Writings > DVD Image Comparisons > Trauma

Trauma

Region 1 (USA) - Anchor Bay
vs.Region 2 (France) Édition Prestige - Metropolitan
vs. Region 2 (Italy) - Cecchi Gori
vs. Region 2 (UK) - Optimum

Details

Bit Rate

R1 USA

R2 France

R2 Italy

R2 UK

Screen Captures

Examples of scenes in longer cut

Example of ghosted frames on US release

Example 1

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R1 USA | R2 France | R2 Italy | R2 UK

Example 2

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Example 3

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R1 USA | R2 France | R2 Italy | R2 UK

Example 4

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Example 5

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Example 6

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R1 USA | R2 France | R2 Italy | R2 UK

Comments

Note: I'm aware that some of the images don't match up properly. They were taken back before I had a proper system for ensuring that each version showed exactly the same frame.

Image quality wise, the UK re-release by Optimum is significantly better than the other two English-language releases (there was an earlier UK release by Tartan, but it was very poor in quality, using the same master as the French release but being non-anamorphic and suffering from an extreme level of artefacting). The recent US release by Anchor Bay, sadly, is not all that it was cracked up to be. Sourced from what would seem to be the same print as the Optimum release (notice the identical colours and framing), someone encoded it to play back interlaced, which reduces the overall detail levels and introduces all manner of ghosting, combing and moiré effects. The colours and contrast levels in the Italian transfer are much richer than the other three, and while this makes it look extremely good at some points (see Example 3), there are also a number of scenes that are much too dark (see Example 2). It does, however, have the most visible detail of the lot, although the UK release is not far behind.

For audio, the French release is obviously the winner for the number of options it provides, although the fact that most players will force French subtitles when English audio is selected is something of a problem. The Italian release is immediately at a disadvantage since it only has an Italian dub rather than the original English audio. The 5.1 remix on the French DVD is superior to the one on the US DVD, which sounds a bit too crushed and strained. Alas, none of the releases have English subtitles.

In terms of extras, the US release is the clear winner, although the French release has a lot of very interesting material too, none of which is duplicated on any other release. A number of the bonus features on the French DVD actually relate to Argento's most recent film, The Card Player, rather than to Trauma, but should still be of interest to most Argento fans.

Trauma was cut quite savagely before its release, removing a number of incidental scenes and some major ones. Around four minutes of the missing material made their way into Italian print and, subsequently, on to the Italian DVD. When Anchor Bay announced that they were releasing the film in the US, they promised that they would restore as much of the missing footage is possible, and indeed were given access to the uncut work print. They failed to do this, however, and the only scenes included in their "Deleted Scenes" section are the ones that comprised the extra material on the Italian DVD. The Italian version is, therefore, currently the only way to view these extra scenes integrated into the film in good quality.

Ultimately, I would advise Trauma fans to own more than one version of the film, if possible. The UK Optimum DVD represents the current best way to view the film (until someone comes along and creates a version which inserts the missing scenes, in English, into the film itself), while the Anchor Bay release has the best selection of extras. The Italian version is very tempting for featuring the extended cut of the film, but the lack of English audio means that this is no way to watch the film.

Summary