French cinematographer turned director Pierre Tsigaridis is back with his sophomore effort and follow up to the atmospheric Two Witches – Traumatika, which this time utilizes its foray into possession horror to dig into the human condition. The film follows a MacGuffin-esque artifact that when opened, allows a demon out to possess its host. The hook is, this demon predominantly prefers to abuse children and can spread like a disease. This has the filmmaker using this lens to dig into the cyclic nature of the horrors of child abuse under the guise of a atmospheric demon possession film.
The film begins after a flashback to ancient Egypt of a man killing himself in the desert in front of the artifact. We then jump to 2003, where a man is about to sell the artifact to a collector. When warned about the mythology behind the piece and what this could mean for his two younger daughters, curiosity gets the better of him and he opens it. This triggers a series of events that has the man possessed by the demon and raping his eldest daughter (Rebekah Kennedy), who then runs away and aborts their unborn child. The problem is, to make amends for killing his re-incarnation, she is charged by the demon to find him a new body, kidnapping and abusing the children she abducts.
Two Witches standout Rebekah Kennedy is back and carries the emotional bulk of Traumatika, imbuing the film with a sympathetic core that offers the audience a path to understand the cyclic nature of childhood trauma and how it turns victims into assailants. The film manages to tackle its heavy subject matter with the weight and respect needed, while seamlessly pairing it with demon possession plot device. This only adds to the film’s atmospheric haunted house feel that is meticulously staged with the film’s use of shadows and overall lack of light in its cinematography, along with some very effective and creepy sound design.
It’s not an easy watch. But I think for the most part Traumatika does excellent double duty, offering up the expected scares, while leaving some food for thought for those that peer below the surface. The film also offers up yet another layer of dissection, in how it shows the media then exploits the young woman’s story in a Netflix-esque doc on a Halloween special, no less. Obviously, this is portrayed as yet another form of exploitation inflicted on survivors, that then invites the public into their personal trauma. Traumatika is another razor sharp, eerie and thought-provoking effort by the director who’s turning out the kind of heady horror most directors aspire.
