Head Trauma
Title: Head Trauma
Release Date: 2006
Type of Project: Feature Film
My Role: Co-writer, Director & Producer
Project Description: When drifter George Walker returns after many years to stake a claim on his deceased grandmother’s abandoned house he struggles to build some semblance of a normal life for himself. George tries to clean up the place by day but his nights are uneasy and plagued by visions. Despite his best efforts, things grow worse as the house is condemned and his nightmares refuse to remain in the dark.
Achievements:
– Official Selection, Los Angeles Film Festival
– Official Selection, Darklight Film Festival
– 17 city theatrical release
– Recognized by BUSINESSWEEK for innovative use of film and gaming.
– 2.5 million + people experienced the game via theaters, mobile drive-ins, phones and online.
– Aired on Showtime
– Listed on seven top 10 lists for best film of 2006
– Developed 2nd screen technology that was later licensed to eBay and Ubisoft
Press: Wired UK, Knowledge @ Wharton, Escapist Magazine
Official site: was live from 2003 to 2010. An immersive comic that was a 2nd screen voice activated experience
Official Trailer
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
One of the Best Indies of the Decade
– CINEMATICAL
TOP 10 MENTIONS – pdf
FULL REVIEWS – pdf
PULL QUOTES – pdf
PAST PRESS COVERAGE – pdf
Best Independent Feature Film of 2006
– RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE
One of the top 10 cinematic experiences of 2006 – TWITCH FILM
“Any number of big-deal filmmakers – M. Night Shyamalan, for one – would be well-served by a viewing of the low-budget Head Trauma. …this simple and effective psycho-thriller creates a mood of dread and dissociation, and sustains it, without resorting to elaborate special effects, or a colorful crowd of actors, or otherworldly mystical hooey.” 3 out of 4 stars
– PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Like the films of Polanski and Nicolas Roeg, Head Trauma is a slow burn movie, the kind which gradually pulls you deeper and deeper into its own twisted reality. The story is simple, but the execution is far from it. Weiler takes the basic narrative and runs a series of ambiguous circles around it, coiling tighter and tighter until the end. Like the giant hedge maze in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining…”
– POP MATTERS
“There’s no doubt that “Head Trauma” isn’t just one of the greatest films of 2006, I would also put it up there with the best films that have been made this decade in horror.”
– BLOODTYPE ONLINE
“I’m giving this film my first ever 10 and have to say the hopes and dreams of the great American horror are now on Weiler’s shoulders.”
– CINEPHELIA.COM
“With his second outing, Weiler proves himself a seriously skilled director. His tone has much in common with the recent spate of Japanese horror films. There’s the emphasis on atmosphere, the sad, restless ghosts of the past, the jittery camerawork. It’s a wonder Hollywood hasn’t snapped him up to helm one of the countless J-horror remakes taking place stateside (The Ring, The Grudge, Pulse). It’s almost depressing to think what Weiler could have done with the recent revision of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 2001 chiller Pulse.”
– THE ALIBI
“HEAD TRAUMA will leave you scratching yours in the midst of a fantastic, scary ride that leaves no unanswered questions and does its job with the utmost competence and sheer unalloyed glee.”4 stars
– FILM THREAT
“Works its way under the skin, raising neck hairs while teasing us to pry open its psychological puzzle box.”
– LA WEEKLY
“The growling, hooded figure which dogs George through the story is an absolutely terrifying apparition, perhaps the simplest and most haunting monster to grace a movie screen since the debut of Freddy Krueger in the original “A Nightmare On Elm Street.”
– BLOODY DISGUSTING
“One of this year’s touchstones… Demonstrating once again that ingenuity and invention are more important than millions of dollars in budget, Weiler most effectively works within the confines of the dark house. As more and more unsettling things start to happen, it’s almost as though the house were growing into a full-fledged, recently awakened character that is not sure what it wants to do when it sees that it’s under attack… Head Trauma creeped me out.”
– TWITCHFILM.NET
“A slick, original, attention-grabbing feature… pushes the medium to the edge of its artistic bounds.”
– ALBUQUERQUE WEEKLY
“Horror outing that revives the under appreciated monster of the id to great effect.”
– MOVIE CITY NEWS
“You know the ones: Jacob’s Ladder, 12 Monkeys, even Lost Highway. Head Trauma is a solid induction into these halls of creepy mindfucks.”
– THE PORTLAND MERCURY
“Elicits effective creeps. A well executed haunted house exercise that treads the psychological vs. supernatural line.”
– AIN’T IT COOL NEWS
“Incredibly creepy… good re-creation of 70’s horror.”
-TUCSON WEEKLY
“Fright classic… surprisingly effective chiller.”
– THE OREGONIAN
“HEAD TRAUMA is completely pro. From packaging to film quality to the movie’s website, it seems like there was big money behind this film.”
– LOCAL IQ
What people are saying about the immersive Head Trauma events:
Current TV segment on the immersive Head Trauma events
click here to read what Wired had to say about the event
click here to see additional coverage about the event.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT WEILER’S HORROR 2.0
“Can things possibly get more intense from here? Of course. Horror 2.0 stalks the MoMI with indie auteur Lance Weiler’s multimedia expansion of his psycho-chiller Head Trauma: Audience members will receive menacing text messages and cell-phone calls, some even after the show. “I want to disturb people,” Weiler admits in what sounds like a motto for our times. Slashing at apathy, this is a genre whose dire warnings we ignore at our peril. One way or another, horror follows us home.”
– THE VILLAGE VOICE
“Lance Weiler’s first film, The Last Broadcast, often called the original Blair Witch Project, was shot for less than $1,000. Yet it grossed $4.5 million and became the first film to be transmitted via satellite directly to theaters. His encore? A traveling live-music mashup involving cell phones, big screens, indie rockers and meandering actors… This is one of the only films where you’ll be asked to keep your cell phone on during the screening,” says Weiler.
– WIRED
“Director Lance Weiler has created a “remix” presentation of his cult indie horror flick Head Trauma, the result of which sounds like a good approximation of the future of film. As theaters increasingly compete with home entertainment, we believe live film presentations such as this could be a way to keep audiences going out to movies.”
– TREND CENTRAL
Originally published by
Filmmaker Mashes Horror Flick With Live Music
By Todd Jatras
Lance Weiler’s first film, The Last Broadcast — often called the original Blair Witch Project — was shot for less than $1,000. Yet it grossed $4.5 million and became the first film to be transmitted via satellite directly to theaters.
His encore? A traveling live-music mashup involving cell phones, big screens, indie rockers and meandering actors. The project showcases his latest film, Head Trauma, a tale of psychological horror involving protagonist George Walker (shown), a drifter who has inherited a condemned house.
“This is one of the only films where you’ll be asked to keep your cell phone on during the screening,” says Weiler.
Director Tommy Pallotta, who produced A Scanner Darkly, likens Weiler’s work to early Roman Polanski, “the Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby era, very unlike movies like 300, which is a perfect example of how attention is focused on the technology that shows up on screen.” Weiler’s work is in-your-face horror created with guerrilla tech techniques like off-the-shelf cameras hacked for particular shots.
Starting this summer, Weiler plans to take his live mashup — dubbed Version 1.0, or Beta — on the road with a multi-city tour and a revolving cast of musicians and actors. Version 2.0 will likely roll out in New York and London before moving on to Los Angeles and Ohio later this year. He’s currently in negotiations with New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of the Moving Image about performing the show for their crowds.
Here’s a look at the highlights from his latest horror show.
Mashup Makes for Murder
A still shows George Walker, the protagonist of Head Trauma, floating face-down in the flooded basement of his grandmother’s condemned house.
Filmmaker Lance Weiler wanted the mashup to play off of the film’s notion of fragmented memory. His goal? Create a new version of the movie with every interactive performance.
Photo: Todd Jatras
Sleep tight
The hooded fiend first appears in the nightmares of Head Trauma‘s protagonist, George Walker. In the film, the haunting figure crosses into reality after Walker begins to draw the images from his nightmares.
Throughout the mashup, John Stefanic made frequent appearances on the balcony of the International House as the hooded character. When a car exploded onstage, he ran back on the stage and (oddly) dropped to the ground. Stefanic also sulked around the musicians and haunted the audience. Oftentimes, he would sneak up on unsuspecting moviegoers in hopes of giving them an old-fashioned scare.
Photo: Derik Moore
Indie Auteur Mashes His Film to Music
Lance Weiler — who hails from the Keystone State — gets ready to conduct a live cinema and music remix of Head Trauma at the University of Pennsylvania’s International House on March 31. Weiler shot Head Trauma in 90 days on a doughnuts-and-coffee budget of $126,000. Many of the scenes from the film, which debuted last summer, take place in the International House. Most of the filming occurred in a dilapidated house in rural Pennsylvania.
Props and characters from the movie appeared onstage throughout the performance. The tent was designed by S.R. Bissette, the comic book artist and co-creator of Constantine and Swamp Thing.
Photo: Derik Moore
Dial H-O-R-R-O-R
Onscreen prompts encourage the crowd to dial phone numbers that lead moviegoers through a maze of internet clues for solving random riddles. The hooded character joins in the dialing, shouting rants like, “I know things about you that no one else knows.”
An amazing 84 percent of the 100-plus crowd dialed the onstage phone numbers.
Working with business partner David Beard, director Lance Weiler set up multimedia company Seize the Media. The pair intend to offer similar interactive cell-phone services to other filmmakers.
Photo: Todd Jatras
Filmmaker dials a winner
Audience members are told to keep their cell phones on. One lucky person from the crowd gets a call from moviemaker Lance Weiler. The message? You’ve won — come collect your booty (posters, DVDs and CDs).
Photo: Derik Moore
Mix Master Mashes It Up
DJ Chief Wreck’em (aka Reiner Clabber) adds sound effects to the mix. Mastermind Lance Weiler makes special requests to the musicians through ambient elements like lighting.
Photo: Derik Moore
Filmmaker Orchestrates Horror
The band Bardo Pond plays to a crowd of 100-plus moviegoers. Each viewer is encouraged to call the band members using a cell phone.
The musicians pick up cues from director Lance Weiler, seated in the front row during the show. Using a computer, Weiler alters the intensity of the auditorium’s lights and other ambient elements. Each change is a signal to the musicians to do something different. A brighter hue, for instance, means bring up the volume.
Photo: Derik Moore
Musical Mishmash
Helena Espvall, from neo-psychedelic folk sextet Espers, adds cello to the live improvisational soundtrack of Head Trauma, the mashup.
Musician Fern Knight also appears onstage, and future mashups will include Marshal Allen (Sun Ra) and Steve Garvey (Buzzcocks).
Photo: Derik Moore
Meet the monster makers
Lance Weiler and Joseph Gervasi talk after the show. Gervasi, founder of Exhumed Films, organized the show at University of Pennsylvania. He undertook a similar music-and-cinema mashup with The Valerie Project, which features an 11-person band performing a new score — live — to the 1970 Czech New Wave film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.
The Valerie Project will be performed at the International House in Philadelphia in June and the Museum of Modern Art in New York in October.
Photo: Derik Moore
Bardo Pond improvises
The band Bardo Pond adds music in a live mashup of Head Trauma. The onstage improvised musical performances replace the film’s soundtrack during the mashup.
Photo: Derik Moore
Setup for a mashup
A few hours before the mashup starts, filmmaker Lance Weiler, musicians and actors take over the University of Pennsylvania’s International House.
Weiler hopes his mashup helps push the concept of storytelling across multiple devices and screens. He likes to call his approach a “cinema ARG” (alternative reality game).
