The first American feature from famed Italian horror director Dario Argento, 1993’s Trauma finally makes its way to DVD, and it’s packed with entertaining extras. (And, as
Fans of Argento’s bloody, visually stylistic bloodbath movies might be a bit taken aback by Trauma the first time they see it. This a very restrained Argento, who keeps the film focused in the giallo genre, not horror. That’s not to say there isn’t some gruesome gore with makeup effects maestro Tom Savini doing the decapitation scene honors, but most of Trauma could easily be shown on commercial TV uncut (so to speak).
The story follows Aura (Argento’s daughter, Asia, making her first appearance in one of her father’s films) an anorexic, bulimic teen junkie who is so traumatized by witnessing the severed corpses of her parents (Dominique Serrand and Piper Laurie) that she can’t think straight. She moves in with a sympathetic television news graphic designer, David (Christopher Rydell), who tries to help her unlock the secrets buried in her mind while also trying to keep the two of them out of head-harm’s way. As the plot unfolds, more and more victims fall prey to the merciless murderer who employs a nasty bit of hardware worthy of a guest spot on Tim Allen’s “Tool Time”, and more and more dangerous questions arise.
The viewer might have some questions all well; quite a lot of the kooky plot seems excessively extraneous, and while the first half of the movie is much better than the second half, it does all come together in the end. It’s never a confusing movie, but you do have to pay close attention.
Although the dynamic between Laurie and Argento as mother and daughter is not believable (see 1976’s Carrie for that kind of chemistry), Laurie is excellent in the movie as a spooky medium to the underworld. Argento is quite good as Aura — she carries the picture, more or less — and while the anorexia subplot is entirely unnecessary, she valiantly carried it through by losing quite a bit of weight for the role. Rydell is competent but bland overall as our trusty hero. A neck brace-wearing Frederic Forrest plays Aura’s psychiatrist with doctorly composure, and the always-welcome Brad Dourif comes in for a very short cameo in which he overacts, then loses his head in a most novel manner (it’s a hoot to watch it fly against some really bad blue-screen).
Trauma is an uneven film, but the sum of its parts make worth seeing at least twice. It’s not vintage Argento, but it’s interesting to see because it’s his first time shooting in the
The interview footage shows Argento speaking in Italian, with captions. It’s very interesting to hear the director’s recollections and thoughts on Trauma some 12 years later. He talks about some of the starts and bumps he had working with his American investors; casting his daughter and why they could not have a celebratory lunch when shooting wrapped; how working with Dourif was “difficult”; and what it was like to collaborate with Savini on the gruesome garrote makeup effects.
Savini has his own featurette — a behind-the-scenes look shot on video at the time Trauma was made. There are also some deleted scenes (nothing noteworthy), and a detailed commentary from Dario biographer Alan Jones, who was on the set at the time Trauma was shot (and indeed has been an Argento insider for many years). It’s interesting to hear his take on things, but he made one snarky comment about Clive Barker that got my hackles to rise — Jones is the third person I’ve heard on a DVD in the past year to attack Barker regarding his lost good-looks. Would everyone just lay off of Clive, please?
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Review by Staci Layne Wilson