Trauma is a very weird film. It looks great, with a lot of shadows and rain. Typical Argento filming throughout. Lots of close-ups, loads of first person scenes, etc. etc. That’s not what makes it odd, however. The whole thing seems disjointed. There are a lot of jarring cuts, and I never thought I’d say this, but the use of shadows in this one almost makes some scenes unwatchable…and then we have the fact that Argento is directing his nude daughter. Yeah… Weird is a good word.

Argento has given us some wonderful stories up through the 70s and 80s, but Trauma is not up to that standard. Sure… Some of the giallo tropes are present, but it doesn’t feel like one story. Everything seems jumbled up, and it’s almost like several stories in one. Subplots taking up too much room, and the ending is… Well… It’s there. There is suspense to be had, but it seems more “compartmentalized” than anything Argento has written before. It works, but barely…

The acting in Trauma is not all that good. I usually like Asia Argento's work, but in this she’s just not very good. She’s very young in this (18 if I’m not mistaken), and she’s being asked a lot… from her father no less. The only one I would say is above par, is Brad Dourf, but that is usually the case when he shows up anyway.

Pino Donaggio did the music for Trauma, and even though he has made some rather magnificent scores up through the years, this is not one of them. Sometimes it’s way too prominent, and almost takes over. Other times it just disappears. It’s not bad, but expect better both from Donaggio and Argento.

As you might have understood by now, Trauma is not exactly my favorite Argento film. However… I do like a few, very good-looking, scenes, and some of Savinis work is quite good (as if that is a surprise), but in the end, this is not a film I take out very often. This is actually the first time I see this film in years, even though I’ve had the VinSyn release on my shelves for a while. Says it all, doesn’t it…