Review of Absentia (2011) by Elee Z — 12 Mar 2012

ABSENTIA: A Welcome Return To the Old-Fashioned Ghost Story.

I've seen a lot of horror films in my lifetime. I'm not bragging, and I'm certainly not proud of it. Most film fans like me have. Generally speaking, horror films are a dime a dozen, often times cheaply made for new studios, so there tends to be a glut of them available from time to time. What I've found though - when I've tried debating the merits of what genuinely frightens me - is that I tend to gravitate more to those films that don't insist on showing me everything. It's a subtle difference that most horror fans appreciate: you don't have to parade the endless hacking and slashing and slicing and dicing to scare me. I believe there's far more trepidation in seeing the killer coming at me, walking at me in the dark, knowing there's no escape from his clutches, no quenching his insatiable need to take another life, another soul. It's then that I'm really scared. The flashing of his bloodied instrument as he cuts open yet another victim always feels gratuitous to me.

For example, showing me the Creeper's underground hideout in JEEPERS CREEPERS is always vastly more frightening than displaying exactly how the monster caught, killed, and stitched all of those lustful young people into the walls of his lair.

There's something to be said by leaving much of the shock off-screen, prowling through the dark recesses of my mind, where it'll continue to scare me for far longer after the credits roll and the lights come up. Then, I'm left to ponder the endless possibilities of 'what comes next' all on my own, away from the forced constructs a viewing experience requires, and it's only at that point when I can truly come to grips with whether or not the film truly got to me, whether it accomplished its goal of entertaining me in a way only a terrific horror film can.

Consistently moody and atmospheric, ABSENTIA is that rare cinema delight that bursts out of the dark, serving up old-fashioned scares while still producing a uniquely original ghost story. It's a simmering dreadfulness, punctuating by minimal special effects and exceptional camera trickery, all backed up with a story that relies on the bare bones humanity of its central players. Thankfully, its fright is not accomplished with buckets of blood and trails of severed limbs, a trait that's ruined far too many horror films in the last two decades. Rather, ABSENTIA's scares always stick near and dear to one's mind, grounded in the very real experience of what happens after Tricia has her husband missing for seven years declared legally dead. That alone is a chilling enough experience; following that acceptance up with the grim reality that his 'disappearance' may've been anything but naturally explained produces chills aplenty.

Why?

Because with this smart script there's always a rational alternative. There's always a voice of reason. There's always a logical explanation. That's precisely how a picture like ABSENTIA toys so successfully with the audience's emotions: just when you think it's become crystal clear that these events must be supernatural in nature, another character steps up to the plate with a theory that rips the proverbial rug out from under you. It's when the most likely explanation becomes the least plausible that the real fun begins ... because imagining what's lurking out there at the dark end of the tunnel is always far, far more fearsome than showing it.

In my opinion, horror purists have plenty to celebrate with ABSENTIA. It's score is sparse, mostly relying on a few tracks that oddly hint at equal parts menace and harmony. The players - Courtney Bell as the grieving Tricia and Katie Parker as her sister (and recovering addict) Callie - offer performances grounded in humanity and pathos; they're real people recovering from real injuries, making the consequences of what they suffer all the more dire. As I've already pointed out, the film is replete with excellent camera work, delving creatively in and out of focus as often as the director creeps in and out of shadows and light; it's nothing short of masterful work that adds depth to the storytelling and the overall anxiety of the characters trapped within these frames. The sound work is incredible, repeatedly toying with levels and clarity, always pushing the unsuspecting viewer to listen more closely. Its coloring is understandably muted, and, yes, for us old school scare fanatics, writer/director Mike Flanagan even managed to work in a damsel-in-distress in her underwear while still not making it gratuitous and exploitative! Can you imagine that? Also, the script is chocked full of enough subtle twists and turns - all plying and playing around the central emotional mystery of missing persons - that Hitchcock himself would no doubt turn green with envy.

ABSENTIA is exactly the kind of independent cinema that deserves to be uncovered, acknowledged, and celebrated. I find it no surprise that the film served as an Official Selection to the 2011 Fantasia Film Festival and the 2011 Toronto 'After Dark' Festival. Equally, I find no shock in recognizing that it won "Best Horror Feature" at the 2011 Shriekfest, as well as claiming the prize of "Best Narrative Feature" at the 2011 Sonoma International Film Festival. The disc comes complete with two separate commentary tracks, some additional features regarding the film's history and development, as well as deleted scenes and a trailer. There are also a handful of trailers for other scary features available from Phase 4 Films.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.

In the interests of fairness, I'm pleased to disclose that the kind folks of Phase 4 Films provided me with a screener DVD copy for the expressed purposes of completing this review.