The Absent

One thing I really like is when I am pleasantly surprised by a movie. When you get a movie and drop it into the player, you usually have some sort of expectations or preconceptions of what you are about to watch, and then as you watch, the movie usually meets or exceeds or falls short of them. But sometimes when you watch a movie, it takes your expectations and tosses them right out the window and goes off on a totally unexpected direction. THE ABSENT was just such a movie. When I first received the movie and looked at the box cover and read the synopsis, this thing was screaming 'teen-slasher flick' at me. And sure, when I was younger, like most horror fans, I loved teen-slasher movies. It was a groovy thing seeing those teenage co-eds sliced and diced in all sorts of brutally cool fashions, but that was several hundred 'teen-slasher flicks' ago. Now it seems, I've seen so many that the genre has run it's course with me. It's been done to death. It would take some serious Dario Argento type stuff for a teen-slasher flick to impress me these days. So needless to say I had some lowered expectations for this movie. And sure enough, it started out in typical teen-slasher fashion with a Prom Night-like childhood flashback. Only this flashback, turned out to be pretty cool and more reminiscent of David Cronenberg's Spider. After a couple of near fatal accidents happen to him and after finding a lot of outstanding bills and an insurance policy, a boy draws a delusional conclusion and kills his mother and step-father. We flash ahead twenty-five years to find this boy a grown man and having served his time is released from prison. His twin brother on the other hand, has gone on to become a successful high school science teacher. Coincidentally enough, as one brother finds himself free from prison to begin life again, the other makes the mistake of becoming sexually involved with a student which could destroy his. Without making himself known, the freed twin sets about trying to save his science teacher brother and the bodies begin to pile up.

Do you see? This does sound like a teen-slasher flick, doesn't it? But I tell you true, as this movie played out, it felt more like a cool episode of Columbo (I happen to love Columbo). You know who the killer is. You actually see him do the killing (so if you are a teen-slasher fan, you will not be disappointed). But the movie is more about the cat and mouse game being played. There is the sheriff looking for the killer, the potential victims, the science teacher who has to cover for himself, and of course the killer, all moving about and interacting in a deadly psychological game. And then, of course, there is the ending. And yes, it's my favorite kind. The kind with the big twist. Well, I guess it wasn't that big, because I suspected it way before I think I was supposed to, but then I watch a lot of this thing, so it doesn't mean you will. Without giving anything away, I'll just say it's one of those endings like The Sixth Sense or Saw where you have to go back and watch it again and look for all the clues you missed to the outcome. Gore wise, the movie is not over the top, but I'm pretty sure slasher fans will not be too disappointed. The murders are brutal and violent enough to get the point across, but without being drawn out and gratuitous. They are no where near something like Joe Spinell in Maniac, but they are quite a bit more than the shower scene from Psycho. They are right there in the middle, which is a good place to be in a movie like this. From a technical stand point the movie is also well done. It's very much on par with your higher end shot on video production. The actors are all professional. The camera work is professional. There is some good aesthetic shots including some cool time-lapsed stuff and there is some great teenage girls making out with each other (yeah, I know gratuitous, but I personally like that sort of gratuity). Sure you could nitpick and find a few flaws, just like any movie, but for an Independently shot film, this one out does itself for looking professional.

Stars: Jennifer Blanc and Kelly B. Eviston.

This is a really good drama and then evolves into a very evil horror. Makes twins seem justified,Then totally uncalled for actions to keep a secret. To seethe acting chops of ladies listed and Sam Ball as the sheriff was a joy,And even bigger surprise in what was assumed in Indy Horror.

Congrats to director Sage Bannick, You pulled off a good scare.

*** of 5 for girl/girl.

*** of 5 for 'Six Degrees Of Separation' to Jennifer Alba.

*** of 5 for Sheer,White Knuckle violence.

The folks out at Last Night sent a copy of The Absent out for us to review, and I'll hand it to them, this is some low budget indie horror done RIGHT. It's been a while since I last had a taste of the sweet low budget indie, and this is some of the finest kind indeed.

The Absent takes us to a small town where a high school science teacher, Vincent Burton, is in the midst of an illicit affair with one of his Science Olympiad stars, who herself is having a few illicit affairs with some of the boys around. But what he doesn't know is that his brother, Oscar, has recently been released from a prison term he served following the death of their parents. And Oscar knows what Vincent's been up to. But Oscar's a loving brother, and he doesn't want to see Vincent go to prison for statutory rape, so he launches off on an orgy of homicides leading up to his final battle with his brother, where one of them won't be getting out alive.

The Absent is a great little film–it has terrifically fast pacing, and watches almost like the parts of Misery where the sheriff is tracking down Paul Sheldon, only without all the crazy Annie Wilkes action. It moves so quickly and so carefully that you can't help but be immersed. Considering that the movie only lasts an hour and twenty minutes, it's really not surprising that it moves quickly. When I watched it, I found myself marveling at how quickly the first hour had gone by–I scarcely noticed, I was so busy keeping up with the plot, which moved at such a rapid clip it was impossible not to find yourself immersed in it.

It was also the first time, as far as I could remember, that the high school drama of who's having sex with who would actually turn out to be a plot point.

But since The Absent moves along at a nice rapid clip and adds a few decent shocks, it's well worth your time as a suspense / thriller with just a bit of horror. The ending is a bit on the predictable side, and throws some unpleasant unanswered questions out into the way, but overall, you'll have a good time here.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Absent an eight out of ten for doing a great job up until the last few minutes, and even then, it hardly drops the ball that hard. You should enjoy this, especially if you're a suspense / thriller buff.

I have to say I did enjoy the film, the only thing was when I read about it, I was expecting something a little bit more suspenseful. I was kind of expecting more like a thriller in the lines of "Se7en" or "Silence of the Lambs", but instead I was watching a slasher flick.

Once I discovered what it was though, I allowed myself to enjoy it and was not bored. It would be a movie I would see again, I just thought it could've been done a little bit differently. There were too many slasher clichés that were brought up, I thought, the hot girls kissing, the nudity; I did however find the character of Oscar somewhat interesting. And the plot twist that was added has been done before.

I generally tend, or at least try, to be rather mild when it comes to this sort of films. I'm referring to ultra low-budgeted and largely independently produced amateur horror/thriller movies made by an enthusiast and ambitious crew. Writer/director Sage Bannick is obviously someone who watched literally thousands of movies in his life, and then eventually motivated a bunch of friends and acquaintances to realize his own scenario. Sage Bannick's problem, however, is that he has probably seen too many movies already. On one hand he attempts to combine a lot of small but inventive ideas that don't really connect, but on the other hand he all too easily reverts to some of the biggest and dreadful clichés in the genre. "The Absent" opens in the small town of liberty, where the clever but slightly bonkers 10-year-old Oscar discovers that his parents intend to kill him for insurance money. The joke's on them, though, because Oscar mixes rat poison in their breakfast pancakes. Twenty years later, Oscar gets released from prison and immediately returns home to Liberty, where his twin brother Vincent became the high- school science teacher. Vincent is a bad person, because he lures his girl students to his cabin in the woods and sleeps with them, but Oscar is still the more evil brother because he kills his brother's pets afterwards. The first half hour of "The Absent" is rather compelling and tense, but the plot gradually sinks deeper and deeper into a puddle of clichés. The idea of parents trying to kill their son for money is original and even rather disturbing, but the rest of the themes are sadly derivative. Disjointed siblings, forbidden teacher-student relationships, hillbilly trailer park stereotypes, … Somewhere one third into the film, "The Absent" sadly transferred from an intriguing mystery into a customary slasher with an unbelievably predictable finale. You know, the type of "please say they're not using that plot twist again" finale. The film contains a few very gruesome moments, most notably the sick murder of the blond girl and the painful death of a very amiable supportive female character. The acting performances are quite good, I have to say. I particularly hope to see the two gorgeous Zima sisters (Vanessa and Yvonne) in more horror movies soon.