Twin brothers, a quiet town, murder, mayhem, affairs and, of course, girl-on-girl kissing … yes, the standard for horror flicks these days.
The trailers for “The Absent” follow in the B-style horror footsteps fans have come to know and enjoy. I must say, however, the primary trailer for “The Absent” did not grab my attention. It’s one I may or may not watch, depending on whether or not it will be available on Netflix instant watch.
The story takes place in a town called Liberty and revolves around Vincent, a teacher at the local high school who falls for his star student, Katie. Vincent has a twin brother, Oscar, who has recently been released from prison. His crime was killing his and Vincent’s parents. Katie soon disappears, followed by other students. Being a twin, it only comes natural for Vincent to help Oscar, even though he knows he is somehow involved. And being a twin as well, it only comes natural for Oscar to want to protect Vincent from trouble on account of his new-found relationship. The whole town gets involved as the body count rises.
If “Black Swan” has taught us anything, it’s that you want to promote girl on girl action as much as you can, it gets people to go see the film. In the case of “Black Swan,” many people went to see the film because of all the hype between Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman, but came out of the movie loving the film in its entirety. I don’t believe “The Absent” is going to have the same affect.
Promoting lesbianic scenes has been taken to a new level. There is a short trailer for “The Absent” that consists of nothing more than two blondes making out. Really? The other downfall to the trailers I have seen for “The Absent” is the fact that it promotes the fact that this movie is coming to you from the same creator as “I Know Who Killed Me.” Not the film I would have chosen to make the creator stand out. Was “I Know Who Killed Me” a bad film? Not necessarily … until you get to the last five minutes anyway.
As you may know by now, I am a huge horror fan and I will likely see this one, but I wouldn’t pay to see this in the theater. There’s not enough to get an audience pumped. The primary trailer’s focus isn’t on blood and the death count, nor is it entirely focused on the affair between teacher and student. Did anybody out there see “Loving Annabelle?” It’s got “The Absent” beat trailer-wise. Not only is there a teacher having an affair with a student, but the teacher and student are the ones doing the lesbian kissing.
I fear that “The Absent” is merely capitalizing on aspects outside the main plot because, well, the plot and horror scenes aren’t going to live up to horror fans’ standards. The film was released Jan. 7 and I was not in attendance. Yes, my dear friends, I’m taking the low road and signing off by saying that I was ABSENT from the theater.
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Follow Jessika Owens on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessika.