Trhauma

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.