10 Horror Movies That Use Your Imagination Against You
9. Absentia (2011)
From the likes of Doctor Sleep, Oculus, and the masterfully Haunting The Haunting Of Hill House, Mike Flanagan has quickly become a figure at the forefront of horror. Each of his forays into the genre has been as effectively chilling as the last, but you may have missed his straight-to-video sleeper hit Absentia, the next entry on this list.
Partially funded through crowdfunding, this shoestring budget psychological thriller centres upon Tricia (Courtney Bell) who is coming to terms with her husband’s (Morgan Peter Brown) mysterious disappearance. Just as she’s about to declare him dead in absentia he suddenly reappears, bloodied and terrified of a tunnel near their house. And there’s a good reason for that.
As the family soon discover, a strange, insectoid creature inhabits the tunnel’s walls and has been taking people there for many years.
Through only catching brief glimpses of the monster throughout the film, Flanagan keeps it alongside its motivations shrouded in secrecy. We never find out what it is, what its intentions are, or what it does to its victims inside the impossible space behind the tunnel’s walls. But judging by Daniel’s reaction, it can’t be anything pleasant.