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A few of my favourites: Kill Bill, Martyrs, Dawn of the Dead, Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Descent, Being John Malkovich, Volver, Grindhouse, Ginger Snaps, Wristcutters: A Love Story, Teeth, Let the Right One In
Reviews
Absentia (2011)
Good Effort for Independent Horror but Misses the Mark
This was a good effort for a small budget independent horror film. I think some ideas were promising - for example, there's a great twist in there around half way through that makes you go "hmm, I wonder where they will take this" which is fantastic. You don't get to think that a lot in horror films. The first half has some generic scary scenes - I wish it wasn't just a man with white makeup making a scary face because it's been overdone. It's not haunting. But, good overall pacing. However, instead of really turning the second half into something quite scary or chilling, the explanation for what's going on falls flat. Without ruining the story, when the "reveal" happens it's just not scary whatsoever. One of the characters goes on a little rant to explain it all to her sister and it's quite comical (not sure if that was intentional or not, but it came across as silly). Instead of leaving some ambiguity at the end, everything is beat over our head again and again and it feels too forced. I think if some things were pulled back a tad and executed slightly differently, this film would have been more successful. The acting was good (no complaints there) and the use of the tunnel imagery was nice. Some comical scenes between the cop and the sisters were chuckle worthy as well. Overall, not bad. But, unfortunately, not the hyped up film I was expecting. Taking into consideration that this is an independent horror film, I would give it 6/10. But, as a film overall I'll stick with the 5.