Absentia -- Mike Flanagan's First Foray into Horror
Name: Absentia
Directed By: Mike Flanagan
Subgenre: Creature Feature Thriller
Series: Spooktober 2021 entry #18; review #111
Review: Mike Flanagan is so hot right now. You may already know this from my review (or literally anyone else's, as there's no dearth of opinions floating around the internet) of Midnight Mass, or you may know Flanagan from his work on Doctor Sleep, Oculus, The Haunting of Hill House and/or Bly Manor; either way, putting his name on a horror project is like printing money. And that's largely due to him proving how original and creative his visions are, so I wanted to go back and check on his first foray into the realm of horror: 2011's Absentia. Absentia is a good film, but it's not without it's flaws. After binging Midnight Mass before checking this one out, it's fun to see just how much Flanagan has grown as a writer and director. Originally funded via a Kickstarter campaign, Absentia follows Tricia as she takes the first steps toward coming to terms with the death of her husband, Daniel. Well, that's not quite right: we don't actually know whether Daniel is dead, but Tricia has taken the steps to declaring his death in absentia, the legal status for declaring someone dead who has been missing for over seven years. That's a long time, but Tricia hasn't been ready to fully move on. So, her sister, Callie, drops in to help. Not only did Callie want to help her sister out, but apparently Daniel had a bit of a hand in helping her overcome an addiction problem in her past. Callie helps her sister work through the intensifying nightmares and hallucinations she begins having about Daniel until she's finally able to sign his death certificate. You can imagine their surprise when Daniel shows up, bloodied and dazed, at Tricia's front door. What follows is an unfolding mystery about those who simply vanish into thin air, and the chitinous cause of it all. Absentia is primarily a thriller of the quiet, mystery-laden type; there are a few jump scares, especially during Tricia's period of hallucinations, but the film is primarily focused on the trauma of loss, climactic retraumitization, and their fallout. It's a heavily dramatic film, one that feels very grounded rather than melodramatic, and Flanagan takes his time in unfurling the story's many layers. It's not a straightforward creature feature, nor is it another banal psychological thriller with an unreliable, supernaturally-focused narrator; Absentia is a blend of the two, and he smooths over any imbalances between the subgenres with an injection of believable human plight. The story is good, the effects are okay, but the cinematography definitely leaves something to be desired. It's not necessarily bad, but notably low-budget--but then again, he did fund the project via Kickstarter, so it's fairly commendable given the limitations. What I do take (Dolores) umbrage with is the audio quality: shit's all over the place. Maybe it was my sound system, or maybe it was because I watched the film via Tubi, but the volume in some scenes was wildly different than in others--hell, sometimes the dialogue volume dropped mid-scene. Again, it could have been on my end, but it started to grate on my viewing experience. That said, Absentia is a laudable entry into the horror genre, and Flanagan has only improved with every new story he's worked on (more or less--looking at you, Bly Manor).
Overall Score: 3.5 out of 5 Chads lost in the walls. Did Absentia scare you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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