Killer B's on DVD: Head Trauma

I greeted news of a new film from Lance Weiler with mixed feelings. I loved his first film, 1998's The Last Broadcast (the trailer for which can be found on this disk) which he co-directed and co-starred in with Stefan Avalos. It was a gripping pseudo-documentary whose similarity to the highly successful The Blair Witch Project is all the more noteworthy because The Last Broadcast was produced first. Avalos's follow up feature, a nearly unwatchable horror film called The Ghosts of Edendale, went straight to DVD in 2004, so when I heard about Head Trauma, I feared a similar sophomore slump for Weiler. I'm happy to say, however, Weiler has made the transition from faux documentary to a more traditional narrative quite smoothly, and the result is a solid little B-flick with interesting characters, strong production values, and some decent scares.

George Walker, a man who has been living on the streets, returns to his grandmother's home for the first time in years. The house was left to him when she passed away five years earlier, but has stood abandoned ever since, becoming a haven for squatters and a general eyesore. The city has condemned the building, but George is hoping to get a reprieve from the demolition so he can fix up the place and sell it. On his first night in the house, George crosses paths with Julian, the kid who lives in the house next door. The two scuffle and George suffers a blow to the head which seems to be responsible for his subsequent hallucinations and nightmares.

Not to be deterred, George sets up a tent inside the house, becoming something of a squatter himself, and spends his days removing trash and worrying about what he's going to do about the flooded basement. Julian pitches in, at the insistence of his grandmother, and he and George soon become friends. George also rekindles an old friendship with Mary who works at the local hardware store, and renews his animosity for Chester, the obnoxious neighbor who wants George's house demolished to bolster the value of his own property.

George's dreams -- a wonderfully shot series of horrifically disjointed images -- involve a faceless person in a hooded parka threatening George, who begins to think this entity may actually be in the house. The discovery of a human tooth wrapped in human hair, and a crudely scrawled note that says "you are dead George" lead our hero to suspect something very bad happened in the house. A religious comic book full of gruesome fire and brimstone propaganda -- not unlike those published by Jack Chick -- grabs George's imagination, and he begins to see a similarity between an image on the cover and the hooded person in his dreams.

The cast of unknowns really works in the films favor. Not only do they not bring the preconceived notions that come from using established stars, but these people don't look like actors. Vince Mola is especially convincing as George Walker with his scruffy beard and balding scalp. How many receding hairlines do you see on lead actors in Hollywood films? Speaking as a follicle-challenged individual, I find this quite refreshing. Mary Monhan who plays Mary Sherman is attractive in a real world kind of way without conforming to Hollywood's superhumanly high standards of beauty, and thus becomes more believable. The performances are not flawless; you can spot moments here and there where the production would have benefited from a re-take that time and budget probably didn't permit, but these are rare.

Head Trauma is engaging throughout, and Weiler gets every penny's worth from his shoestring budget. I'm curious to see what he might be able to do if more funds were at his disposal. The disk from Heretic Films includes a commentary by the director who, although informative, could have benefited from having someone to talk to. Flying solo as he is, he comes off as a bit dry, but has lots of interesting things to say about the production nonetheless. Rounding out the extras are a handful of behind the scenes featurettes including one in which legendary comic book artist Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing, Taboo, 1963) discusses the comic art that appears in the film, including the religious tract that he and his son Daniel drew specifically for the film.