Trauma (1993 film)
| Trauma | |
|---|---|
 Film poster |
|
| Directed by | Dario Argento |
| Produced by | Dario Argento Chris Beckman David Pash |
| Written by | Franco Ferrini Gianni Romoli Dario Argento T.E.D. Klein |
| Starring | Christopher Rydell Asia Argento Piper Laurie Frederic Forrest |
| Music by | Pino Donaggio |
| Cinematography | Raffaele Mertes |
| Editing by | Bennett Goldberg |
| Distributed by | Penta Film |
| Release date(s) | Italy: 12 March 1993 United States: 20 April 1994 (video premiere) |
| Running time | 106 min |
| Country |  Italy United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,000,000 (estimated) |
Trauma is a 1993 film directed by Dario Argento who also co-wrote the screenplay. The film can be described as a giallo, that is a film with influences from the horror, mystery, and thriller genres.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
Aura, a young woman suffering from anorexia escapes from a psychiatric hospital and meets a young man, David who offers to let her stay with him rather than go back to the hospital. However, Aura is soon caught but her return to the hospital coincides with the start of a string of murders of hospital staff members, past and present. The killer decapitates them using a home-made garrote device, the 'noose-o-matic', on rainy days. When her father is murdered along with her mother, Aura and David team up to find the killer.
In the end, it is revealed that Aura's mother (who faked her death after murdering her husband) is the killer. Years earlier, Dr. Lloyd (Brad Dourif) was given the task of delivering Aura's brother, Nicolas. However, his clumsiness combined with a power outage (caused by a thunderstorm) led to him slicing off the newborn infant's head as he was being delivered. The head nurse during the delivery convinces the doctor to forcibly subject Aura's mother to electroshock treatment against her will, hoping that it would erase all memory of the blotched delivery/death of her son, allowing for the staff to cover up their causing her child's death. Holding the two hostage, Aura's mother is ultimately killed by a young child who had discovered the mother's crimes and ultimately uses her own murder device against her to save her captives.
[edit] Production
Shot in and around Minneapolis in August and September 1992 on a budget of $7 million,[1] 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.[2] 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 [Argento was] after".[2] 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.[2]
[edit] Cast
- Christopher Rydell as David Parsons
- Asia Argento as Aura Petrescu
- Piper Laurie as Adriana Petrescu
- Frederic Forrest as Dr. Judd
- Laura Johnson as Grace Harrington
- Dominique Serrand as Stefan Petrescu
- James Russo as Capt. Travis
- Ira Belgrade as Arnie
- Brad Dourif as Dr. Lloyd
- Hope Alexander-Willis as Linda Quirk
- Sharon Barr as Hilda Volkman
- Isabell O'Connor as Georgia Jackson (as Isabell Monk)
[edit] Alternate versions
- A special uncut version reportedly available on video features seven minutes of footage omitted from foreign prints including:
- a new introduction of the Aura and David characters: David (Chris Rydell) drives Grace (Laura Johnson) at the airport and sees Aura (Asia Argento) being beaten by a man whose plane ticket she tried to steal;
- a new scene features Grace visiting David at the TV station and asking him about Aura; David invites Grace to his house and then calls Aura at home to ask her if she needs any food; Aura lies to him and tells she's already eaten;
- Aura visits a market and is spotted by Dr. Jarvis (Frederic Forrest), who tries to catch her;
- After David and Aura escape from the Marigold, she tells him she's taken a little souvenir from Nurse Volkmann's purse; another new shot shows the Marigold's owner talking to the police;
- David checks into a hotel after following Linda Quirk's car and asks for a room overlooking the parking lot;
- David asks for information about Dr. Lloyd in a saloon;
- After David calls Grace and asks her for prescription forms, she meets and confronts him, trying to make him face the fact that he's become a junkie;
- The death scenes of Linda Quick and of the killer are more graphically explicit (the wire is seen cutting through Linda's neck).
- The BBFC cut the UK video release by six seconds. There are two cuts, both to shots of wire cutting into the necks of Hope Alexander-Willis and Piper Laurie. However, these cuts were waived in 2002, and all subsequent DVD releases are uncut.[3] All UK video and DVD releases contain the shorter version.
[edit] Technical facts
- Filming locations:
- Hopkins, Minnesota, USA
- Irvine Park, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
- Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Filming dates: 3 August 1992 - 26 September 1992
- Taglines:
- Some Nightmares Haunt You. Some... Can Kill You.
- A dark secret, a twisted mind, an insane desire for revenge.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Trauma at the Internet Movie Database
- Trauma at AllRovi
|
||||||||||||||
