‘Traumatika‘ Directors Reveal Dark Opening Scene Evolved After Filming,Hint at Potential Prequel
LOS ANGELES,CA – The unsettling opening scene of the horror film Traumatika,featuring a man’s horrific act and its connection to the film’s central artifact,wasn’t initially conceived as a foundational element of the story. Directors Pierre Tsigaridis and Maxime Ransom revealed in a recent interview that the sequence was actually shot after principal photography, designed to subtly mirror the experiences of the children later featured in the film without explicit explanation.
“We thought it’d just make sense to do that opening scene,” Tsigaridis explained. “we thought it’d be kind of cool to echo what’s happened with Mikey and the other children through this character, but without really knowing exactly. We know that he must have done something horrible to his child. He knows that it’s the artifact that made him do it. But we don’t explicitly explain that. You need to watch the rest of the movie to figure that out.”
The directors even floated the possibility of a prequel focusing on the man and his child, starring Sean Whalen and Sean O’Bryan. “If we make one day a prequel with Sean whalen and Sean O’Bryan, maybe we’ll explain what happened back then,” Ransom suggested.
Beyond the shocking imagery, Traumatika delves into the cyclical nature of abuse and evil. Tsigaridis articulated the film’s core message: “The message of the film is that the bad things these peopel are doing nowadays,some people 100 years ago did it. And,probably,some people 1,000 years ago did it. And why do people do that? Why do people abuse other people? Why do people hurt? The artifact, the demon, is the metaphor of this evil that humans have in them, and why do they keep doing horrible things to each other?”
The filmmakers also praised the performance of Rebekah Kennedy, who portrays a complex character navigating both terrifying and emotionally vulnerable scenes. Tsigaridis highlighted Kennedy’s trust in their vision, particularly given the film’s independent production status. “She always wants to take up a new challenge,” he said. “She likes us as she’s always like,’You give me new things to work with,’ where she could be stuck as more of a character actor in some other productions that have bigger budgets.”
Ransom jokingly added,”We were out there covering her with slime and stuff,you know?”
Traumatika is currently available for streaming.