Trhauma (1980) User Reviews

Idiotically titled cheap Italian slasher

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 28 December 2014]

I always wondered about the spelling of the title of this film. Turns out it is simply 'trauma' misspelled. Not a great start!

Going into this, you would be forgiven for thinking that it is going to be a giallo but to all intents and purposes this is a slasher film, albeit one with some Italian flavour. It was made in the wake of the enormous success of the American film Halloween (1978), which at the time was in the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful independent film ever made. Unsurprisingly this led to a few films that riffed off its basic idea, Trhauma is one of those. As such, unlike its giallo brethren, it has decidedly less plot to it and it replaces the mystery element with extended stalk sequences. It also seems to be a somewhat lower budget film too, with limited sets, obscure actors and a basic score. The latter compromises mainly of a repetitive synth track but kicks things off with an unexpected upbeat disco number to accompany the credits – well it was the glitter ball age I guess.

The plot-line is set in motion by a short prologue and then the main story kicks in, which is essentially about party guests at a remote villa being killed one by one by a disfigured psychopath. It's not overly graphically violent, with much of the killings happening off-screen, although there was one rather creepy scene of necrophilia. It's mostly unremarkable and not terribly interesting stuff though but there are some aspects that are noteworthy, such as the fact that the killer is paid for his murders in Lego! It also, really isn't difficult working out what's going on behind the scenes and you can work out the 'twist' so easily, you actually wonder if it really is a twist at all. What was less predictable was the jarringly sudden ending. While it was unexpected, it was also not very satisfying either! The movie's run-time is pretty short, which is probably to be expected given the lack of material but was nevertheless a good thing overall.

Not the Argento one!

[morrison-dylan-fan · 5/10 · 20 October 2012]

When I originally decided to pick up this film,my first expectations were that I was going to see an alt cut of Dario Artgento's 1993 Giallo Trauma (also reviewed.)

Shortly after the film arriving I had a quick search online,and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the movie was a Giallo-Slasher hybrid!.Since having enjoyed Lamberto Bava's great Giallo-Slasher hybrid A Blade In The Dark (also reviewed),I decided to take a look at what "traumatic" events awaited the unlucky characters of this film.

View on the film:

Opening with a synth-pop song by Ubaldo Continiello, the screenplay by co-writer (along with Gaetano Russo and Alessandro Capone) / director Gianni Martucci impressively goes for a more mature,Giallo set of characters to be his unlucky bunch of this trauma.

Unlike most Slasher films which mainly focus on the travailing of a bunch of teenagers,who from out of nowhere encounter a deadly "fork in the road", the writers instead makes the all non-teenagers group of characters people who are desperate to stab their partner right in the back with all of their hidden secrets (although Martucci does still have some of the most beautiful actresses in the film appear in various states of undress.)

Whilst Martucci's directing does sadly stick to the middle of the road,and also misses a number of opportunity's to include some stylish moments to this entertaining Giallo/Slasher hybrid (with a weird Lego building in the hideout of the killer (!) and a small nasty moment of necrophilia, allowing for some nice weird touches.)

The screenplay thankfully keeps things moving at an enjoyable, sometimes twisty pace, with the body count murder set-pieces being committed in a welcomed unexpected order, and the last five minutes of the film offering a tough,open-ended Giallo twist,which helps the movie to end on a terrific rancid note.

Giallo the 13th

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 19 February 2020]

Back when he was a child, The Being - the bad guy in this movie who has that name because there's no way the creators of this film didn't see Halloween and say, we need The Shape - was made fun of for his white eyeball-less eye and then fell out of a tree. That's the kind of traumatic - trhaumatic? - adolescent experience that makes you strangle dogs and make love to corpses. Such is life in Italian slasher scum movies.

Yes, it's another in the long series of films where my wife wanders in just as a nude woman is being photographed in a park, only to be mercilessly dispatched by a killer. She looks at me in disgust and says, "Your movies..."

Director Gianni Martucci was also behind 1988's The Red Monks. Here he's basically making an American slasher, complete with characters you learn nothing about other than the fact that you can't wait to watch them die.

That said, the killer plays with Duplo blocks when he isn't popping the heads off of obviously stuffed cats. And the film is quite literally packed with disco music. I think that more slashers could use some disco, but that may just be the result of me loving Prom Night so much.

One of the worst giallos ever made

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 2/10 · 23 November 2019]

Arriving at a secluded house in the countryside, a group of friends looking to spend a quiet weekend away together suddenly realize that several of them have gone missing, and when they realize that a hulking, maniacal killer is on the loose tries to find a way to get the survivors away alive.

There's very little to like about this slasher/giallo effort. Among the few positives here is the general atmosphere of the situation featuring the killer lurking about the house as this one generally tries to feature some atmosphere at times. The first stalking after the photoshoot has a few genuinely eerie moments of the point-of-view tracking her through the woods, while the scenes of the group going through the woods looking for their friend has some suspenseful moments where the darkness and the noises outside creatures a fine sense of atmosphere. Moreover, the frantic finale here offers a genuinely enjoyable series of stalking throughout the house as the activity is rousing enough, especially the final confrontation which has genuine creepy and chilling sections provided by the location and situation. The only other bit that's enjoyable is a nicely sleazy touch where the killer fondles a nude victim for several minutes for no reason giving this a nice touch of necrophilia added to the mix, but that's all the good points here. Among the film's biggest flaws here are the completely out-of-character mannerisms affected to the killer. The fact that the killer is shown off five minutes into the running is a huge departure for the genre which leaves one of the greatest qualities in the genre to be completely voided out. That means we get to see him interacting on-screen with a fake eye-piece and a sluggish limp trying to chase after younger, healthier victims who are struck down by his physical stature allowing for a series of some of the most laughable and awkward kill scenes here featuring no gore and very little actual interaction leaving this to feature scenes including strangulation, heart attack or shadow actions on the wall behind them exposing some of the most atrocious gore effects ever filmed as the aftermath shots. These are wholly disappointing and depressing which lowers the film significantly. That also leads to the wholly detrimental factor of how cheap and lay the film is. The overwhelming sense throughout here is one of incompetence, from the lack of locations to the inability to tell anyone apart because it's rarely giving out names for people or the utterly infuriating way things drag out simply to allow them to remain in the killers' crosshairs. These here are so poorly handled that the film comes off with little semblance of rational thought where the group is continually going out to look for people alone without coming up with reasonable motivations to do so. The last flaw here, and another stalwart example of the films' incompetence is the finale, which is the greatest, most creative, unique and mind-numbingly infuriating way to end a film ever which absolutely screams they've run out of money and had to do something to end this. It's insulting and leaves this on a forgettable note.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Full Nudity, Violence, a rape attempt and violence-against-animals.

So-so giallo/slasher hybrid

[lazarillo · 5 May 2010]

The Italians are often criticized for "ripping off" American films. There is some justification for this, but there are times also that the influence has gone in the other direction. The American slasher genre initiated by "Black Christmas", "Halloween", and "Friday the 13th", for instance, owes a lot to earlier Italian gialli thrillers, most obviously Mario Bava's "Bay of Blood", but also "Torso", "What Have You Done to Solange?", and even "Schoolgirl Killer", all of which played American drive-ins in the 1970's and no doubt had some influence on the early American slasher films. Nevertheless, just because "Halloween" and other early slasher films may have been somewhat derivative of gialli, it didn't stop later Italian giallo filmmakers from cashing in on the international success of American slasher movies by making their own films that were highly derivative of "Halloween". This is one such film.

In what seems to be a typical slasher-movie flashback prologue, one boy coaxes another boy with a deformed eye into climbing a tree. The boy falls out of the tree, apparently dead. Years later the first boy has grown up and he and a bunch of his friends, some of whom he is in debt to, and his wealthy wife are having a party at his secluded villa when someone starts bumping off the guests. Guess who.

This movie IS highly derivative of "Halloween", but the end does go in a very direction than what you might expect and the revenge-for-a-past-tragedy that is seemingly set up in the prologue is not necessarily what it seems. This movie turns out to be much more of a slasher-giallo hybrid than a simple slasher movie rip-off, owing as much to earlier gialli like "Bay of Blood" as it does to "Halloween". Also, the characters in this movie, unlike with most slasher movies, are adults rather than adolescents. Thus, there's even more nudity and sleazy sex than in your average slasher movie, but the characters also have much more adult motives than simply partying or trying to "lose it". You also get the big fat guy from "Strip Nude for Your Killer" (but thankfully this time he DOESN'T strip nude for his killer). Most of the cast, however, are relative unknowns and they're generally unremarkable as actors. This isn't terrible, but it's not great either.

His "Trhauma" is that he fehell out of a Trhee!

[Coventry · 2/10 · 1 April 2019]

Like all my fellow reviewers, I clearly also couldn't resist making a remark about the spelling error in the title. It's just so unfathomable! It's a one-word title and making a film is supposedly a full-time occupation; how is it humanly possible to mess this up? Excellent job done by everyone even remotely involved in this production! In the other user-comments, I read that "Trhauma" is a belated giallo, because it's Italian, and a slasher inspired by Carpenter's "Halloween" because it got released shortly after. This is, however, merely just wishful thinking. In the end, it's nothing but a very lousy and zero-budgeted amateur horror film, made by and starring a bunch of nobodies.

The prologue introduces two 9-ish year old boys playing around in a forestry region. The smallest one is an irritating brat who commands the taller (and mentally underdeveloped) one to climb into a tree. He falls. After the opening credits, we are in the middle of a friends' weekend taking place in the country mansion of a continuously bickering couple. There aren't any proper character introductions or explanation on who these people are, though. In the film's absolute funniest scene, a really fat bloke just steps out of his car, throws off his clothes whilst crossing the garden and jumps into the pool. After that, everyone simply gets butchered by a savage maniac who turns out to be the dim-witted kid from the prologue (you can recognize him by his one missing eye).

Simply put, "Trhauma" is unimaginably bad! There isn't the slightly sign of tension-building, character development or coherence in the script. Due to the nonexistent budget, the murder sequences either occur off-screen or look very pitiable. If I would have to give an explanation on why this movie is still somewhat seen as a cult gem, it's probably because of two minor aspects: 1) there's a repulsive and 100% gratuitous necrophilia sequence and (2) the maniac killer still is the marionette of the same bully kid who rewards the murders with Lego boxes! The acting, directing, editing and cinematography are horrendous, but do stick around just in case in you are interested in witnessing the most moronic ending in horror history.

Gialloween.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 12 September 2016]

Andrea (Gaetano Russo) and Lilly (Domitilla Cavazza) invite a group of friends to spend the weekend at their country villa.

Guest Paul (Timothy Wood) escorts Olga (Anna Maria Chiatante) into the woods to take some photographs. Paul tells Olga to 'drop her dress'; she happily obliges to reveal that she is wearing nothing underneath. Trhauma ticks the nudity box early on.

Paul has an argument with Olga and leaves the woman on her own. She is attacked and killed by a drooling, half-blind loony with a gammy leg (Per Holgher) who makes out with her dead body, taking time out to strangle a dog. Trhauma also quickly establishes itself as sleazy and twisted.

The killer then goes to his home where he meets a mysterious figure who pays him for his nefarious work… in plastic building bricks (not even Lego, but some dodgy knock-off rubbish, like you would get down the market): Trhauma takes the weirdness factor up a few notches.

So far, so entertaining.

Unfortunately, the film then turns into a rather routine slasher that clearly takes its cues from John Carpenter's Halloween, but without that film's high-calibre cast or sense of style. Characters wander round the woods and are routinely dispatched by the psycho until only 'final girl' Lilly is left to discover the mutilated bodies littering her property, which might have been fun if there had been some decent gore—but there isn't.

A final 'twist' is extremely easy to predict and the film closes in an incredibly abrupt fashion, leaving me to wonder whether I had a dodgy copy that was somehow missing the real ending.

the Beast in the Woods

[andrabem-1 · 7/10 · 24 October 2009]

A couple invites some friends to spend a weekend together in an isolated cabin surrounded by woods and fields. But... there's a killer lurking around.... And... someone is monitoring him.

"Trhauma" is an Italian slasher/giallo film that seemingly took some inspiration from "Friday the 13th", but it has its own story and a completely different mood. The characters are not silly teenagers, but machiavelic young (mostly) adults. "Trhauma" was made on a low budget, but it's audio-visually creative and it takes good advantage of the natural surroundings (the cabin - interiors and grounds, the woods etc.). Most of the scenes (and killings) take place during the night. There are interesting scenes – people walking through the woods in the night carrying torches... illuminating bushes, boughs.... and...... to wrap it all up, a good soundtrack helps to stress the mood.

The film begins with a light touch and when the day turns into night, perplexity turns into apprehension and then fear... and from fear to terror...

"Trhauma" is not a film for gorehounds, but slasher/gialli fans that like non-mainstream films should like it. It's atmospheric and features a fast-paced story.

Vastly entertaining Italian giallo/slasher.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 8/10 · 8 April 2010]

A group of people spend a weekend at a friend's house.One of the females is killed by a disfigured maniac using a machete.Then he rapes her corpse post-mortem.The other guests becomes worried about the absence of first victim.Soon they are all stalked and murdered by crazed killer.Very entertaining and pretty sleazy Italian giallo/slasher directed by Gianni Martucci,the man behind deadly dull "The Red Monks"."Trhauma" is a very beautiful giallo/slasher obviously inspired by "Halloween".The location used is serene and eerie and when you add some lovely and often fully naked ladies into the mix you have a giallo that was probably a lot of fun to make.Director Gianni Martucci manages to keep things interesting with only his small cast to rely on and fills the plot with gruesome murders.8 out of 10.

Entertaining, sleazy giallo inspired by John Carpenter's Halloween

[rundbauchdodo · 7/10 · 14 February 2002]

This little known Italian thriller (which is "correctly" spelled Trhauma) tells a typical giallo story, but has clearly been influenced by John Carpenter's Halloween. A group of people spend a weekend at a friend's house. Early in the movie, one of the females is killed by a disfigured killer, who rapes his victim post mortem. Soon after this, it becomes clear that the simple minded murderer is paid by an unknown person for the crime - with Lego (that's a cheap contract killer... toys instead of cash)! Soon, the other guests worry about the first victim, because (naturally) she hasn't returned. But before they find the body or realize that they are stalked by a maniac, one by one falls victim to the crazed lunatic.

This film by Gianni Martucci, who also made the awfully boring film I Frati Rossi (aka The Red Monks) in 1988, is a very entertaining and sleazy picture. He succeeds in delivering a nice uncanny atmosphere, and through moving camera and creepy scenes in the dark, Martucci keeps up the suspense. The murder scenes are mostly off screen, which probably will disappoint splatter freaks, but towards the end, the film delivers some gore and gets quite messy. Towards the end, the identity of the person who contracted the killer isn't that difficult to find out, but that's no surprise considering that only two people are left and one of them is stalked by the killer for about ten minutes. The only a little bit disappointing thing is the abrupt end, which doesn't make too much sense. All in all, even though it's far from being a masterpiece, it's a highly watchable movie that will satisfy giallo-, slasher- and sleaze-fans alike. Rating: 7 out of 10.

By the way: Assistant director and screenplay co-writer was Alessandro Capone who directed the gory Witch Story (aka Streghe) in 1989.

Nhice!

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 3 March 2019]

I've been trying to find out what the title of the film means, and I think that it genuinely is a spelling mistake! The mind boggles...

This bizarre semi-giallo seems to do everything wrong. The kills happen mostly off-screen. It's full of scenes of people wandering about a house shouting on each other. It's also full of scenes of people arguing with each other. And yet...it's not a total write-off.

First we get a prologue where a pushy kid cajoles a one eyed kid into climbing a tree which then leads to his injury. We then fast-forward to 1980 or whenever, where a guy called Andrea is working on a run down house he bought with his wife's money. They've invited a load of victims to the house to hand around the pool, but no one reckoned on the one-eyed killer stalking everyone in the place.

The best bit of this film I guess is the large Lego set one-eyed killer guy has. It's huge and some mysterious stranger keeps giving him more stuff for it. Best still, when he's trying to work on it, a cat keeps moaning to the point he just cuts the head off the damn thing. Beats taking it to the vets I guess.

This is a strange film in that most of the characters bicker with each other until old one-eye starts doing them all in. The giallo element is almost dispensed with in favour of more slasher elements, but there is a mystery that would be difficult to solve if you've never watched a giallo ever. The ending is truly a head scratcher though.

Claustrophobic eighties Giallo offering

[The_Void · 6/10 · 18 November 2008]

As anyone with more than a passing interest in this genre will tell you, the Giallo hit it's heyday in the early seventies. The genre started to dry up as the seventies wore on; and by the time the eighties came around, you would really struggle to find a decent example outside of Dario Argento's filmography. Trhauma is not a great Giallo by any stretch of the imagination; but in comparison to other entries released around the same period, it has to be said that this one isn't too bad. The plot is rather simple and focuses on a group of people staying at an old house. It's not long before a woman is murdered and it soon becomes clear that the murderer is being paid by someone. It's also clear that the murderer is of the cheap variety as he gets paid in Lego! The guests later realise that the victim has gone missing and naturally start to worry, and this worry is increased when another guest falls victim. It soon becomes apparent that there's a maniac loose in the house!

The film is very short at only seventy two minutes and while it doesn't exactly outstay its welcome; that does unfortunately mean that the film doesn't have much time to flesh out the characters or plot; and as a result it's left rather lacking. Trhauma does benefit from a claustrophobic atmosphere brought on by the fact that it all takes place in the same enclosed location; but this is not as effective as it could been if the characters were fleshed out and made more interesting. One thing that many Giallo fans look for in these film is a fair helping of gore; and despite the fact that this film was released around the same time as Umberto Lenzi's cannibal movies and Lucio Fulci's zombie movies; it features very little of the red stuff and while there's a few murders; they are basically bloodless, which is a shame. As we get close to the end, it becomes pretty obvious who is behind it all...but even so, while this is not a great Giallo by any stretch of the imagination; it's not too bad and is worth tracking down for collectors.

crude and inept and yet.....

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 21 October 2015]

This is really not very well directed at all and despite quite a lot happening still seems to plod along. Characters appear and disappear without much concern (neither by the other characters nor us) and an air of confusion reigns. There are also the most unbelievably predictable sequences with people backing into open windows or creaking doors. There are one or two surprises (especially the very end) but there is little to really concern or involve the audience. The film is saved by its rather nasty edge and its tendency towards sleaze. It is crude and inept and yet I don't recall seeing a near naked and dead body manhandled as much as the first victim is in this and there is more of the same tone throughout. This just about prevents one falling asleep but leaves a rather nasty taste.