A child’s problems get incredibly worse when his mother seems to be possessed.
Written by Maxime Rancon and Pierre Tsigaridis with the latter, Traumatika is a film that has more potential than bite. The film will come off as shocking or traumatizing to non-horror fans but to those who watch scary movies day in, day out, this is a bit more low-level scare. Yes, there are a few jump scares, and a few scenes have tense ambiance, but in terms of scares, horror fans will be disappointed. For the general public, this may well be the scariest film they will see all year when they do their annual horror movie marathons for the season. The writing and direction are decent, but something feels like it’s missing here, something other than proper fear as a horror film can be effective without pure scares or total fear. There is something here, but it feels like it’s not enough to allow those who would normally gravitate towards this film come out of it truly satisfied.
The cast here works well with some good performances and a few questionable choices here and there in those performances. Rebekah Kennedy plays Abigail, the central character, and she does so beautifully well. While the film’s scares may be low, she provides most of them and makes the most of her traumatized and traumatizing (to the child in the film) character. She gives Abigail life, sadness, strength, and that extra something that makes the potential possession feel more real. Her performance guides the whole film and really elevates it to something more than a more generic possession film. She’s the center of things and she knows it, thus she runs with it and makes the film hers. Working with her in many scenes is Ranen Navat as Mikey, the kid who finds himself stuck with Abigail and maybe more in the house where everything takes place. This kid is fantastic in a part where he hopefully didn’t have much knowledge of what is going on around him. His performance is touching and sad with a side of bravery. He is a solid actor in the making. The rest of the cast is decent, but not many performances stand out.
The cinematography by Pierre Tsigaridis looks decent and does a good job of creating mystery in the dark corners, but it also suffers of needing a bit more strategic lighting here and there to allow the audience a better view what is going on, especially near the end when reveals are happening. A few darker scenes were frustrating to watch while others worked fantastically well. The balance of light and darkness is not exactly on point, but there is something here.
Traumatika is a scary movie that will hit harder with casual horror watchers, for horror fans it will feel familiar and not all that scary. The acting is solid though and a few scenes will get just about anyone, but these scenes may not be the jump scares or the ones intended as pure horror fiction. Some of the horror here is discovered as the film advances and shows the audience that perhaps the real fear here may not be the one from the possessed.
Photos courtesy of Pierre Tsigaridis