I will start off by admitting that I was a little timid about watching this particular movie because I was worried that since I haven't heard a lot about Trauma that maybe it wasn't very good. I picked up the Anchor Bay DVD year's ago but kept passing it over. I really wish that I had watched it sooner. I think this movie may not be as stylized as some of my favorites like Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) or Opera (1987), but was still an excellent horror movie. In traditional Giallo fashion, the story centers around a mysterious case of murders, but this time all of the victims have been decapitated.
There are a few great treats here in the casting. First and foremost, this is the first time that Dario worked with his daughter Asia, who has of course gone on to make many movies with and without her famous father. More exciting for me was the appearance of Piper Laurie as Asia's mother, the medium. While there are some similarities with Laurie's portrayal of a psychotic mother in DePalma's classic Carrie (1976), there is an eccentric air of importance here that is decadent especially when she performs a séance. She was perfect for this role.
Another big highlight for me here is getting to see Tom Savini team up with Argento again. The effects are top notch. No one makes a severed head as real as Mr. Savini and his shop rose to the occasion with the murders of the film's villain, The Headhunter. There is only one instance in the film that is cringe worthy and that is a very dated image involving a certain disembodied head and some not so great green screen work, but I am willing to let it go since we are still talking about the early 90s.
While I am always a little creeped out seeing Argento direct some awkwardly sexual moments with his daughter, I was intrigued by the interview with the director on this DVD. Apparently Asia's character was influenced by two young women that Argento had experienced who suffered from anorexia. He went on to research the condition and tried to portray a realistic interpretation of a girl who is afflicted with this disorder. Unfortunately several of the scenes that hoped to really drive this point home were removed from the final film and this goal is a little too ambiguous leaving her to come across more like a recovering junkie.
I will say that this movie really shines at the end. Once the true backstory of the killer begins to unravel and we see how the victims are all linked, there is a nightmarish air to the flashbacks. The true murderer is revealed with a great and grisly twist ending. Here we see Argento show his true colors and are reminded of the beautiful stylized final moments of his classics Suspiria (1977) and Profondo Rosso (1975)!
The only real complaint I have here is that there is still a missing ingredient that would make this film stand up against Dario's other films and that is the score. Argento movies work best when they are backed by the music of Goblin (and sometimes just the front-man Claudio Simonetti) or the music of Motorhead and Iron Maiden - like in Phenomena (1985). A traditional orchestral score feels oddly out of place to me in Trauma. I could only imaging what some frenetic, synth driven, pulse-pounding prog rock or even some well placed heavy metal in the soundtrack would have done to make this movie better!
All in all, I definitely recommend this film to fans of American thrillers, Italian Giallos and Dario Argento. Now if you will excuse me, I think it is time I pick up a copy of Argento's Stendhal Syndrome from 1996 and see how it holds up too! I'll let you know about it one day.
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