With “Absentia”, writer and director Mike Flanagan has made a fresh and unique film utilizing a cast of relative unknowns.  Starting with Callie (Katie Parker) returning to her pregnant sister’s home, Tricia (Courtney Bell) we find out that  Tricia is about to have her husband, missing for 7 years, declared dead ‘In Absentia’.  Callie is struggling with drug addiction, and is currently recovering but that hasn’t stopped her from bringing a stash with her.  Still living in the same apartment as when her husband left (Morgan Peter Brown), Tricia has an arm’s length relationship with cop and investigator Det. Mallory (David Levine) as she wants to end the marriage (by having her husband declared dead) and move on to the next phase of her life.

Callie goes for a daily run and just on the other side of the freeway is a park with a tunnel connecting the two.  Visible from the apartment’s front door, Callie is seen routinely running through it.  Encountering what she believes to be a homeless man (Doug Jones), she offers to bring him back some food when asked for help.  Thus begins interaction with a supernatural being that lives under the freeway, an interaction that increases in both frequency and intensity as the movie continues.

The characters are well written, with a focus on the emotional trauma felt by a woman whose husband simply disappeared and must carry on with the business of everyday life.  The legal and moral complexities of being unable to either dissolve the marriage or have him declared dead are explored with an emphasis placed on why this is necessary at this particular time.  Coupled with this are visits by an apparition that looks like her missing husband, which may or may not be all in her head.  The events unfold in such a way as to question claims made by both women as well as other characters whom have knowledge of what is occurring in the tunnel.   The police can and do create mundane and completely plausible explanations for supernatural events. This is one of the strengths of the film and with the performances of relatively unknown actors, it adds a level of realism to the film more established actors might not bring.

Having a budget of just $70,000, the director wisely chose to minimize the visuals of what turns out to be a monster.  Other than an out of focus or quickly panned shots, we never actually see the monster as a whole.  Longer shots of tentacles or in some cases, insect-like fingers, are seen letting the viewer fill in the blanks for themselves.  The director clues the viewer in early as to what the intent of the creature is by having Callie give a pregnant Tricia a copy of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’.  The relatively little gore via the scant budget does not hamper the intensity of the scary moments when they come.  Like ‘Blair Witch‘ and ‘Paranormal Activity‘, the scares come from both the context of how they happen as much as letting the viewer use their imagination.

Shot in a straightforward style, the appearance is rather ordinary.  Ordinary apartment on an ordinary street with something wicked just out of sight.  The soundtrack  serves to emphasize the action onscreen well without overpowering it.  This gives a better focus to the story.

In the end it is a well made, if tightly budgeted, horror film.