Frightfest 2024: ‘Traumatika’ Review
Stars: Susan Gayle-Watts, Ranen Navat, AJ Bowen, Sean O’Bryan, Emily Goss, Rebekah Kennedy | Written and Directed by Pierre Tsigaridis
From the off, Pierre Tsigaridis’ sophomore film, Traumatika, promises its audience an exploration of the various sub-types of childhood trauma, focusing on emotional, physical, and sexual abuse alongside a gratuitous amount of violence.
The story is told non-linearly, starting in present-day L.A. We are introduced to Jennifer Novac’s (Susan Gayle-Watts) highly exploitative – verging on evil – true crime show intent on exploring a spate of child murders that occurred in 2003 in Pasadena, California. But, before we get there, the audience is transported back further in time to the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, when a lone wanderer buries a mysterious artefact only to then commit suicide after being plagued by visions of his child’s death at the hands of the demon Volpaazu.
93 years later, and we shift to a young Mikey’s (Ranen Navat) bedroom. It’s the middle of the night, and Mikey dials 911, realising he’s not alone; Volpaazu, acting through Rebekah Kennedy’s Abigail Reed, has come to collect him. Months later, the county Sheriff (AJ Bowen) responds to a disturbance call at the house where Mikey is being held captive. During his search, the Sheriff finds that Mikey is not the first child to have been abducted by Abigail. Alas, he will not live long enough to tell the world of his discovery as Volpazzu takes his life. Meanwhile, Abigail explains to Mikey how these unfortunate events unfolded.
A year earlier, Abigail’s father, John Reed (Sean O’Bryan), came into possession of the mysterious artefact. While he is warned that opening the artefact will unleash an unholy evil unto the world, his curiosity gets the better of him. Volpaazu seeks a child and, having possessed John, forces him to commit horrific acts of sexual abuse and violence against Abigail, resulting in her becoming pregnant with Volpazzu’s son. Abigail’s decision to abort the child enrages Volpazzu, who vows to impregnate Abigail’s younger sister, Alice. Pleading with the demon, Abigail promises to find another child to become Volpazzu’s son.
Following the Sheriff’s murder, Abigail commits suicide, leaving Mikey alone with Volpazzu. Twenty years hence, we see an older Alice (Emily Goss), author of the best-selling book “Mommy Monster”, featuring on Jennifer Novac’s show to discuss Alice’s childhood and how the world came to demonise her sister as well as Mikey’s fate. We discover that, in the intervening years, he has been institutionalised but, inexplicably, had been released from care. Still plagued by Volpazzu, an older Mikey goes on a homicidal rampage after watching this episode of Jennifer Novac’s show.
Traumatika is a convoluted story, and, although it holds promise in its first act, it fails to keep pace and eventually devolves into a generic slasher film that becomes a carbon copy of John Carpenter’s “Halloween”, resulting in the film moving further away from exploring the themes it promises, effectively ruining the film’s entire premise.
Traumatika is not the first (nor will be the last) film that is let down by a nonsensical third act. Still, it is frustrating for viewers. Why Tsigaridis chose to turn Mikey into the primary antagonist is unclear. Perhaps it was an attempt to throw the audience a curveball, but the execution was so undercooked that it felt uncathartic when we witnessed his ultimate demise. The audience wanted to see a climatic showdown between Alice/Mikey and Volpaazu, given that this dark entity has been the antagonist throughout the entire runtime!
Focusing on the positives, there were some truly terrifying moments that Tsigaridis managed to incorporate by using clever camera angles and manipulation of light and shadow. It was particularly hair-raising to watch the film unfold through the first-person view. However, the concern is that, although there were good directorial choices, Tsigaridis failed to bring all his storytelling elements together.
*** 3/5
Traumatika screened as part of this year’s Frightfest London.
