Release Date: September 12, 2025
Director: Julia Ducournau
Cast: Vicky Krieps, Raffiella Chapman, Matthias Schoenaerts
Tomatometer: 94% (early reviews)
Genre: Psychological Monster Horror / Body Horror / Surreal Nightmare
Plot Preview
In Traumatika, nightmares don’t just haunt you—they move in and rearrange the furniture.
Vicky Krieps portrays a burned-out therapist grappling with a dark past, and her daughter (Raffiella Chapman) who starts seeing unsettling shadows in their home. These are not your typical shadows—they crawl, twitch, and whisper disturbing things, creating a sense of unease that resonates with the audience.
As mother and daughter attempt to live normally, trauma seeps into the walls like black mold. The line between therapy and possession blurs. Dreams get teeth. Reality glitches like a VHS tape dragged through a swamp. And somewhere in the chaos, a monstrous force—perhaps metaphor, perhaps very real—begins to take shape, creating an atmosphere of intense suspense and unease.
The film unfolds like a fusion of ‘The Babadook’ and Cronenberg’s style, with Ducournau (Titane) cranking up the grotesque and the surreal. The practical monster effects and the lingering, slow-burn tension are designed to keep you on the edge of your seat. The final act, rumored to be ’emotionally devastating and unapologetically disgusting,’ promises an experience that will leave you emotionally shaken and unable to look away.
Tone & Style
Gritty cinematography. Muted colors. Silence that suffocates.
This isn’t just horror—it’s horror with therapy bills.
Think:
- Possession (1981) for the emotional breakdowns
- The Ring meets Raw for visual dread and sudden shock.
- The Sixth Sense if the ghosts had claws and a bad attitude
There’s body horror, monstrous hallucinations, haunted mirrors, and a long dinner scene that Reddit already dubbed “the most stressful use of salad since Hereditary.”
Trauma, But Make It Flesh
Traumatika isn’t content with spooky shadows and creaky doors — it weaponizes emotion. What starts as grief and guilt slowly morphs into something with a pulse. The horror here doesn’t stalk you with knives; it grows inside you, feeds on your past, and shows up in the mirror with your face but eyes that blink wrong.
Director Julia Ducournau treats trauma like a parasite: it hides in quiet moments, coils around your relationships, and eventually takes the wheel. The mother-daughter dynamic isn’t just the emotional core — it’s the battlefield. Every whispered hallucination, every flicker of something crawling just out of frame, makes you question who’s haunted and who’s becoming the haunting.
This isn’t just about surviving a monster. It’s about facing the thing you buried so deep inside you that it learned how to dig its way out — screaming.
Reddit Reacts
“Traumatika looks like the kind of movie that ruins your week in a good way.” – u/SpookLore
“A24 but French and feral.” – u/BaguettePossessed
“If therapy were a monster, this is it. Can’t wait.” – u/HauntologicalDad
“Julia Ducournau doesn’t miss. If she made a horror movie about taxes, I’d still line up.” – u/FleshEngine
Early festival-goers are calling it “trauma-core at its finest,” with many praising Chapman’s performance as “creepy without trying” and Krieps as “emotionally flayed open.”
You’re Not Watching — You’re Processing
Watching Traumatika feels less like entertainment and more like an exorcism. The VHS-glitch visuals, stomach-knotting silence, and dream-logic pacing make you feel like you’re living the nightmare, not observing it. You’ll squirm, not because someone gets stabbed, but because someone looks too long into the corner of a dark room — and you realize you’re holding your breath.
There’s a long dinner scene that might make you sweat more than any chase sequence. A mirror moment that breaks reality like a bone. A lullaby that turns into a scream. Every frame feels like it’s daring you to keep watching, even when your instincts scream, “look away.”
Fans of Saint Maud, Hereditary, or Possession (1981) will find themselves in familiar but darker territory. This is trauma-core cinema, where every fear is personal, and every monster looks a little too much like something you’ve dreamt before
Our Take – We The Freakers
Traumatika is the film that reminds you repression never works—and sometimes it mutates into a monster under your bed. It’s heavy, surreal, and not for the faint of stomach, but fans of Saint Maud, Antichrist, or The Night House will feel right at home (or haunted apartment).
Also, if you like your horror served with a side of “did I just cry or scream?”—this is your next must-watch.
Don’t miss our other September previews:
- The Long Walk – dystopian dread with Stephen King chills
- The Conjuring: Last Rites – Ed & Lorraine’s final chapter
Welcome to the twisted corner of the internet, where sarcasm meets screams. I’m The Freaker — horror junkie, pop culture troll, and the guy who thinks possession movies are better than therapy (and cheaper too). When I’m not binge-watching cursed VHS tapes or judging slasher logic, I’m writing blogs that bleed humor, sass, and unfiltered chaos.
Expect deep dives into horror movies, half-baked fan theories, and more red flags than your ex’s dating history. This blog isn’t for the faint-hearted or the easily offended — it’s for the freaks, the scream queens, and everyone who secretly roots for the villain.
Grab your popcorn, holy water, and a sense of humor.
You’re in The Freaker’s house now — and yes, the walls do bleed.
