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"Trauma" feels like an especially long episode of a standard BBC crime series, which is not surprising seeing as it's a BBC film. The special effects are not that special and the cast is small. Think "Waking The Dead" without bellowing Trevor Eve. It may be more suited to the small screen, ... Read review
Believe what you see. See what you believe... Awaking from a coma to discover his wife ... more
has been killed in a car accident Ben's (Colin Firth) world may as well have come to an end. A few weeks later Ben is out of hospital and attempting to rebuild hi...
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Frightened and disorientated, Ben awakes from a coma in hospital to discover that he has ... more
been in a car crash. When he learns that his wife Elisa was killed in the accident, his world might as well have ended.A few weeks later, Ben is out of hospital an...
Aura a suicidal anorexic preparing to jump off a bridge is rescued when David prevents ... more
her from plunging into the abyss. When Aura's mother a psychic dies just as she is about to divulge the identity of a vicious psychopath Aura begs David for help. The two try to protect one another while embarking on a dangerous search for a killer who's been decapitating innocent people...
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Traumawas director Dario Argento's big crossover attempt at combining the ... more
Italiangiallogenre with the American stalk 'n' slash. His fans may debate whether the result was a complete success, but the film certainly put his name in front of a wider international audience. Essentially the story is a psycho-murderer-mystery, with the audience made to piece together clues towards the identity-revealing denouement. The movie comes alive as a result of suitably intense performances, even while the characters die.Piper Laurie and Brad Dourif supply atypically explosive cameos. The leads are contrastingly subdued for the most part, no doubt because of their characters' involvement with drugs. Asia Argento (the director's daughter) is an anorexic who witnesses her parents' decapitations among a series of similar murders by the notorious "Headhunter". Christopher Rydell plays the ex-junkie who takes her in and helps track down the killer. Backing them up are some even greater performances from Tom Savini's eye-boggling special FX. With the aid of a motorised garrotte, the beheadings are gruesomely real, especially the one that leaves a head still able to talk.On the DVD:Traumacomes to disc in full 2.35:1 widescreen, though this isn't the clearest of transfers (plenty of artefacts present). The sound is in an unspecified Dolby mix. An interesting selection of extras almost makes up for the lack of a commentary. There are filmographies of Dario and Asia, a gallery of behind-the-scenes stills, and trailers for the moviePhantom of the Operaand several more in this series of releases. More interesting are the text features: interviews with Asia on her memories of the shoot and with renegade horror director Richard Stanley surreally recalling his long-term fandom of everything Argento. Most fascinating, there's a mini-essay on what was cut and why by the BBFC for the original UK video release. --Paul Tonks
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Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Advantages: Colin Firth! Disadvantages: Seems to drag and is Cert 15
Colin Firth, Mena Suvari and Naomi Harris star in this certificate 15 Marc Evans-directed film. The film is about an hour and a half long.
Martin Hancock appears as a music manager and there are cameos from newscasters Dermot Murnaghan and Kirsty Young.
Popstar Lauren Paris has been found murdered in a canal and Ben (Firth) awakens from a coma after a car crash to learn his wife Elisa was killed in the accident. Or ... ...is implicated.
There are many twists and turns in the plot as Ben tries to re-build his life, look after his pet ants and make friends with Charlotte, who he rents his flat from. The flat is actually in an old converted hospital which adds to the atmosphere and to Ben's woes. There's also the matter of the dead popstar and how the fans are grieving for her. "How can they grieve for someone they didn't even know?" says Ben. ... more
Colin Firth, Mena Suvari and Naomi Harris star in this certificate 15 Marc Evans-directed film. The film is about an hour and a half long.
Martin Hancock appears as a music manager and there are cameos from newscasters Dermot Murnaghan and Kirsty Young.
Popstar Lauren Paris has been found murdered in a canal and Ben (Firth) awakens from a coma after a car crash to learn his wife Elisa was killed in the accident. Or was she? The two cases become intertwined and Ben is implicated.
There are many twists and turns in the plot as Ben tries to re-build his life, look after his pet ants and make friends with Charlotte, who he rents his flat from. The flat is actually in an old converted hospital which adds to the atmosphere and to Ben's woes. There's also the matter of the dead popstar and how the fans are grieving for her. "How can they grieve for someone they didn't even know?" says Ben. There are overt references to Princess Diana as well, in one scene where Ben is listening to a radio phone-in.
The film deals with many traumatic issues, such as crime, public/private grief and mental illness. While the representations of illness are not wholly positive (Ben is seen to commit a crime when it's actually very rare), Firth puts in a brave performance as a man who is frightened and confused. The therapy scenes are especially realistic.
However, the story is often very confusing for the audience as well and even the ending seems to be left open. It's difficult to tell what is real and what Ben is just dreaming about or seeing in his head. Only the murder story seemed to be finished. I also found certain aspects offensive but I can't explain that in great detail without giving away the ending.
This film has some intriguing ideas but it fails to deliver them properly. The actors do good work with average material. The style is often too unnecessarily creepy. The scenes with the escaped ants are really horrible.
"Trauma" feels like an especially long episode of a standard BBC crime series, which is not surprising seeing as it's a BBC film. The special effects are not that special and the cast is small. Think "Waking The Dead" without bellowing Trevor Eve. It may be more suited to the small screen, mainly due to the humdrum sets and close-up camera shots.
It goes on general cinema release on 17th Sept but I would recommend waiting until this is out on video, to be honest.
Advantages: erm.... Disadvantages: it did not make sense!!!
Starring: Colin Firth, Mena Suvari, Naomie Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Sean Harris, Brenda Fricker, Ken Cranham
Director: Marc Evans
Running Time: 98 minutes
Cert: 15
I went to see this film as me and my friend had seen the adverts on tv, they were excellant and we both thought oh that looks like a good film lets go see it. It was a huge mistake and i hope i will never be mislead by adverts again!
It all starts off with Colin Firth acting as Ben, ... ...wife Elissa has died in. He wakes up from a coma to find out a famous singer Lauren Paris has been murdered. After leaving hospital Ben moves into his new home, a creepy flat built over an old Morgue. With him he brings his disturbing Ant farm which he studies every day. Not long after his move he is bombarded with questions by the police about laurens death. He is accused of stalking Lauren and questions run through his head, was he connected to ...
lizzie12345 22.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Trauma (DVD)
Advantages: creatively shot and of course an excellent british actor in the lead Disadvantages: a confusing psychological plot which is at most times boring
Trauma delves into the psychological effects of traumatic experiences. What is to be believed here? Can you really trust everything you see?
There is very little to plot here this is more an attempt to allow us to step inside the mind of a trauma victim. However, as much as this is cleverly directed, it makes the film very difficult to watch and to follow. Most people will find it boring, however anyone interested in psychology should check this ... ...enlightenment.
Colin Firth is very good and Mena survari is excellent as the estranged neighbour. The action here seems to come in clusters and is not consistant. There are some genuinely eerie moments but not enough to constitute it anything more than a psychological drama.
This on an entertainment scale is rather dull and dark.
Watch this film only if you are heavily into psychology! ...
Minty23 15.04.2005
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Advantages: Mena Suvari Disadvantages: I paid money to watch it!
I was looking forward to watching this film when I went to the cinema but within 20 minutes I found myself looking at my watch and the door. I was very disappointed with the storyline, which I found very hard to follow.
The story is basically that he is in a car accident and goes into a coma and when he awakens he is told his wife died in the accident. At the same time there is a singer that has died. He doesn't believe this and tries to find out ... ...she was connected if she wasn't his wife which she wasn't! . He moves into a flat, which was once a mental hospital and befriends the girl next door who is the owners daughter. There are some very strange scenes involving ants and mental patients and you really start to wonder why.
It is very confusing and if you like having to work out what the plot line is and really think about what is going on then this is the film for you. Personally I just ...
jarrell3214 22.09.2004
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I was suprised when I saw Colin Firth as the lead. Had to make sure this wasn't another Bridget Jones type film. The story is basically about a guy who is in a car crash which leaves him in a coma and when he awakes he is not to sure what is reality and what isn't.
This is one of those films where you have to guess at what is actually going on and there are no definitive answers to whats going on its really up to your interpretation.
The film starts ... ...the loss of his partner and as the story progresses the film changes into more of a thriller. Mena Suvari co-stars and seems to be a salvation for our lead charchter who is coping with his grief however as we see his sense of reality is jilted and he cannot make out whats real or false. Visually this film is excellent the images that are provoked are superb but you get a sense that with all these sequences portraying the charchters madness that the ...
fendertele 05.04.2005
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Advantages: If you like junky horror, you might enjoy it Disadvantages: A terrible, arty mess.
This British horror film seemed to start with so much promise and then just got more confused and messy. Colin Firth plays a man who wakes from a coma after a car crash, thinking his wife is dead and missing several days from his life. In a new home, he becomes a suspect in the murder of a popular singer, starts a bizarre friendship with the landlord's daughter, and wanders around mourning his wife's death. Only thing is, not everything is as it ... ...can she be trusted?
And that's the problem. You spend half the time wondering what is happening, and when it all finally is wrapped up, you are still wondering. Firth does a fine job but the over flashy camera work and contrived script makes you really want to give up before its 90 minutes are over. It really wants to be a mind-messing arty horror, but just comes across as a confused, rambling mess. ...
TheWrenster 31.10.2007 (02.11.2007)
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Advantages: Mostly entertaining and amusing, some hilarious ideas Disadvantages: Not the greatest stand-up I've ever seen...
Alan Davies is probably best known for his role as the main character in the comedy detective show ?Jonathan Creek?. He is also the only regular panellist on the BBC quiz show ?QI?.
Certainly, I became a fan of Alan?s from the ?Jonathan Creek? series and further enjoyed his contributions to QI, however outside of this I?d seen very little of his work. Whilst I?ve always found him funny, I always (quite wrongly) assumed he was a comedic actor, rather than being a stand-up comic.
?Urban Trauma? is Alan?s first stand-up DVD release and is my first experience of him performing in this manner. I managed to purchase it for about £9 from Amazon.
For anyone totally unfamiliar with Alan Davies, I would say that his style of comedy is reminiscent of the likes of Eddie Izzard in particular, but I can see fans of Lee Evans or Bill Bailey ...
Advantages: Quirky horror tale Disadvantages: Lack of special features.
Having starred in dozens of movies previously Trauma was the first movie in which Asia Argento played a leading part. Here she plays a deeply disturbed young woman with bulimia called Aura. Things from her childhood have bothered her all her life, but she is unable to put her finger on exactly what it is. When her parents decide to hold a séance in their home, things come to a head; quite literally. During the gathering the house is plunged into darkness and Aura sees her father running off into the night after an unknown figure. As Aura becomes involved in the chase she wanders into a thicket only to see a dead body and a dark figure holding the heads of both her parents in its hands.
Another first for this movie was that for the first time director Dario Argento had been allowed to legally film in America; and amazingly enough ...
sghawken 03.05.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Trauma (DVD)
Advantages: Cleverly Thought Out Story Disadvantages: Overlong
Legendary Italian Filmaker was commissioned to make an American movie, so off he went to make it. Trauma was the outcome.
The cast includes a who's who of familiar faces Piper Laurie from Twin Peaks & Carrie, Asia argento his daughter now a well known actress and director. And not to forget Brad Dourif from Wild Palms and the Childs Play movies in which he played Chucky.
Whilst holding an Seance a unknown assailent attacks the hosts decapitating both before making off into the night. This leaves your Aura an orphan, she has a history of psychological problems and has been in numerous hospitals. Now psychiatrist Dr. Judd is conviced she knows something about the murder. And strives to get to the truth.
Aura finds help in the form of David a journalist who she encounters shortly after the murders. He decides to help her get to ...
sghawken 01.11.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Trauma (DVD)
Ben awakes from a coma to discover that his wife has been killed in a car accident. When he moves back home a few weeks later, he is befriended by his beautiful young neighbour, but he starts to lose his grip on reality as he is haunted by visions of his dead wife.
...a bold psychological horror movie...makes for riveting viewing (BBCi, )
A frighteningly committed career-best performance from Colin Firth. (Daily Telegraph, )
It really pulled you in and dragged you along for the ride (Kerrang!, )
Intriguing and well acted (Total Film, )
DVD Description
Ben awakes from a coma to discover that his wife has been killed in a car accident. When he moves back home a few weeks later, he is befriended by his beautiful young neighbour, but he starts to lose his grip on reality as he is haunted by visions of his dead wife.
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