Absence

The movie was okay and had a lot of potential. The brother is SUPER annoying and sometimes makes it hard to watch. I almost stopped watching because of him. The lead actress is great. I think the movie would have been better without the brother. There are times you wonder WHY IS HE STILL FILMING and a couple things are left unanswered... Other than that I think it's worth a watch if you can sit through the annoying brother.

First of all before I begin this review, I would like to say I watched this movie expecting an average found footage movie and weren't expecting an amazing blockbuster movie so if you're a fan of the found footage sub genre then check it out, if not then stay far away.

With the recent wave of alien movies hitting our shelves/big screens (such as Unaware, Dark Skies, Tape #4 in V/H/S/2, etc.) I was excited to see what directors could offer us next. Here we have Absence, a brand new immediately underrated creepy and suspenseful found footage sci-fi horror movie, before I say anymore, here's a quick rundown on the movie's plot:

The movie begins with Evan, a camera obsessed student filming his sister, Liz and her husband, Rick in hospital where they have just been told that the previously pregnant Liz is no longer pregnant which soon becomes a missing child case which leads to Liz and Rick being the talk of the town and being hassled by the media, etc. so to get a break from it all they decide to go to Rick's family cabin in the woods for a while and it's from this point on where things start to get really weird...

After the hospital scene at the start of the film it does become very slow moving which in my opinion is a good thing because whilst the film is at a slow pace it gives you time to get to know the characters better so when the bad stuff does happen to them you'll care more about whether they live/die. It also adds a great sense of realism to the film when you see them cooking, playing pranks on each other, etc.

When the scares do eventually show up it's worth the wait as this film has some very creepy moments, one in particular with a visitor at the back door at night time, which is a very quick but effective scare. I don't want to spoil anything but as with most found footage endings the ending is also very effective and the least I say about it the better.

Overall I've gave this movie a solid 9 out of 10 because I thought it was a great found footage scare-fest that fans of movies such as Paranormal Activity, Unaware, The Fourth Kind and Dark Skies will enjoy, however, as I mentioned at the start of the review, if you hate found footage films and are expecting a blockbuster movie with amazing special effects and amazing actors then stay clear, this isn't for you.

Wow!!! That was bad! I'm always looking for horror movies and I watch pretty much anything that is released, which usually leads me to disappointment. This particular "movie" was worst than usual however. I really don't understand why we are supposed to get a headache while watching something that should be entertaining; I (anyone) could have made a better job with a cellphone camera. The "story" was just pathetic and the characters annoying. I'm not very creative, I give you that; but given that it's their job, they should be, at least, a bit good at coming up with an interesting plot. This sucked!!!

Avoid this atrocity..take a nap instead.

Doctors are baffled when an expectant mother wakes to find her nearly-to-term pregnancy apparently disappear overnight. Police investigate the situation as a missing child, and only her husband and brother trust her version of events.

The movie starts out with some of the most wild shaky cam ever put on film, and then turns into an amateur documentary complete with the wonderful "found footage" style of camera-work. Each time this technique is used it gets more and more irritating, and by 2013 the creators of these films should know better than to use it unless they have a darn good reason.

Perhaps this film is called "Absence" because it has an almost complete absence of horror elements. Most of the movie is just footage of flirting, drinking, hanging out. Maybe ten minutes really involves anything scary or supernatural. One could argue this effectively builds the characters, but it does this at the expense of any narrative a viewer would give a hoot about.

Was when they finally dispatched of the annoying brother who possessed zero redeemable traits what-so-ever. This movie would have been better had this nonsense not become part of the plot, and does more against this quality of this movie than to help it.

Add that less of the jumpy out of focus hand held found footage would have improved this flick tremendously. Because all that bouncing around pointing at the ground does not make a good movie.

And I agree with other reviews when it comes to the baby never being part of this flick, other than it was missing at the beginning. And the PSA regarding fetal abductions, nothing more is examined about the missing baby.

On another note, I found it far fetched that any woman would find that weak useless brother worthwhile investing any time into.