Head Trauma

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm always on the prowl for a great undiscovered indie. So many are made, so few live up to their promise. Open Water and the Blair Witch Project, while marketable and financially successful, did not feel like professional efforts. They were not engrossing, the writing was simplistic at best, and most people I've spoken with were left unsatisfied.

Head Trauma is an example of smooth masterful direction, coupled with logical and clever writing that turns what could've been just another rushed indie effort, into something much more satisfying. I was very pleasantly surprised. On the downside, the lead actor, while satisfactory, clearly isn't a professional. At the same time, he might be just be effective enough to keep the film afloat.

The film moves at a slow deliberate pace, and managed to keep me engrossed the entire running time. Some of the scare moments are very effective, and the ending, is far more logical than any of the resent Hollywood entries to the horror genre.

Highly recommended.