TRAUMA (1993)

Back to undisputed Slasher Master Dario Argento and though popular IMDB rated it too average, the film is not at all disappointing one for all hard core Argento fans like me. ‘A dark secret, a twisted mind and an insane desire to revenge’, said the tagline of the film. An anorexic teenager girl ran away from clinical hospital after witnessing the murders of her parents by a serial killer. She’s deeply attached to her mother and so trying to commit suicide. Enters the hero to rescue and next are more gruesome murders by a neurotic headhunter killer who prefers beheading his victims on rainy nights.

Throughout his career Argento keeps on making his signature giallo/ slasher movies exploring the variety of neurotic killer and edge-on-the-seat suspense. He filled the screen with some of the bizarre images and this one is no exception- extreme close ups of lizards, decapitation of heads with weird device, voyeuristic kid following the action of neighborhood stranger, anorexia, occult and the trauma of bad memories. Argento’s daughter Asia Argento is quite letdown in her act and expressions and it’s real pain to ears to heard her English dubbed pronunciation here but than who cares about actors in B genre cinema when the director is auteur like Argento or De Palma.

Ratings-7/10