Really Surprised!

Fantastic!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Blistering performances.

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.

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 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.

Director/Producer/Co-writer, Sage Bannick had to battle studio heads in order to try and get this film made and I suppose after having to endure their lists of excuses for too long he decided to go ahead and make the film on a more limited budget. I am not an expect in the matter but I would think in some ways this turned out to be the better of the two options since this way I think he had a lot more artistic freedom to get the film made the way he visioned it rather than having some studio execs getting their dirty hands on the script and changing things around as they see fit. The film starts off with Vincent and Oscar as kids and Oscar being the target of a sinister plan to collect life insurance. Oscar does a little sneaking around and soon discovers what their parents are up to so he beats them to the punch and in return he spends 25 years in prison. We then jump forward to present day and we see what Vincent is doing and as well as finding out that Oscar is being released from prison. The film stays busy during it's short 80 minute run time, it manages to keep the slasher plot going strong while fitting in the back-story on Oscar and also the suspense on the missing teenagers as well as giving us enough character development so that we can have some sort of connection to these people. The Absent doesn't try and hide the identity of the killer, it also isn't much of a mystery as to what is going on. But it isn't intended to be any of those things either, the film gives you the story right from the start without hiding any facts but the story is gripping and interesting enough to keep you at the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next and ultimately wondering how it is going to end. The production values are good considering the budget, the settings, camera work, lighting and the soundtrack are all done very well and each plays a major part in the the over-all mood of the film. The cast is terrific as well, real-life twins, Denny and Bryan Kirkwood play the twin brothers in the film and both do a terrific job. The film seems to be a family affair since sisters Vanessa and Yvonne Zima star in the film as well. The entire cast has had experience in acting before so there was no reason to suspect the acting at all and having such a talented cast paid off. The Absent is a thriller that immediately grabs your attention from it's opening frames and keeps you glued to the screen till the exciting climax. I had a great time watching this and found it to be entertaining and one of those films you hate to see end so soon, if you like thrillers or horror then The Absent is a film you need to bookmark and keep a look out for. I have a feeling this was a labor of love for all involved in making The Absent and the end result is a Good vs. Evil Thriller that does just that "Thrills".