Trauma

(1993) **1/2

Not one of Argento's strongest films by any means, Trauma is still interesting for fans as it's his first and only movie that takes place in the US. It follows an anorexic sixteen year old (played by daughter Asia) on the lam from a mental institution. Shortly thereafter, her parents are beheaded by a traveling nutjob. After striking up a relationship with a local druggie, the two set out to find the killer. This killer uses a strange motorized hand-held gizmo with piano wire to collect the trophies of his victims. Tom Savini is on board to do the dirty work.

This movie faded relatively quickly from my memory partly because it was one too many Argento movies this year, but mainly because I was still numb after seeing Audition on the same day. Piper Laurie (of Twin Peaks fame) plays the mom and she once again does a bang up job portraying a mean bitty.

I wonder why Argento would film his underage daughter naked in this movie and then torture her beyond belief in the Stendhal Syndrome a few years later. Perhaps it's a way for him to justify his controversially violent career. They can't get offended by how he mistreats his female characters if his own flesh and blood is the one on the chopping block. Not that he "mistreats" women, he just puts them in extreme situations that are sometimes erotic but more likely downright vicious.

And Dario, there's more to life than serial killers! (All due respect of course).