Tales from the Underneath

Absentia (2011)

seems like a fun place to hang out

This low budget film from director Mike Flanagan has flown largely under the radar of the public eye.  Despite financial restraints, this film is shot well, the direction is effective and the acting is committed. All of the main actors in this small film are clearly invested in the script, they seem genuine and honest, and there is true depth and meaning in the themes presented.

The story centers around Tricia, seven months pregnant, a woman who is in the process of declaring her husband dead by absentia. Tricia’s husband, Daniel, disappeared seven years ago and she hasn’t heard from him since (Tricia is also six months pregnant, let’s do the math…). With the help and support of therapists, her younger sister Callie (who has something of an implied sordid back story involving drugs) and the lead detective on her husband’s case, Detective Mallory (a man who has come to care deeply for Tricia, wink wink pregnancy?), Tricia is trying to move on. Despite her noble attempts, Trica keeps seeing ghostly apparitions of her husband in the shadows, watching her , mumbling malevolently to her, staring at her from the darkness with a twisted ghoulish face. Once she finally commits to moving on, Tricia and Mallory head out for an evening together. Outside her home, Tricia sees another vision of Daniel, gazing at her from the street. She shakes it off, but Mallory can see him too. Daniel has come back.

A great deal of mystery surrounds Daniel’s whereabouts, he is largely incoherent, disoriented and paranoid. He begins to connect with Tricia’s sister and reveals some of his fears about where he has been, mumbling about tunnels….creatures…..trades…..and ‘the underneath’.

I won’t give away any spoilers. This story has the bones needed to make a compelling tale, but does sort of feel slightly uninflated by the end, leaving us wondering, is that all we get? That being said, director Mike Flanagan knows the value of scares we can’t see. He offers up deeply shadowed scenes, suspense filled moments of cringe worthy tension that had me holding my breath, waiting for something to attack. He preys on our fears of the unknown, the way we deal with loss and with guilt, with unanswered questions and perception. I thought one of the clever details Flanagan inserted into this tale were moments in which the characters considered alternate possibilities, where the images take us on a brief alternate route from reality. And just what, exactly, is the reality here? A subdued film, Absentia has solid acting, highly effective mood and tone, an emotional human aspect to the story, and perhaps a lightly padded supernatural aspect, one that felt a little like it needed more fleshing out. It moves slowly from time to time, but feels solid and honest, and it delves into how grief and trauma alter us all, a tall order for a ‘horror’ film.

There is one chilling scene nears the film’s finale, in which Callie desperately pleads with…something…..to return the missing, to trade. The shock value of this moment is quiet and subtle and ultimately out of focus, blurred, but if you were on the ball, you could catch the implications. A memorable and eerie scene. Check this one out, it is worth the watch.