Trauma (R2)

[Hellbilly]

Until now my memory was a bit hazy regarding Argento's TRAUMA, which I rented and watched only once on tape (Republic) ages ago. Building up my Argento collection on DVD over the years I was more then happy discovering the German "Laser Paradise" edition at a horror convention a week ago, bought it and finally gave it a spin today.

Gotta say I wasn't really impressed by this movie. From all the Argento films I've seen this one must be his most um, unbalanced one?
It kinda felt uneven throughout and like lots of footage was missing - for instance we see in one scene Piper Laurie's character shuffle tarot cards and a second later she's surrounded by her guests getting ready for that big seance.
Maybe it was intended odd editing ... (?) but it sure was kinda distracting and came off more like sloppy editing.
There are many other scenes that seemed "hacked off" the same way.

Anyway, the story is easy to follow (heh) and I definitely loved the way the camera moves - Typical Argento: Beautifully shot with a few breathtaking sceneries.
A couple of confusing scenes (what's up with that reggae band at the end?) and interesting death scenes but AURA (onscreen title) isn't really a gore feast. There are a few nice (and one extremly fake) looking decapitated heads provided by Tom Savini though.
Acting is ok even though Piper Laurie pulls a little Margaret White on us.
Asia Argento's performance is a mixed bag however. Some would say her acting is as bad as her accent but I thought she did ok in most parts.
Plus we get to see her barf, take a shower and get a glimse at her boobies.
Ain't that something?



Laser Paradise' DVD (R2 PAL) has a nice animated (spoiler free) menu and is supposed to be uncut - but some German horror site was bitching that half of the song that's playing at the end credits was missing ...

VIDEO: Widescreen 2.35:1 (16:9) - Looks alright. No color bleeding, mostly clean print but a few night scenes are actually too dark.

AUDIO: English 2.0 - Not sure if this is stereo, sure ain't surround. Sounded more like mono actually. Strange sound mix nonetheless

EXTRAS: Theatrical Trailer, Bio's and five deleted scenes (about 30 seconds each). They were probably cut for pacing since they really didn't add much to the story.