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Absentia
USA 2011
produced by Morgan Peter Brown, Mike Flanagan, Justin Gordon, Joe Wicker, Joe Hollow (co), Kevin Kale (co), Jason Poh (co), Courtney Bell (line) for FallBack Plan Productions, Blue Dot Productions
directed by Mike Flanagan
starring Katie Parker, Courtney Bell, Dave Levine, Morgan Peter Brown, Justin Gordon, James Flanagan, Scott Graham, Doug Jones, Ian Gregory, Connie Ventress, Elisabeth Adwin, Erin Cipolletti, Mark Dumonski, Brandon Valley Jones, Joseph Mendoza, Damon Pfaff, Brian Normoyle, Camron Robertson
written by Mike Flanagan, music by Ryan David Leack, special makeup effects by Chis Mills III, Amy Peckham, special effects by Silver Shamrock Labs
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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7 years ago, Tricia's (Courtney Bell) husband Daniel (Morgan Peter
Brown) has gone missing. She still hasn't forgotten him and still hangs up
missing person posters in the neighbourhood. But on the other hand, she
has gotten pregnant from the detective, Mallory (Dave Levine), who's
working on her husband's case, and has finally decided to declare her
husband "dead in absentia". Of late though, she experiences more
and more apparitions of her husbands. Illusions, sure, but ... Enter
Tricia's sister Callie (Katie Parker) with a past in drugs she hasn't left
behind her quite as successfully as she wants to make everyone believe.
Callie does her best to help her sister start a new life and leave Daniel
behind for good, even supports her going out with detective Mallory. But
at the same time she senses there is something weird going on, and it
might have to do with a nearby pedestrian tunnle ... Tricia and Mallory
go out on their first date in what seems like a lifetime, when out of the
blue, Daniel appears. He is still wearing the same cloths he has worn when
he disappeared, h elooksw awfully sick, and seems to be totally confused.
When questioned about his whereabouts the last 7 years, he can't give any
real information, but it seems he has had a horrible experience wherever
he was. Tricia and Callie take care of Daniel the best they can, but he
acts weird to say the least and seems to be in constant panic that
something is coming to get him. And one day, while Tricia has sneaked out
to meet Mallory, something does come to get him, right before Callie's
very eyes, something (we never see it) that drags him back into the
pedestrian tunnle ... Click
here to open the Spoiler Pop-up! A very creepy horror film that uses story
buildup and atmosphere to create tension and suspense rather than
overfeeding the audience with stupid explanations and special effects -
and it totally succeeds in doing so: The very fact that you don't see the
menace the protagonists are exposed to and never get a proper explanation
for whatever-it-is makes the whole thing all the more scary. Add to this a
subtle, self-confident directorial effort and a more than able cast, and
you got a pretty good piece of horror cinema. Recommended!
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