Dario Argento's Trauma is his only American film in full length.
The film is filled with elements from his previous Italian produced films. The Hitchcockian element from Argento's Animal trilogy is present here (the Hitchcock element even furthered by Pino Donaggio's music score, a frequent Brian De Palma collabarator), as is the Freudian undertone of repressed guilt and past sins from Deep Red and Tenebrae. This is Argento basically delivering his usual giallo in a more American style. And he's hugely successful at it, too.
Trauma has a lot of great set pieces, some great scenes of extreme violence and gore to spare,a cleverly plotted and written story, decent performances from Rydell and Asia and genuine old fashioned suspense. And a devilishly clever ending. Trauma has it all in abundance.
It goes a bit over the top concerning those severed heads and some make-up effects could have been better, I thought. But these are minor quibbles in an otherwise excellent suspense yarn from a master director. Trauma may well be his most underrated film.
I have to say, also, that I find it immensely enjoyable that Argento used live sound here instead of his usual dubbing.
