‘Traumatika’ VOD Review
Stars: Susan Gayle-Watts, Ranen Navat, AJ Bowen, Sean O’Bryan, Emily Goss, Rebekah Kennedy | Written and Directed by Pierre Tsigaridis
Pierre Tsigaridis’ second feature, Traumatika, arrives on digital platforms carrying the same heavy promise it did on its initial release: a horror film unafraid to wade into the darkest waters of childhood trauma. From emotional and physical abuse to sexual violence, Tsigaridis aims big, framing his story around generational pain, exploitation, and the lingering scars left behind by evil – both human and supernatural.
The film unfolds in a fractured, non-linear fashion, opening in present-day Los Angeles with Jennifer Novac (Susan Gayle-Watts), the host of a sensationalist true-crime show that borders on outright moral bankruptcy. Her latest obsession is a series of child murders that rocked Pasadena in 2003 – but before those details surface, Traumatika pulls us back nearly a century to the Sinai Peninsula. There, a lone wanderer buries a strange artefact before taking his own life, haunted by visions of his child being murdered by a demonic entity known as Volpaazu. It’s an arresting, ominous opening that suggests something far more cosmic than the slasher beats that eventually dominate the film.
From there, the story jumps to young Mikey (Ranen Navat), alone in his bedroom, dialling 911 as he realises he isn’t safe. Volpaazu, acting through Abigail Reed (Rebekah Kennedy), has marked him. When a county sheriff (AJ Bowen) investigates months later, he uncovers evidence that Mikey is just the latest in a disturbing pattern of abductions – knowledge that ultimately costs him his life when the demon intervenes.
The film then circles back to explain how everything spiralled out of control. Abigail’s father, John (Sean O’Bryan), acquires the artefact and ignores warnings about unleashing an ancient evil. Possessed by Volpaazu, John commits horrific acts against his own daughter, leaving Abigail pregnant with the demon’s child. When she aborts the foetus, Volpaazu vows revenge, turning its attention toward Abigail’s younger sister, Alice. Desperate, Abigail offers another child in her place – setting the entire nightmare in motion.
Years later, an adult Alice (Emily Goss), now a successful author, appears on Jennifer Novac’s show to discuss her past and the way her sister was vilified. Mikey, long institutionalised and inexplicably released, watches the broadcast, and the trauma resurfaces violently.
And this is where Traumatika begins to stumble. What starts as a bold, unsettling meditation on abuse and exploitation gradually collapses into something far more familiar. The third act pivots hard into slasher territory, with Mikey repositioned as the primary threat. The shift feels less like an intentional subversion and more like a loss of confidence, particularly as the film drifts uncomfortably close to Halloween-style territory. In doing so, it abandons the very thematic depth it spent so long setting up.
It’s not that the ending is confusing; it’s that it’s dramatically unsatisfying. Volpaazu has been positioned as the true antagonist throughout, yet the story denies the audience a meaningful confrontation involving the demon. Mikey’s fate, meanwhile, lacks the emotional payoff such a trauma-soaked narrative demands.
Still, Traumatika isn’t without merit. Tsigaridis demonstrates real flair behind the camera, especially in moments that rely on shadow, framing, and first-person perspective to generate dread. There are scenes here that are genuinely unsettling, reminders of what the film could have been had its narrative strands been pulled together more coherently.
Ultimately, Traumatika remains an ambitious but uneven horror film – one with striking ideas, strong performances, and flashes of real menace, undone by a third act that plays it frustratingly safe.
*** 3/5
Traumatika is available on digital platforms now.
