Head Trauma

Really enjoyed this film. I know it's a low budget horror film but it's one of the best I've seen in a while. Good acting, music, editing, photography and directing. There are a few scenes that the acting wasn't as strong as the rest of the film but they are short and the rest of the film makes up for it. The story is engaging for the 84 minutes. I found some of the scenes very creepy and well crafted. The ending was a surprise and I didn't see it coming but it was a nice twist. I wonder when we are going to see the director , directing bigger budget films? Hopefully soon. Gets me excited to make another film.

After a twenty year absence, drifter George Walker (Vince Mola) returns home to settle his grandmother's estate. As if awakening from a long dream, he finds his childhood home condemned and littered with the remnants of squatters.

Rue Morgue named this the best indie feature of 2006, and it received generally positive reviews. "This effective, atmospheric chiller seeps into your fear center like damp rot," says Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Oddly, the critics are contrasted by viewers, who largely called the film "boring".

Despite being a short film, I can understand why some see it as boring. This is the classic "slow burn", and it is admittedly very light on the horror. Aside from a few visions, the most traumatic thing that happens is a man returning to his home town and realizing how much everyone annoys him.

While not a bad film, it probably falls more into the drama category than the horror category, so I would not recommend it for anyone who wants the blood and guts.

Director Lance Weiler and his co-writer, Brian Majeska, obviously love ghost stories. And it shows in their movie HEAD TRAUMA, because you can spot all the scenes from other popular creepy ghost stories like THE CHANGELING, THE GRUDGE, THE RING and even...GHOST STORY. But the difference between TRAUMA and any other shoestring-budgeted effort that would simply rip off those other films, is that Weiler has a strong visual sense, and a clear vision of how to tell the story in a way that makes perfect sense. He also fortunately has a pretty darn good cast to get the audience involved.

Homeless drifter George Walker (Vince Mola) finally returns to his late grandmother's house, once he learns that it has been condemned and will soon succumb to the wrecking ball. A not-too-friendly meeting takes place between George and Julian (Jamil A.C. Mangan), resulting in a bad fall for George in which he sustains the titular injury. Julian is then volunteered to help with cleaning the house by his grandmother, Ms. Thompson, (Meryl Lynn Brown), the former next-door neighbor to George's grandmother.

But what is already a difficult task is about to get a lot harder, as George, who is now staying in the house, begins to experience some pretty vivid nightmares. Haunted by visions of a sinister hooded figure, the hanging body of a dead girl and a fiery car crash, George is beginning to question his own sanity. Has something terrible happened in the house since his grandmother's death? Is someone trying to send him a message from beyond the grave? Is it the work of an antagonistic neighbor who wants to see the house destroyed? Or is George really losing his mind? HEAD TRAUMA draws you in and challenges you to answer these questions as George tries to, leading up to an ending that may either satisfy your curiosity, or present more questions to be answered, depending on your point of view.

In any case, it's a very strong effort from Weiler, and one I would definitely recommend for lovers of good, ghostly mysteries with a twist.

I've seen a lot of low-budget horror films and most are mediocre at best. This is the exception. First of all, it has an unusual story line, not your average vampire or monster, or mad slasher either. And though not high-tech, the effects are skillfully executed. I found it to be both scary and intriguing. Some moments were genuinely frightening.

George (Vince Mola) is suffering from a head injury and it has affected his brain. He is having scary visions. He shows up at his dead grandmother's old house which he inherited but which has been condemned by the city. George wants to fix it up and live there. The house is dilapidated and spooky enough, but George's visions are getting worse and strange things are happening at night. We don't know if he's becoming mentally ill, if he's haunted by the ghost of his dead grandmother or if he's recovering memories from his past. George doesn't know either and goes about trying to find answers in his rather disorganized, mentally compromised way.

Mola is just right for the part of the confused George. The atmosphere is perfect and I was impressed with the considerable skill with which the story unfolds. This film is definitely worth viewing on a rainy evening.

Here's another pretty unique horror film, that you don't see much about. Here is the synopsis; After a 20 year absence, drifter, George Walker, returns home to settle his grandmother's estate. As if awakening from a long dream, he finds his childhood home condemned and littered with the remnants of squatters. In the midst of trying to save his past, George falls and strikes his head, triggering an onslaught of vivid nightmares and waking visions. As the horror intrudes on George's reality, his conviction grows that someone or something is trying to kill him.

The movie moves at a slow pace but builds up the tension very nicely, and begins to get disturbing as hell. George's nightmares and visions are indeed horrific, and until the end, it appears the story has moved into the supernatural. There is a couple of pretty good scares which add to the fun, and the movie reminded me in a strange way of "Schramn", not the story but the way the movie moves along. The good thing, is after it is all over, everything makes sense and explained in full, so you don't go away from the movie shaking your head. With a super low budget, the filmmakers used their money well, and created a memorable exercise in psychological horror. The movie came highly recommended to me, and now I recommend it too.