Traumatika is directed by Pierre Tsigaridis, and the cast includes Rebekah Kennedy, Ranen Navat, Emily Goss, Susan Gayle.
You know sometimes after you have watched a movie, you are caught between respecting it for what it is trying to do and irritation at how it stumbled that?
Traumatika is one of those films.
Rebekah Kennedy (Abigail) is the star of the show here, as you keep watching her trying to figure out whether she was more terrifying or more tragic. She can feel fragile one second and dangerous the next, and that gave the film its strongest moments.
But as the movie unfolded, frustration starts to creep in, as after that gripping start, Traumatika shifts, hopping between timelines and perspectives., and while I don't dislike the idea of expanding the story, but the way it was done diluted everything.
The tension just ends up becoming very scattered, and while I understand what the film was reaching for, trying to tie the demon to cycles of trauma and abuse, but the approach felt a bit clumsy, as some of the subject matters are introduced without much subtlety, and it comes across as a bit alienating, and just shock value more than storytelling.
But, you have to appreciate a film’s willingness to tackle difficult ideas.
Traumatika will ask you questions, but it just doesn’t really answer them, which is okay in theory, but the film raised these themes but then seemed distracted by its own ambition, leaving them dangling without much exploration, which leaves you wondering what the film’s true focus even was.
It’s also quite a relentless movie, throwing different themes at you constantly, and I can see how some people might find that exhilarating, but it also felt quite exhausting at times.
The opening of the film and Abigail’s sequences certainly had a texture and fear that I liked, and you can feel the director’s eye in the framing of the cinematography, and the attention to pacing in those scenes.
Later on though the story splinters, trying to cover possession, trauma, slashers, biblical evil, and media exploitation all in 81 minutes, and it’s a lot, and the film would have been stronger if it had focused on fewer elements and explored them more fully.
The horror is persistent, and the imagery can be extreme, and I can’t deny that some of the sequences rattled me, but the terror never really feels earned, and comes across as more shocking just for shocks sake, and while there’s intelligence underneath the surface in what the film is trying to do, it doesn’t always know how to translate that intelligence into storytelling that works on a consistent level.
Traumatika will keep you watching though through strong performances and unsettling sequences before it then unravels into something ambitious that becomes a bit messy, but you have to respect a film willing to take risks, even if those risks sometimes collapse under their own weight.
It's interesting in parts, frustrating in others - but it's also consistently pushing buttons even if it is a bit messy, which in the end leaves you with mix of awe and irritation, but with better execution it could have been something very very good.
*The film premiered at FrightFest in 2024, but released in North America to the masses in 2025, so am counting it as a 2025 film.