies. NONHOSONNO is by the way reffered to as I CANT SLEEP. |
| conclusion |
| All in all a very impressive release from such a small company! I recommend this for all of you that do not have it. Also if you want a good version with subtitles that are removable and better picture etc than Troma's version. Until we see a version from the original filmprints with a new mix I think this is the one to go for. |
| reviewed by Mattias Borgh |
| cover artwork |
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