Absentia (2011) Reviews

• Deeply Unsettling!

  PatrickTheRedMenace2012-01-15

  This somber yet deeply unsettling film managed to give me the willies even in the less-than-ideal Horrorhound Weekend screening. Not soon after a pregnant woman (Katie Parker) declares her missing husband (Morgan Peter Brown) legally dead, she begins to having terrifying visions that hint that maybe she spoke too quickly. Writer/director Flanagan pulls off an incredible feat with this film. He manages to reinvent the ghost story, then takes it to an unexpected, even creepier place. Don't be fooled by the show-burn pacing, because the almost-suffocating tension had me squirming in my seat, forgetting to breathe. It's been almost a year since I've seen ABSENTIA. What haunts me most is not the disturbing visuals or even the deeply unsettling story line. It's the mood. When I simply think about the title, I hear in my head its stark, two-note funeral organ score and my chest wells up with emotions not usually incurred by watching a horror movie: grief, loss and perhaps the most terrifying of all…the dread of inevitability. Toss in a pitch perfect cast, including a heart-wrenching cameo from the always delicious Doug Jones, and BOOM! You've got my favorite horror movie of 2011.

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• A standout horror film

  tv2-194-4956812012-03-05

  I don't write reviews much, in fact, I haven't done so since David Lynch's Lost Highway back in the 90's but having just seen ABSENTIA I felt obligated to share my thoughts. This is an amazing horror/thriller. I cannot fathom how a director working on a minuscule budget can produce a film of this quality. The writing, photography and direction are absolutely first-class. The film generates a remarkably claustrophobic atmosphere and the actors, albeit amateur give incredible and heartfelt performances. The film tells the story of two sisters, Tricia (heavily pregnant) and the other, Callie who is returning from an extended trip. The main plot involves the disappearance of the Trisha's husband seven years prior. She is just starting to heal, working to declare him legally dead and looking towards the birth of her child. Then things change. To give anything else away would be unforgivable, but let's just say that Tricia's husband is not the only person to go missing in the neighborhood in recent times. Don't worry about that statement...this is not some dopey, clichéd serial killer film, this is something completely different. It's a mystery. Is the husband dead or alive and what is the meaning of the unusual things that Callie begins to see inside the nearby freeway underpass ? The film is hard to classify into a specific genre. It's part horror, part thriller, part scifi and utterly engrossing. If you enjoy thrillers give this film a go. Forget the fact that it was made on a dime.. every aspect of it from the story, acting right through to a wonderful soundtrack guarantees you will have a great time with it. I'm hoping that the director, Mike Flanagan gets noticed in a big way as a result of Absentia and someone throws him a team and a budget. If he can make a film this good on a tiny budget I can only imagine what he could do with more money.

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• Very Good Low Budget Horror

  ronnybrown19822012-02-05

  If you come to this expecting something along the lines of Saw then you will be disappointed. It is a fairly slow moving, character driven, existential horror. That said, there are a good number of scares and tense, edge of your seat scenes. It is well done - good cinematography, acting, soundtrack and story. Hopefully the director will continue the good work on his next film, from the decent way the characters were written and top notch direction (for what I guess was a small budget)this is a truly excellent movie. Well done to all involved. Highly recommended.

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• Slow and atmospheric creeper makes for a pretty impressive experience.

  BloedEnMelk2012-04-05

  I do not really understand why the average rate of Absentia is so low. Well, maybe I do understand, if you watch this horror with the expectations that you get a fast paced gore filled typical horror movie, you will be disappointed. Absentia is a slow one, and it basically has no real gore. So just skip it if that's what you are going for, and save this little gem the downrates which it really doesn't deserve. Now, that having sad, Absentia has something different to offer. It's not per say in the storyline itself, which, when you read it, doesn't seem too original. What it's got to offer is mainly in the mood. The soundtrack, which is relatively minimum, really adds to the claustrophobic and depressing atmosphere. The acting is well done, realistic and believable, and the characters are well worked out and take the plot to a higher level. There are some weird things in the plot that make you wonder what is really going on. It gives the perfect sense of mystery, never fully explaining it, but definitely enough to leave you satisfied. I found Absentia more of an experience, though it doesn't come short to the story at all. Things may or may not make sense, and you might wonder a couple of times how much comes to perception and how much of it is really happening, it doesn't take anything away from the story or from the mood. It only adds to it. I was a bit reluctant when I put the DVD into my player but all my doubts faded away within the first minutes. The movie is perfectly shot, everything just works really really well. I am very pleasantly surprised and think it certainly belongs to one of the best horror movies of 2011. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that a few times I found it hard to follow the dialogue (mumbling) and had to rewind to listen to it again. Watch it if you get the chance, and if you like horror which crawls deeply under your skin. Do not watch it if you want action and gore.

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• Do Not be absent for this great horror flick: ABSENTIA

  klimari2011-08-12

  Last night, with not much fare on cable, I decided to watch Absentia. A recent horror film by Mike Flanagan. First off let me start by saying that horror is my favorite genre. Not your "slasher" flicks though… but well crafted Gothic horror like Robert Wise's original THE HAUNTING. Creepy atmospheric films that get you thinking and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You can read the synopsis here on IMDb, so I won't go into that. As far as reviews go, Variety couldn't have said it any better! (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117945387/) The low budget only proves that a cool story, some nice direction, well paced editing and a more than capable cast don't need to come from a big Hollywood studio… and they rarely do these days! At times the scares are so subtle (ala the cult classic B film, "Let's Scare Jessica to Death") you won't believe your own eyes. Is Daniel really there or a figment of his wife's (played brilliantly I might add by Courtney Bell) imagination?. The real standout here though is Mike Flanagan, the writer/director. I await his next project with great anticipation! 8 out of 10 stars! PS-Notice some of the character references to some horror director icons. Carpenter, Del Toro, Romero... :)

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