Absentia (film)
| Absentia | |
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| Directed by | Mike Flanagan |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Mike Flanagan |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Ryan David Leack |
| Cinematography | Rustin Cerveny |
| Edited by | Mike Flanagan |
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Production
company |
Fallback Plan Productions
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| Distributed by | Phase 4 Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,000 |
Absentia is a 2011 American independent supernatural horror film written, edited and directed by Mike Flanagan and produced by FallBack Plan Productions. The film's principal photography phase was funded by way of the film's project page on crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Courtney Bell stars as a pregnant woman whose missing husband briefly reappears after an unexplained seven-year absence.
After seven years, Tricia, a pregnant woman who lives alone in a neighborhood of Glendale, California, is finally ready to accept that her missing husband Daniel will not return. As she prepares to declare him dead in absentia, her sister Callie, a former addict, comes to stay with her. Together, they work to obtain Daniel's death certificate and find a new apartment for Tricia. As the date approaches, Tricia has terrifying nightmares and hallucinations about Daniel that her psychiatrist interprets as stress and guilt. While jogging, Callie runs into a gaunt man in a tunnel who seems shocked that she can see him. He introduces himself as Walter Lambert and begs her to contact his son, but she runs off. Later, she returns with food and leaves it in the tunnel, which she finds empty.
When Callie discovers a pile of small metal objects on their doorstop, she assumes they were left there by Walter, so she places them at the tunnel entrance. A man walking by advises her not to do so and deposits a trash bag in the same spot. She later finds the pile of metal objects on her bed. Detective Mallory, who has been investigating Daniel's disappearance and is romantically involved with Tricia, responds to the call and chastises the women for leaving their door unlocked in a dangerous neighborhood. In her restlessness, Callie secretly relapses into drug use. Tricia decides to finally sign Daniel's death certificate and go out on a date with Mallory, only to meet a bloody and barefoot Daniel suddenly appearing in front of her house.
At the hospital, doctors diagnose Daniel as severely malnourished, dehydrated, and physically abused. Daniel seems surprised that others can see him and can only explain that he was "underneath". He does not respond to any question and seems to be in deep fear of the tunnel in front of his house. Mallory comes by to talk with Tricia, attempting to convince her to leave Daniel and be with him. Though she refuses, the two kiss. At the same time, Daniel explains to Callie that he made a trade with an insectoid creature that hides in the walls of the tunnel. Callie investigates strange movement by the bathroom and is knocked unconscious. When she wakes, she sees a creature pull Daniel into the tunnel and through the tunnel's solid walls. Callie lies about her relapse in front of the detectives, but Tricia finds her stash and accuses her of hallucinating the incident. In response, Callie shows Tricia information she found on the internet about cases of people who went missing in the neighborhood from the past 100 years, including Walter; Lambert's son claims that he was taken by monsters.
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