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Released by: Metropolitan Film And Video
Released on: 3/9/2004
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Christopher Rydell, Asia Argento, Piper Laurie, Frederic Forest, Laure Johnson, Brad Dourif
Year: 1993
The Movie:
David Parson (Christopher Rydell), simply by chance, stumbles upon and prevents a girl named Aura Petrescu (Asia Argento) from jumping off a bridge and ending her life. She ends up being brought back to her parents, Adriana (Piper Laurie) and Stefan (Dominique Serrand). Shortly after, a maniac running around Minneapolis decapitating people murders her parents. She and David team up and through a few odd coincidences and try and figure out who's been doing the killing and why. He seems to kill only when it rains, and there does in fact seem to be a link between all of the victims.
Trauma has a bad rap among horror movie fans, at least when compared to undisputed classics of the genre like Argento's earlier films like Suspiria and Bird With The Crystal Plumage. And while it never approaches the levels of suspense and weirdness that some of his better received films have, it does have it's moments and there is enough to like about Trauma that it's worth checking out.
As usual, the visuals are nice and the cinematography, while not as flamboyant as his European films have tended to be, is still quite slick. Some nice fluid camera movements, such as the scene where the camera pans from one window to the next with such precision that you barely notice the movement at all, keeps the movie looking good even when the story is a little weak.
Some of the director's trademarks are noticeable in a few scenes as well, making it a fun if not unfamiliar ride for seasoned fans of his work. The black gloved killer is omnipresent, and the use of primary color gels in the lighting is always a welcome touch in his work.
With Savini at the helm of the film's special effects it's a safe assumption that they'd be handled well. Sadly, that's not really the case and the severed neck set pieces make use of some obvious plastic looking props. It's certainly not Savini's best work on display here. The killings are rather subdued here though; at least in comparison to some of Argento's other films. Sure, the decapitations are and interesting idea and although sometimes less can be more, it would have been nice to see him really cut loose.
Performances are reasonably good here, with Asia showing some talent in front of the camera even this early in her career. It's always fun when Brad Dourif shows up at the table and that's what he does in a cameo role that, if you're not paying attention, is easy to miss - especially if you're only familiar with him from the Lord Of The Rings films as he looks completely different here.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Trauma is presented in a nice, solid 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer with nice color reproduction and deep black levels. There is a fine layer of grain over most of the film making it look just a little bit soft but nothing that is too unnatural looking at all. Print damage is limited to the odd speck here and there and aside from some minor shimmering in a couple of scenes, edge enhancement isn't an issue either. Metropolitan has done a very nice job on this transfer.
Trauma comes with four audio options - English 2.0, English 5.1, French 2.0 and French 5.1 Audio Options. Unfortunately, there are French subtitles forced on when accessing the English audio tracks. The actual quality of the tracks, forced subtitles aside, is pretty solid. I chose the English track over the French as it was shot with that option in mind and was quite pleased with the channel separation on the 5.1 mix. It's not perfect, it needs some more bass, but it's pretty solid none the less. Dialogue is nice and clear and there aren't any audible defects to point out.
There are a few interesting extra features on this release, though sadly they are almost entirely in French and without any English subtitles. There's a documentary called On the Set that runs about twelve minutes that is entirely in French. There's also an Asia Argento Interview (which is mostly in French save for some brief snippets in English), a Making of Il Cartio (which is in French and Italian) and finally, an Interview with Claudio Simonetti (which is conducted mostly - thought not entirely - in English with French subtitles). The menu design is quite nice on this release, too bad about the lack of subs for those of us who aren't fluent in French (or those of us who were at one time but have forgotten most of it due to lazy brains). Regardless, I can't honestly fault a French release for having the extras in French, I just wish I could have understood them better.
The Final Word:
While it's not a perfect release (the lack of subs on the extras and the forced French subs on the print during the English audio tracks are unfortunate), Trauma looks great on this release and it's nice to see an anamorphic transfer of the film. Hopefully some day Trauma will get a proper R1 release. Until then, it's this one of the British (non-anamorphic) release.