Traumatika – Review and Summary

Traumatika is somewhere between being camp, corny, or perhaps a movie that owes everything to its marketing team.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on Hours Updated on
Title Card – Traumatika (Saban Films)

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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“Traumatika” Film Details

  • Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 27 Minutes
  • Released On: In Theaters
  • Public Release Date: September 12, 2025
  • Director(s): Pierre Tsigaridis
  • Writer(s): Maxime Rancon, Pierre Tsigaridis
  • Primary Language: English
  • Genre(s): Crime, Fantasy, Horror
  • Rating: Not Rated
  • Distributor: Saban Films
  • Official Site Link

Movie Summary

Almost 20 years ago, Alice’s (Emily Goss) older sister Abigail (Rebekah Kennedy) was staying with their father, John (Sean O’Bryan), not too long after their parents split up. Their dad got in possession of some ancient relic from Egypt, and despite being warned, he opened it up and released the demon Volpaazu (Maxime Rancon).

For the rest of the movie, we see this demon possess John, later Abigail, and have them do horrific things, including to a kid named Mikey (Ranen Navat), who ends up traumatized for life and is part of Alice’s book on what happened.

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

There Are Comical Moments [81/100]

Whether intentional or not, there are many comical moments due to delivery. The best example of this is when Sheriff Miller (AJ Bowen) answers a 9-1-1 call, early in the film, and is investigating John’s house. Abigail is being weird, kind of creepy, and you can tell the Sheriff isn’t for the nonsense, so Bowen’s delivery reflects that and can lead to some laughs. I even found myself snorting.

Then there is also Karen Novak (Susan Gayle Watts), who gives exploitative ’90s/’00s interviewer vibes. She also feels like the type of character who is funny, but you don’t know if it is because they were written to be that way or the actor played them that way to punch things up a bit.

Low Point(s)

You Get What They Were Trying To Do, But It Isn’t Often Executed Well [67/100]

Abigail (Rebekah Kennedy) possessed by a demon – Traumatika
Abigail (Rebekah Kennedy) – Traumatika (Saban Films)

It is understood that Traumatika is meant to be scary, hence the way it is marketed, the use of a demon, and how graphic it can be. However, it doesn’t succeed in being scary, even down to delivering very few jump scares. More often than not, it is just graphic due to people getting shot, stabbed, or looking mutilated. But if you are a fan of the horror genre, nothing here is going to shake you.

I’d submit, even if you are someone who just likes to get scared, or is willing to, Traumatika isn’t worth going out of your way to find a showing. It doesn’t do much to build up its central villain, the demon Volpaazu, and the multiple, decades-long time jumps don’t do it many favors regarding its narrative, and in terms of investment in the characters?

Yes, the Sheriff and Karen can be funny, but I wouldn’t say you’ll end up caring if they live or die. The same goes for Alice, Mikey, or even Abigail, despite what you see her go through. Again, outside of some potentially unintentional comedic scenes, Traumatika doesn’t deliver anything you’d expect or want out of a horror movie.

Overall

Our Rating (74/100): Mixed (Divisive)

While graphic and certainly some form of weird, Traumatika doesn’t deliver in what it promised to do most: Be so terrifying that you had to see it to believe it, because they were limited in what they could advertise. It’s just a graphic movie, featuring a rather bland demon, and at best, it can be praised for two supporting actors who push this film towards being seen as campy.

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.