Troubled, jobless, alcoholic Julian (George Walker) takes his dufflebag, journeys back to his old home town, & moves into a borded up house.

By the film's title Head Trauma (2005) we may guess from the start he's a bit odd from a past head injury. The precise nature of his head trauma becomes clarified as the story progresses.

He has inherited the house from his grandma. But the upkeep was so long neglected that the property has been condemned as abandoned & dangerous. He has only the weekend to try to get it off the demolition list.

Villainous Chester (Jim Sullivan) who lives across the street was a bully to Julian since they were young. Now he is fully intent on seeing that the old house is not only torn down, but that he personally gains the property at distressed price so he can make an investment killing. Even though a loony-acting drunkard shows up to spoil the plan, Julian doesn't really seem at all liable to get it together enough to win this particular battle.

There's something weird about the house, but not so much so that Julian can be certain it's haunted, especially as his head injury & drunkenness rather easily explains the strangest of his experiences as hallucinations.

Helped by George (Vince Mola) from next door, Julian makes a rather pathetic attempt at fixing up the place for the sake of a new inspection. The house, & objects in a box, begin to awaken parts of his memory that he has lost. He's always drinking from a magically-bottomless flask, & between dreams & illusions, he's beginning to remember the accident, discovering the meaning of the ghostly cowled figure, & finding his way back to the location of the terrible event that preceded his accident.

The film is a wonderfully creepy excursion into magical realism, with characters that are completely realistic, & events that skirt the supernatural. Most unexpected, it becomes a horror film about healing & recovery, rather than gore & doom. It's the ultimate humanity of the piece that makes it a tremendous film.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl