This is basically everything that you would come to expect from a late 1980's / early 1990's slasher / horror movie.However, given the predictability of the movie, then "Trauma" wasn't really much of an enjoyable experience, and there weren't any scares to be found anywhere.Director Dario Argento have some pretty nice titles to his name, "Trauma", however, is not really one of them.It was hard to get submerged into the story, because it was slow paced and rather mundane and dull. And the mediocre acting performances throughout the movie weren't really helping the movie along in a nice way either.If you enjoy Dario Argento's work, then there are far better pieces in the collection. It is hard to find anything worthwhile to recommend the movie to be seen, so I will not even try...

David Parsons (Christopher Rydell) saves Aura (Asia Argento) from committing suicide after witnessing her parents being murdered. He tries to take care of her but the murderer goes after Aura and others. Who's doing it and why? Dario Argento's first American film is very very good but not great like "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" were. Still even lesser Argento is at least 90% better than most American horror films. All of his trademarks are here--the beautiful camera work, a story that makes little sense, it moves VERY quickly and has bursts of graphic violence (although not as graphic as his other pictures). The acting is pretty good too. Rydell and Argento are attractive and OK in their roles. In smaller roles Piper Laurie (with an atrocious Italian accent), Frederic Forrest and Brad Dourif REALLY chew the scenery. When they're on screen they're lots of fun.The debits--Argento didn't seem comfortable filming in America. The camera-work is still amazing but he seems real off sometime. Worst of all is the score. Argento wanted to work his group Goblin who did downright terrifying scores for most of his pictures. However the American investors wanted someone more tame and had Pino Donaggio to do the score. It's terrible--it doesn't fit the film at all. Also the last 20 minutes or so are really hard to follow. So good but not great Argento.

TRAUMA is the fourth Dario Argento film I've seen for the first time and given that I've not yet seen the films considered to be his best just yet, this will be a review that won't compare it to films like SUSPIRA, INFERNO, DEEP RED, PHENOMENA and TENEBRE which I haven't seen but rather to OPERA, MOTHER OF TEARS and THE STENDHAL SYNDROME which are the only ones I have seen aside from TRAUMA.After I watched it I mainly thought this film was really weird, script wise the plot was really good and had an interesting twist to it, on a technical side the camera work was great, I just loved the style in which the camera was used, constantly moving and there were some strange angles at times, aside from all this the acting was rather dull and the score of the film was actually strange too, at times it played in scenes where it wasn't really needed and where it was needed it didn't really fit in with the scene.TRAUMA is also very low on gore and the violence in it which involves decapitations are very tame compared to the other three films I've seen and given that Tom Savini created some of the effects for the film, you would think it would showcase his work just like the other films he worked on did.The overall strange thing about it is is that it has its good points like the plot and the camera work and it has its bad points like the acting and the score, they almost balance each other out in some odd way.As far as recommending it goes, this might be a good place to start if you're just getting into Argento's films. and then move on up to his stronger films one at a time.Overall, compared to the others, I still favor THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, it just has something the others don't.

"Trauma" doesn't quiet fall into that category of "so bad it's good"...it's more like "so contrived it's excellent". It's like watching a train wreck. The plot holes alone left me scratching my head and questioning whether I accidentally skipped past scenes of exposition. There are several loose ends that never get tied up and the whole "twist" ending is absurd to the point that it's almost offensive to viewers.You might be asking "then how can this be your favorite Argento film?" Or "why rank it a 9?" Because Argento films, and rather Italian horror films in general, are usually more focused on visuals and imagery rather than plot and story. And "Trauma" does have beautiful images, great symbolism, and a unique narrative. The plot revolves around an anorexic teen who witnesses "The Head Hunter" murdering her parents, who just happen to be psychics. The teen teams up with a young American man, who may not be aware of statutory rape laws, to catch the killer. Many bizarre subplots and decapitations ensue.Trauma was suppose to be Dario Argento's big break in America and was suppose to be his bloodiest film to date...but the producers heavily edited the film's gore scenes and it shows. Which is a shame because Tom Savini was involved in the film and you can feel that the gags/setups never pay off like they should.Overall, "Trauma" is a mixed bag. There's good acting (Christopher Rydell) and bad acting (Asia Argento). There's some good death scenes than there are some absurd death scenes. I was very pleased to not have to deal with terrible dubbing in an Argento film for once and seeing Asia's breasts are always a nice treat. Check it out.