TRAUMA

Late one night, a nurse flirts with with her boyfriend on the telephone while waiting for her last patient of the day to arrive. The patient arrives during a rainstorm, black case in hand. After remarking upon possibly recognising her patioent, the nurse turns to prepare herself - at which point the patient removes an electronic decapitating contraption (well, what would YOU call it?!) from their bag and throttles the medic with it.

The following morning, David (Chris Rydell, STEALING CANDY) is driving from work when he spies Aura (Asia Argento, XXX; SCARLET DIVA) climbing over the railings of a bridge. Assuming she is about to commit suicide, David pulls over and coaxes the waif back on to the sidewalk.

Moments later, the couple are in a cafe enjoying breakfast together. It's here that we suspect Aura of being a drug addict, as David - a former junkie - appears to have spotted the signs in her.

But their meeting is short-lived. Aura is carted away by two plain-clothed policemen and returned to her parent's mansion from where she is reported to have ran away.

It transpires that Aura is anorexic and had been submitted into a clinic in the hope of being cured. But Aura hated the clinic and fled - finding David along the way.

Aura's mother, Adriana (Piper Laurie, CARRIE), is a psychic. On the first night of Aura's return home, Adriana holds a sceance with a group of friends. Possessed by an deep rasping voice, she reveals there is a killer amongst them.

The group dispurse as the storm outside climaxes and a tree branch comes crashing through the window, just as Adriana is about to announce the killer's identity.

Adriana flees into the nearby trees, followed closely by her frantic husband Stefan (Dominique Serrand, THE USUAL). Aura watches in terror from her bedroom window, and races down the stairs to pursue her parents. But by the time she finds them, they have both been decapitated and she barely catches a glimpse of the killer as they make their escape into the night.

Fleeing the scene of the crime herself, Aura hooks back up with David, who takes her under his wing and into his home - much to the dismay of on-off lover Grace (Laura Johnson, Wes Craven's CHILLER).

As David and Aura grow closer as friends, they also become embroiled in the killer's plot as a pattern begins to emerge between the list of beheaded victims.

The plot of TRAUMA is by-the-numbers Argento. We have the witness to a crime who cannot quite remember what it is they saw - or thought they saw - but is confident it somehow holds the key to the entire puzzle. There's the distressing episode from many moons ago that has since wrecked the killer's life and inspired their revenge on those responsible. And the heroes, who piece all the clues together themselves, always working independently - and ahead - of the police.

The film exerts a preponderance of Argento stylisms too. The black-gloved killer; the murderous POV shots; the heavy rain during terror scenes (in this case instrumental to the plot); the almost irrelevant fascination with animals ...

But whereas SLEEPLESS can be viewed upon as a greatest hits package of Argentoisms in a positive way, TRAUMA just comes across as lacking the former's guts or energy. This is Dario Argento being lazy.

Which isn't bad by anyone else's standards, but we expect more from the little fella. Especially when you look at the cast he had to work with (which also includes Brad Dourif, James Russo and Frederic Forrest), the fact that he was shooting Stateside with a decent budget and had Tom Savini on hand to provide FX ... well, this should have been so much more.

But the acting is wildly uneven (it's as if Asia had acting lessons halfway through the shoot), the setpiece action is bereft of the elaborate staging and meticulous craftsmanship prevalent in earlier Argento efforts, and Savini's FX are very disappointing. Oh, and where's Claudio Simonetti when you need him?!

The script is sloppy, leaving it's viewer scratching their head many a time as loose ends abound and reality is suspended on far too many occasions.

Even the violence - usually operatic and perversely exciting, per the likes of SUSPIRIA and TENEBRAE - seems strangely tired and anaemic.

There are quite a few moments of inspired camera-work and the film is, for the most part, visually impressive. A sub-plot with a little boy who lives next door to the killer builds satisfyingly (and provides the film's tensest moment).

Cast-wise, Rydell is impressive as an affable lead. Added to that are the odd moments of gore and even a flash of Asia's breasts. So it's not all bad!

Optimum's disc presents the film fully uncut, in it's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Thankfully, it's been anamorphically enhanced for 16x9 TV sets. The picture quality is superb - sharp, bright, colourful: the best presentation the movie has yet been given on DVD.

The audio is 2.0 stereo and, other than some dialogue being overly quiet here and there, is fine.

Where Optimum's disc fails is in the extras. Unless you tend to get excited over decent animated menus and a theatrical trailer.

If you do, then great. Because that's all you get.

It's a shame the disc doesn't have more to offer in terms of special features, as the presentation of the film itself is excellent. And, let's face it, Optimum should have been aware that Anchor Bay's R1 release is just around the corner ...

Review by Stu Willis