Trauma (1993)What mysteries lurk inside each person's head? A collection of thoughts and experiences that mold us into who we are, traumas and compulsions all. Trauma (1993) is a psychological horror film by cult giallo director, Dario Argento. It is the story of both a young teenage runaway named Aura Petrescu (Asia Argento), and David (Christopher Rydell), a man who saves Aura from her suicide attempt. The two share a camaraderie through their respective demons--Aura's anorexia and David's former drug addiction. David takes it upon himself to be Aura's guardian after her well-off Romanian parents, Adriana (Piper Laurie) and Stefan (Dominique Serrand), are victims of the rampant "Headhunter Killer".
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Dario Argento's reputation as a director of intensely violent and graphic horror movies precedes him in Trauma, his first American-produced film, which also stars his daughter, Asia. What is interesting is that Dario Argento consciously combines familiar stylistic flourishes--such as the first-person perspective of the killer, more persistent in Trauma--but with American actors and locations. The effect is an unsettling juxtaposition, a hybrid of both American and Italian horror tropes, giving the film an unnerving edge. Moments like when a shy young boy witnesses the off-screen killer next door hiding out recall a kind of suburban warmth often found in films by Joe Dante or Steven Spielberg--and then we get a view of a severed head. The casting in Trauma is also key; Piper Laurie portrays an imposing mother to the emotionally distraught Aura, a turn recalling her performance in Brian De Palma's Carrie. Similarly, Brad Dourif plays a fallen doctor, whose unstable state of mind has parallels with his role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest--both of those films also deal with mental disorders and suffering. Although Trauma is also a slasher/horror film, it deals realistically with actual psychological bugbears like those afflicting Aura and David. A colleague of David's educates him on the nature of anorexia, which in turn gives him a better understanding of the young woman who he is trying to protect, even from herself. It is significant that David is the protector of Aura, because he is someone who can genuinely sympathize with her suffering, even if he isn't afflicted the same way. Conversely, Trauma appears critical of the medical profession in various ways; due to Aura's condition, she is forcibly shunted to a psychological hospital run by the dubious Dr. Judd (Frederic Forrest), and nursed by seemingly unsympathetic caretakers. Still, this perspective and its portrayal in Trauma carries the weight of verisimilitude; of note, Aura was inspired by Dario Argento's stepdaughter, Anna, who is the girl who is dancing on the balcony during the closing credits.
The "headhunter killings" are performed by an assailant whose identity is intentionally obfuscated--when the killer is present, it is often from a "first-person" perspective of the murderer. Not only does this viewpoint build tension by shifting away from the objective third-person viewpoint, but since the prior encounters speak to some killing to come, we psychologically brace ourselves for another scene of extreme violence. The first-person view also subconsciously forces us to be "complicit" with the killer--an unsettling proposition--and invites us to get into the "mind" of the killer as well. And since what appears to be a series of unrelated, grisly murders only later begins to form a pattern, the audience is also subconsciously forced to supplant a motive based on limited assumptions, putting our imaginations to work. It would be no stretch to say that the psychopath performing these murders is crazy, utilizing a chillingly efficient, elaborate device combining a garrote and a power tool--dubbed the "Noose-o-Matic" during production. The killer only kills when it rains, an idiosyncrasy which implicates nature itself as an accomplice in the Headhunter Killer's rampage, and the psychological associations make even the weather a trigger for people terrorized by the violence. The implication here is that trauma--like the killer's, or even Aura and David's--is inflicted upon people either directly or indirectly, and resonates and affects others. When the reveal as to who the killer is finally comes, it speaks to this rippling effect of violence and trauma; as the saying goes, "hurt people hurt people", albeit in the killer's case this is taken to the "nth" degree.
Dario Argento is a filmmaker who deals in broad metaphorical strokes. Take the opening to Trauma, with a paper doll reenactment of executions performed during the French Revolution--beheadings by guillotine. In other circumstances, this might imply a political current in the story; in Trauma it is more representative of the kind of savagery humans can inflict upon one another when they feel justified to do so, also foreshadowing the decapitations to come. The ubiquitous pet lizards seen in the company of the killer could also be a metaphor for the so-called "reptile brain", the instinctive drive for survival as well as an inhumane aggressiveness lurking at a primal level within us all. Even the psychotropic berries which Dr. Judd forces Aura to eat could represent the "forbidden knowledge" acquired by Eve who ate of the fruit of Eden, designed to "awaken" her mind. Dario Argento has been described as the "Italian Hitchcock", due to his suspenseful films which often feature intense murders. Trauma alludes to some of the works by Alfred Hitchcock; a shot looking up at a woman in a second-story window and a scene involving a multitude of monogrammed curtains recall moments from Psycho. A shot of a plummeting head in an elevator shaft is deliberately framed to resemble one from Vertigo when James Stewart's character suffers a dream of falling. Even the effort by Dr. Judd to glean her repressed memories recalls similar efforts made in Spellbound. Trauma is film which exists in a unique, necessary place, both for Dario Argento and for psychological horror films. It is one which empathizes with people suffering from psychological distress, while still exposing the horrors which accompany trauma left unchecked. The film is also a bridge between the giallo master and a style of filmmaking production heretofore outside of his own comfort zone.
Recommended for: Fans of a refreshing entry into the oeuvre of a distinctive filmmaker whose reputation is built on exceedingly violent yet hauntingly dreamlike and vivid horror. Trauma is a film which is also adept at portraying truly sympathetic, honest protagonists in contrast to the inhumane, ghastly killings.
The "headhunter killings" are performed by an assailant whose identity is intentionally obfuscated--when the killer is present, it is often from a "first-person" perspective of the murderer. Not only does this viewpoint build tension by shifting away from the objective third-person viewpoint, but since the prior encounters speak to some killing to come, we psychologically brace ourselves for another scene of extreme violence. The first-person view also subconsciously forces us to be "complicit" with the killer--an unsettling proposition--and invites us to get into the "mind" of the killer as well. And since what appears to be a series of unrelated, grisly murders only later begins to form a pattern, the audience is also subconsciously forced to supplant a motive based on limited assumptions, putting our imaginations to work. It would be no stretch to say that the psychopath performing these murders is crazy, utilizing a chillingly efficient, elaborate device combining a garrote and a power tool--dubbed the "Noose-o-Matic" during production. The killer only kills when it rains, an idiosyncrasy which implicates nature itself as an accomplice in the Headhunter Killer's rampage, and the psychological associations make even the weather a trigger for people terrorized by the violence. The implication here is that trauma--like the killer's, or even Aura and David's--is inflicted upon people either directly or indirectly, and resonates and affects others. When the reveal as to who the killer is finally comes, it speaks to this rippling effect of violence and trauma; as the saying goes, "hurt people hurt people", albeit in the killer's case this is taken to the "nth" degree.
Dario Argento is a filmmaker who deals in broad metaphorical strokes. Take the opening to Trauma, with a paper doll reenactment of executions performed during the French Revolution--beheadings by guillotine. In other circumstances, this might imply a political current in the story; in Trauma it is more representative of the kind of savagery humans can inflict upon one another when they feel justified to do so, also foreshadowing the decapitations to come. The ubiquitous pet lizards seen in the company of the killer could also be a metaphor for the so-called "reptile brain", the instinctive drive for survival as well as an inhumane aggressiveness lurking at a primal level within us all. Even the psychotropic berries which Dr. Judd forces Aura to eat could represent the "forbidden knowledge" acquired by Eve who ate of the fruit of Eden, designed to "awaken" her mind. Dario Argento has been described as the "Italian Hitchcock", due to his suspenseful films which often feature intense murders. Trauma alludes to some of the works by Alfred Hitchcock; a shot looking up at a woman in a second-story window and a scene involving a multitude of monogrammed curtains recall moments from Psycho. A shot of a plummeting head in an elevator shaft is deliberately framed to resemble one from Vertigo when James Stewart's character suffers a dream of falling. Even the effort by Dr. Judd to glean her repressed memories recalls similar efforts made in Spellbound. Trauma is film which exists in a unique, necessary place, both for Dario Argento and for psychological horror films. It is one which empathizes with people suffering from psychological distress, while still exposing the horrors which accompany trauma left unchecked. The film is also a bridge between the giallo master and a style of filmmaking production heretofore outside of his own comfort zone.
Recommended for: Fans of a refreshing entry into the oeuvre of a distinctive filmmaker whose reputation is built on exceedingly violent yet hauntingly dreamlike and vivid horror. Trauma is a film which is also adept at portraying truly sympathetic, honest protagonists in contrast to the inhumane, ghastly killings.