User reviews

The premise of the movie is strong, and the overall production is good, but while I'm fairly desensitized to graphic violence, the rape scene was sickening, excruciatingly long, and unnecessarily graphic. The direction of the scene doesn't waver in terms of the brutality and that the women are tragic victims; nevertheless, I felt it was over the top to a point that I had to ask why.

The introductory scene of Juan as a young man, which also is the opening scene of the film, also was intensely disturbing. I'm on the fence as to whether it was gratuitous or not. I know the Chilean revolution of the '70s was exceptionally brutal and violent, so perhaps it's necessary thematically. I don't think viewers from the United States are willing to tolerate that level of visceral, grotesque brutality on the screen, however.

The film is overall very dark and difficult to tolerate at times, in my opinion, and I sort of wish I hadn't watched it.

I like gore movies and this one was reputed to be extreme. But it is very bad. The protagonists and their decisions throughout the film are stupid. Actresses' performances are appalling and unbelievable, especially in torture scenes. There is the typical absurdly indestructible villain. I thought the movie would be more grotesque, but I even found it soft, except for a couple of scenes. Something positive is the music. I do not recommend it.

You ever see a film so terribly bad that once it's over, you immediately forget everything that transpired, almost completely scrubbing it from your memory? Years later, you hear these people online who discover it, claiming it's "as disturbing as a Serbian Film", and you think, "I HAVE to watch that!!", forgetting you had already seen it, hated it, and forgot all about it? Then you press play and you think, "Hmmm, this looks strangely familiar. I've seen this before, but maybe it was just a part used in the trailer...?" Then the actors start delivering their lines with all of the aplomb of a High School play, and you start to think to you yourself, "Wait a minute, did I see this?". Then when it finally hits you that you DID this trash and you sadly pick up the remote, press stop, and hang your head in shame for having wasted 20 minutes of your life doing all of this, 20 minutes you will NEVER, EVER get back?

No? So it's just me then?

Writer and director Lucio A. Rojas was overly ambitious and certainly went all out to create insane shock value, but his inexperience as a filmmaker overshadowed his ambitions. There were just too many rookie mistakes, some so easily avoided, that it's a shame he at least didn't go back and edit some of the obvious issues. There were too many long, dragged out, and some unnecessary filler scenes, but that can be forgiven as rookie mistakes. But the film being too dark in the dark settings - and some so badly out of focus, could've easily been fixed post. I was impressed with the gore effects, prosthetics and S/VFX, but in many of those scenes, the camera only lasted a few seconds - some even less than one second, hardly enough to enable the shock value fully. You'll spend more time trying to figure out what you just saw in between dark, washed out, out of focus and quickly filmed scenes, you'll lose focus on what's happening next, to the point of getting annoyed, and that's still with me also having to constantly rewind to try and figure out what I just missed. The first few minutes of the film were the most impactful, as they were perfectly shot. But the rest of the film is hit and miss, which makes this entry into the gore genre a misfire that could've been much better.

-Stupid script; -stupid dialogue; -gratuitious nudity and full frontals galore; -stupid "based on a true story" BS historical context with the Chilean dictatorship (exploiting history and victims); -shock for the sake of shocking; -confused plot; -plot holes; Etc.

Not much to say about this one, it tries to top aA Serbian Film but fails because ASF, how exploitative it might be, actually has a somewhat coherent plot.

This grabbage doesn't.

A tedious watch, where the overall garbageness overwhelms everything else.

Well let me start by saying it's not as bad as people think it is. Its brutal but not bad. Good story, Great effects, and good acting. "A Serbian Film" is much worse.

Anyway .. not for the faint of heart though. And not a movie you should see with your parents or a first date type of deal. Unless she or he is into those type of movies.

Senseles violence, rape, torture. ... no rhyme or reason. Where is the plot? A movie like A Serbian Film does a better job telling this sort of messed up story. I had to turn this film off because I got tired of hearing the same screaming over and over and over.

Some other reviewers like to talk bad about anyone who enjoys these types of movies, such as A Serbian Film. But the truth is that there is a market for this type of art, if done correctly. This movie failed at bringing together a solid story.

With a clear intention to shock, "Trauma" (2017) perhaps represents one of the most brutal examples of the horror genre. The film's plot is anchored in the deep scars that Pinochet's dictatorship left in Chile and its society, exploring a narrative full of violence and taboo themes.

The film has its highlights, such as the villain Juan, a memorable character devoid of compassion, well-crafted gore scenes, a constant tension and discomfort that permeate most of the work, as well as an underlying social criticism, although, in some moments , this criticism may seem like a mere excuse for the continued presentation of brutality. However, the performances of the main cast leave something to be desired at times, with the character Andrea being the only one to really stand out. Additionally, there are times when digital visual effects look strange and unrealistic.

"Trauma" is not a film aimed at the general public, as its plot is dark, its violence is excessively graphic and it addresses extremely delicate or disturbing themes. In this way, the only audience that will be attracted to this work is those who are entering the universe of extreme cinema or consider themselves a fan of this genre.

THIS CHILEAN FILM, TELLS IN A VERY NEW WAY A HIDDEN REALITY IN THE SOCIETY, BRINGS BACK A SITUATION OF IMPUNITY THAT HAVE THE VIOLATORS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN DICTATORSHIP, I THINK THAT LUCIO ROJAS MAKES AN INTERESTING WORK, ALTHOUGH HE MUST ADORN WITH NUDITY AND EXTREME VIOLENCE IN HIS PLOT, I THINK HE KNOWS HOW TO CARRY HIS GENRE.

As a fan of watching movies with the most shock value possible, I really enjoyed this. Some of the acting was a little silly and a few cheesy scenes were rather drawn out. I certainly can stomach watching some of the most disturbing scenes out there, but I have to admit....there were a couple in this film that had me rather squeamish (especially one where a baby was involved). No babies and no animals for me! So be prepared for that. I like the story line and the name, which goes hand in hand with ones being raised in a traumatic environment, dealing with the reprocussions of trauma and how it can make people dive to the deepest dwellings of sadistic behavior.

I picked this film because it was labelled as a horror flick with hot Spanish female actresses +full frontal nudity . The opening incest/necrophilia scene had me questioning this movie choice but while I was too busy vomiting in my own mouth to close the movie, the scene for some reason switched to two hot chicks having lesbian sex. I'm rating this a 6/10 based SOLELY on that scene alone, the rest of the film is garbage and has more plot holes than a typical porno. I kept watching hoping for more lesbian sex and was utterly disappointed. The protagonists make terrible decisions, the situations they find themselves in make no logical sense, the indestructible super villain has more plot armor than Bruce from Bruce Almighty. There is no interwoven connected story, it's just murder porn, grotesque scenes, and some rare flashes of female nudity. All in all I made a poor life decision watching this film and should have stuck with Brazzers, at least then I would have gotten a coherent plot line.

How do you rate and or review a movie like this? Not easy to say the least - on the other hand, if you make it through the opening of the movie ... well there is one other scene, that starts off as a party scene, but does totally get horrible once some unexpected guests arrive.

The movie does try to shock and mostly succeeds I would say. Forceful sex is one (terrible) thing, but the start of the movie adds another layer to it (no pun intended). So this is clearly exploitation - you have to know that, accept it for what it is or do not watch at all.

What can be said about it: it does look good. Disgusting things happen, but they are filmed in quite the amazing way. But while you have to decide if you are triggered and/or squeamish when it comes to movies like this one right here, it does never reach the potential of Serbian Film. That had some other levels to it - the war, the society and that dreamworld like craziness. Also the soundtrack was just great. Can't really be said here.

Still the movie will tickle the right things for you - if you know what those are. Not really up my alley - no pun intended, no matter how well it is made technically speaking and the acting isn't too shabby either. Plus nice blood and other effects.

Lucio A. Rojas' Trauma (2017) firmly positions itself within a long lineage of transgressive political horror cinema. Following in the footsteps of Pasolini's Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom and Srdjan Spasojevic's A Serbian Film, Trauma combines the aesthetic of the rape-and-revenge subgenre with an unflinching allegory for Chile's traumatic past under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990). What results is a film that is both harrowing and thematically ambitious-but also uneven.

At its core, Trauma is not a film concerned with subtlety. The story is simple, almost archetypal: four women encounter unimaginable horror during a weekend retreat in rural Chile. But what sets it apart is how Rojas frames that horror-not as random acts of violence, but as the lingering legacy of state-sanctioned brutality. The film's villains are products of dictatorship: emotionally hollow, ideologically corrupted, and psychologically destroyed. Empathy has been stripped from them. They were trained to kill in the name of their country-and once murder becomes routine, reasons no longer matter.

This historical and political context is woven into the narrative through flashbacks, which are skillfully integrated. These sequences don't interrupt the flow of the story; they enrich it. They serve as haunting parallels to present-day events, suggesting that the real terror in Trauma is generational-the transmission of violence and ideology from one era to the next.

The first half of the film is devastatingly effective. It plunges the viewer into a world of nihilism and pain. The violence is graphic, the tension is suffocating, and the dark, oppressive atmosphere is amplified by an excellent score that enhances the dread without overpowering it. This portion of the film hits hard-visceral, merciless, and impossible to look away from.

However, the film loses its momentum in the second half. The revenge arc drags unnecessarily, with pacing that becomes sluggish. Once the initial shock of the first half wears off, the brutality lessens, and the film seems unsure of how to escalate or conclude its narrative effectively. There's a sense that the "gunpowder" was spent too early. While the ending does regain some of the earlier intensity, it's too brief to fully recover the impact.

Performance-wise, Daniel Antivilo delivers a chilling turn as the primary antagonist. He embodies the character of a man deeply broken by trauma, yet now capable only of cruelty. There's a cold, calculating hate in him-but also moments of disturbing vulnerability that make his evil feel all the more real. His portrayal is the clear acting highlight of the film.

The performances of the female leads are solid. They convincingly portray fear, despair, and hopelessness, especially in the film's early scenes. While the characters themselves are underwritten and largely exist within genre conventions, the actresses do their best with what they're given. That said, don't expect award-caliber performances-this is, after all, an underground horror film. Most of the supporting cast are in and out quickly, as the narrative keeps the focus mostly on the four women and their tormentors.

Trauma is a deeply unpleasant experience by design. It doesn't aim to entertain-it seeks to disturb, provoke, and reflect a national trauma through horror. And while it sometimes succeeds, its lack of character depth and the uneven pacing in the latter half keep it from reaching the heights of its influences.

Brutal, ambitious, and politically charged, Trauma is not for the faint of heart. It takes real risks in confronting Chile's violent past and should be praised for its daring. But uneven execution and a dragging second act dilute the impact. Still, it's a film that lingers-uncomfortably so-and Rojas is a director to keep an eye on.

I hate when a movie is a movie for the sake of there being a movie. This is a prime example. Quite literally, if you take an absolutely reasonable person and you put them in the situation we find at about 15 minutes into this movie, you would find that the reasonable person is changing their plans immediately. No question AT ALL. So the fact that these idiots DON'T change their plans is just unbelievable. The entire point of movies like this one is that it should terrify you that this is plausible, in the real world - in other words, it could happen to you. No chance of that happening though because I'm quite reasonable. Honestly, if you want to watch it because of reviews stating it is brutal and that is your thing - sheer brutality - then watch it. If you're more like me where brutality is part of telling a great story, then you're going to be hating the time you've lost watching this.