Trauma

This rarely seen gorefest from Italian horror director Dario Argento failed to get a UK cinema release, despite containing all the best and worst elements of his uncompromising style. David Parsons (Rydell) is a journalist who takes young anorexic Aura Petrescu (Argento) under his wing after her parents are apparently murdered by a serial killer wielding a decapitating machine. As the unstable Aura and David become closer, a pattern to the killings emerges. Argento's first American backed film pays homage to Psycho, yet he conspicuously lacks Hitchcock's ability to direct actors - there isn't a half decent performance to be found here, and his own daughter in the female lead is particularly awful. Also, a barely credible plot and uneven pacing don't help. Yet Argento's occasionally brilliant camerawork and the evident glee with which he sets about the decapitation scenes make this just about worthwhile.