Trauma (1993 film)

1993 Italian horror film by Dario Argento

Trauma is a 1993 Italian giallo horror film directed by Dario Argento and starring Asia Argento, Christopher Rydell, Piper Laurie, and Frederic Forrest. Set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it follows a troubled teenage girl who, with the help of a boyfriend, attempts to stop a serial killer who murdered her parents. It was one of two films Argento directed in the United States outside of his native Italy, the other being the 1990 anthology film Two Evil Eyes.

In Minneapolis, chiropractic nurse Georgia Jackson stays after hours at her practice during a rainstorm to meet a new patient. Upon arrival, Georgia thinks she recognizes the patient, before they brutally decapitate her with an electric powered wire garrote and disembark with her severed head. The next day, Aura Petrescu, a troubled young Romanian immigrant suffering from a severe eating disorder, escapes from a local psychiatric hospital and is saved from a suicide attempt on a bridge by David Parsons, a sober drug addict and television newswriter. Aura is soon caught by police, and returned to the home of her parents, Adriana and Stefan. That night, Adriana, a fraudulent psychic, holds a séance for a group of locals seeking the identity of a local serial killer known as the "Head Hunter". Aura flees the house, and is pursued by Adriana and Stefan into the woods, where both are met by the killer, who decapitates them using the same method. David allows Aura to stay with him at his lakeside home, but is alarmed when he finds her binging and purging the contents of his kitchen. Meanwhile, a young local boy, Gabriel, breaks into a neighbor's house when his pet lizard crawls through their open window. Inside, he discovers the electric garrote, and is unknowingly in the residence of the killer. While editing news stories about the killer's crimes, David realizes the killer appears to only strike during rainstorms. Meanwhile, Aura ventures into the city to shop at a farmer's market, where she is spotted by Dr. Judd, her obsessive former psychologist, who chases after her before forcing her to return to his home with him. Judd forces Aura to consume berries that produce psychedelic effects, causing her to recall memories of the night her parents were killed. Aura subsequently awakens in the hospital during a rainstorm. The killer arrives, murdering an orderly and decapitating Hilda Volkman, a night nurse, while a drugged Aura attempts to flee. She is saved by David, who has arrived to help her escape. Aura brings with her a keychain dropped by Hilda in the hospital hallway, which includes a key to a storage unit. Gabriel, meanwhile, notices the killer return home that night from his bedroom window, and watches as the gloved individual removes Hilda's severed head from a satchel. The next morning, David and Aura venture to the storage unit to investigate. Inside, they find postcards and photographs of Hilda with her fellow nurses, among them the deceased Georgia. David identifies one of the nurses as Linda Quirk. David and Aura drive to Linda's home, which is nearby, but she flees by car when she sees them arrive. They track Linda to a local hotel, where they check in as guests in a room below hers. The killer soon arrives, triggering the fire sprinklers in Linda's room before decapitating her as well. In a last ditch effort, David tracks down Dr. Lloyd, the murdered nurses' superior who has since lost his medical career and descended into a life of destitution and drug addiction. Lloyd is reticent to speak with David. That night, the killer murders Lloyd in his apartment building by holding his head beneath a descending elevator. David awakens in the middle of the night to find Judd attacking Aura. Judd flees as police arrive, fatally crashing his car. In the trunk, police find the severed heads of Georgia, Hilda, Linda, and Lloyd, and conclude Judd was the killer. After police leave, David finds Aura missing and an apparent suicide note. Some time later, David, who has lapsed back into addiction and lost his job, sees a cloaked figure in the city wearing a distinctive bracelet Aura owned. He follows the individual to their residence, and is noticed by Gabriel, who is playing outside. David breaks into the home, and finds a nursery with the desiccated corpse of a decapitated infant, before Adriana appears and knocks him unconscious. He awakens and finds himself locked in the basement, alongside Aura—it is revealed that Adriana is in fact the killer, who faked her death, framed Judd, and kidnapped Aura. Adriana has sought vengeance against Lloyd and his nurses, who accidentally cut off her newborn son Nicolas's head during his delivery, due to clumsiness combined with a sudden power outage caused by a thunderstorm. To cover up the accident, the nurses and Dr. Lloyd involuntarily subjected Adriana to electroshock treatment in hopes of erasing her memory of Nicolas's botched delivery and death. A deranged Adriana prepares to kill both Aura and David, but Gabriel breaks into the house and steals her garrote. Adriana instead brandishes a firepoker, but is stopped by Gabriel, who uses the garrote to kill her. Police arrive thereafter, as David comforts a hysterical Aura.

Shot in and around Minneapolis, United States in August and September 1992 on a budget of $7 million, Trauma is notable as Italian director Dario Argento's first feature length American production, following his collaboration with George A. Romero in making Two Evil Eyes in 1990. Adapting the treatment devised by Gianni Romoli and long time Argento collaborator Franco Ferrini, Argento chose T. E. D. Klein as his co writer. Special effects expert Tom Savini, who had previously worked on Two Evil Eyes, was recruited to produce the films extensive gore and prosthetic effects. Savini also created the film's central murder weapon, dubbed the "Noose o Matic" by the crew. Savini devised a number of elaborate effects, but they were scrapped when Argento decided to minimize his trademark gore; according to Savini, "Edge of the seat suspense is what he was after". Savini was also set to appear in a scrapped pre credits sequence where his character was to be decapitated in an accident, an event that would trigger the killer's psychosis. The character played by Asia Argento, timing showing she was 17 during filming, is inspired by her half sister Anna (Daria Nicolodi's daughter from a previous marriage) who actually suffered from anorexia. Anna died in a scooter accident in 1994 shortly after the film's release, but she is seen in the actual movie during the closing credits dancing in the balcony. Dario Argento's usual collaborating rock band Goblin were originally suggested to write and perform the music score for the film, but were declined by the American producers who wanted something more friendly to the American audience; therefore, Pino Donaggio's orchestral score was used. In the closing credits, a reggae song is performed by Innocent Mafalingundi and his band Les Exodus. It crossfades into Donaggio's "Ruby Rain", sung by Laura Evan to lyrics by Paolo Steffan, which appears earlier in the film too.

Trauma opened in Italy on 12 March 1993. It later screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival on 2 October 1993, and opened in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota's Film Society on 29 October 1993.

Slant Magazine called Trauma "a bizarre, psychologically repressive thriller that smacks of lesser De Palma" that is "convoluted to the point of distraction, worth savoring solely for Argento's excesses of gore." It currently has an approval rating of 57% on movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 7 reviews.

Trauma was released on VHS in the United States by Worldvision Video on 23 March 1994. Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film on DVD in 2005. In September 2021, Vinegar Syndrome released the film for the first time on Blu ray.