Every once in a while, I stumble upon a rare gem of a horror film that I was expecting to be average, but wound up blowing me away. Absentia was one of those films I had sitting in my collection for over a year, constantly skimming over for one reason or another. Perhaps it was the cover of the DVD I have, displaying a girl being dragged into a tunnel by some cheesy demon hands. Or maybe it was the rather dull film title. Whatever my reasons were, all doubts left my mind last night after finishing up my first viewing. This is indeed one hell of a horror film, and may even be the best film I've seen all year.
Mike Flanagan's Absentia tells the story of a woman named Tricia, who is still struggling to put together the pieces in her life after her husband Daniel mysteriously went missing seven years ago. Tricia is now pregnant and presumably moving on with her life, but she continues to hang the last of her missing persons posters around her neighborhood. Since Daniel has been missing for seven years, she is able to get a death certificate declaring Daniel dead "in absentia". This is an extraordinarily difficult thing for Tricia to accept, so her troubled sister Callie stops by from out of town in order to help her get through her difficult times and look for a new place to live. We also meet Detective Ryan, the officer in charge of Daniel's case and now a love interest for Tricia (and presumably the father of the child). Tricia hopes that with the death certificate in place, she will finally be able to move onward with her new life.
However, things aren't so easy. Tricia begins seeing visions of a demonized Daniel, haunting her every move. She is seeing a psychologist who tells her it is normal due to her stress, but of course Tricia is still disturbed. In the meantime, Callie is settling into life at Tricia's house and decides one day to go out for a jog. Her jog takes her through an old tunnel, where she sees a gaunt, filthy man who is shocked that Callie can see him. He pleads for help, but Callie runs off. She later returns at night and leaves some food by the tunnel entrance. Callie later discovers "gifts" of small gold trinkets left on the doorstep, and returns them to the tunnel. When the trinkets show up again inside of the house, Callie calls the police. Detective Ryan urges Tricia and Callie to get out of this neighborhood, because there have been a large number of break ins and disappearances. Tricia receives Daniel's death certificate in the mail, and is preparing to go out on her first public date with Ryan. Just as luck would have it, as soon as they step out of the door, a disheveled Daniel comes stumbling up to the door. The film gets nuts at this point, and I'd hate to spoil much. Up until this point, I was expecting Daniel's disappearance to be the focus of the film. I was quite surprised by the turn that the film took. It turns out that Callie discovers that there are a large number of disappearances in the area which are linked to the mysterious tunnel by Tricia's house. Daniel doesn't seem to be making much sense at explaining where he was the past seven years, but it's clear that his disappearance as well as the disappearance of others in the area may be caused by a supernatural force.
What I really loved about this film was the fact that it isn't so much a horror film as it is a story of loss and grief. Courtney Bell is great as Tricia, the way she sees visions of an angry Daniel struck a chord with me and really did a great job of highlighting the grief of a woman about to declare her missing husband dead. I love when an independent, budget-restricted film can make me feel the way this film has made me feel: engaged and at the end of my seat. Not only do we have a bit of slow building, psychological horror, we also have a bit of a "monster" film with mystery, thriller, and supernatural elements. This film certainly took me down a way different trail then I initially expected based on the cheesy Phase4 Films DVD cover. I had never been particularly interested in Mike Flanagan or any of his films, but after seeing Absentia I'm determined to hunt some down. Especially with Halloween around the corner, I can't tell you how highly I recommend this film. It's creepy, it's though provoking, it's everything one could ask for in a psychological horror without a lot of money. It's unfortunate that Absentia is one of those films which probably easily gets passed over due to its independent label and its mediocre scores on sites like IMDB. It's been quite a long time since a mainstream horror film has done anything for me. There are really so many good independent horrors coming out that I could only hope that a few of you fans go out and support these talented filmmakers and actors/actresses.
RATING:
**** 1/2 out of *****
Mike Flanagan's Absentia tells the story of a woman named Tricia, who is still struggling to put together the pieces in her life after her husband Daniel mysteriously went missing seven years ago. Tricia is now pregnant and presumably moving on with her life, but she continues to hang the last of her missing persons posters around her neighborhood. Since Daniel has been missing for seven years, she is able to get a death certificate declaring Daniel dead "in absentia". This is an extraordinarily difficult thing for Tricia to accept, so her troubled sister Callie stops by from out of town in order to help her get through her difficult times and look for a new place to live. We also meet Detective Ryan, the officer in charge of Daniel's case and now a love interest for Tricia (and presumably the father of the child). Tricia hopes that with the death certificate in place, she will finally be able to move onward with her new life.
However, things aren't so easy. Tricia begins seeing visions of a demonized Daniel, haunting her every move. She is seeing a psychologist who tells her it is normal due to her stress, but of course Tricia is still disturbed. In the meantime, Callie is settling into life at Tricia's house and decides one day to go out for a jog. Her jog takes her through an old tunnel, where she sees a gaunt, filthy man who is shocked that Callie can see him. He pleads for help, but Callie runs off. She later returns at night and leaves some food by the tunnel entrance. Callie later discovers "gifts" of small gold trinkets left on the doorstep, and returns them to the tunnel. When the trinkets show up again inside of the house, Callie calls the police. Detective Ryan urges Tricia and Callie to get out of this neighborhood, because there have been a large number of break ins and disappearances. Tricia receives Daniel's death certificate in the mail, and is preparing to go out on her first public date with Ryan. Just as luck would have it, as soon as they step out of the door, a disheveled Daniel comes stumbling up to the door. The film gets nuts at this point, and I'd hate to spoil much. Up until this point, I was expecting Daniel's disappearance to be the focus of the film. I was quite surprised by the turn that the film took. It turns out that Callie discovers that there are a large number of disappearances in the area which are linked to the mysterious tunnel by Tricia's house. Daniel doesn't seem to be making much sense at explaining where he was the past seven years, but it's clear that his disappearance as well as the disappearance of others in the area may be caused by a supernatural force.
What I really loved about this film was the fact that it isn't so much a horror film as it is a story of loss and grief. Courtney Bell is great as Tricia, the way she sees visions of an angry Daniel struck a chord with me and really did a great job of highlighting the grief of a woman about to declare her missing husband dead. I love when an independent, budget-restricted film can make me feel the way this film has made me feel: engaged and at the end of my seat. Not only do we have a bit of slow building, psychological horror, we also have a bit of a "monster" film with mystery, thriller, and supernatural elements. This film certainly took me down a way different trail then I initially expected based on the cheesy Phase4 Films DVD cover. I had never been particularly interested in Mike Flanagan or any of his films, but after seeing Absentia I'm determined to hunt some down. Especially with Halloween around the corner, I can't tell you how highly I recommend this film. It's creepy, it's though provoking, it's everything one could ask for in a psychological horror without a lot of money. It's unfortunate that Absentia is one of those films which probably easily gets passed over due to its independent label and its mediocre scores on sites like IMDB. It's been quite a long time since a mainstream horror film has done anything for me. There are really so many good independent horrors coming out that I could only hope that a few of you fans go out and support these talented filmmakers and actors/actresses.
RATING:
**** 1/2 out of *****