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.
