Review of Absentia (2011) by Kyle L — 19 May 2014

Absentia is an extremely terrifying yet dramatic psychological Horror film that delivers loads of goods that Horror fans have been looking for. This movie is about a young pregnant woman and her sister who are searching for the disappearances of several people in the neighborhood including her husband and they search for links in the tunnel across the street where all the people have completely disappeared.

To be honest I love this and it is a nice creepy Horror film and it is very psychological and dramatic in several parts and it is quite odd for me to watch Mike Flanagan's first feature film since I love his second film Oculus but I love both films actually if Oculus is where Mike Flanagan managed to terrify and shock the audiences with loads of suspense, nail biting tension and gory violence then Absentia relies heavily on drama, Horror and a character driven plot.

One of the great things about this movie is that the film has loads of creepy and haunting moments that will terrify and give you nightmares at the same time(The creepy dream sequence, The scene where one of the characters encounter a creepy homeless man and the haunting finale).

The other things I like about this film is that the film has loads of superb settings even though the movie is shot on a low budget and I love the creepy tunnel in the film especially the suburban neighborhood looks nice and it gives the movie a superb feel and look.

What I also like about the movie is that the film also has an eerie atmosphere, The film itself is full of plot twists and turns and the soundtrack is a good mixture of Psychological Horror and drama and it gives the movie a very dramatic feel.

One of the main mysteries of this movie is that we never get to see the creature that's been taking people in the tunnel we only get to see glimpses of the creature's face and its hand but not the whole body so its quite a mystery for me when you never see the creature in the film and it gives the movie a strange yet mysterious feeling because we never get to see the creature that's been taking people in the tunnels only glimpses of it in several parts.

Now the acting is very good and for a nice low budget indie film the performances are solid and all the actors did a very good job with their work on this movie a lot especially the two main leads who deliver outstanding performances throughout the entire film.

Director and writer Mike Flanagan did an excellent job with his work on this movie and from what I can tell his directing is tight and flawless an I knew that he is gonna be one of the future directors of Horror since both Absentia and Oculus are amazing Horror films that he made and I can't wait to see what he will do next and I love his work on both films in Absentia he managed to scare the audience with a nice build up and managed to handle the suspense well and in Oculus he managed to shock and terrify the audience with loads of gore and suspense so I can't wait for what he will do next.

Overall Absentia is a nice mystery, drama, Psychological Horror film that delivers loads of goods from start to finish. This movie gets a 10/10.