"Director Flanagan is a man who almost seems aware of what he is capable of doing and what he simply can not do on-screen and it shows in what is a very artistically self-aware indie gem that works as an enduring yet complex character study and a truly harrowing horror film. "Absentia" provides so many layers of subtle characterization, gentle exposition, and gripping back story that affords just enough depth for our protagonists to earn our sympathy without seeming as if we're being manipulated in to caring for them. And that's thanks to the absolutely mesmerizing performances from the entire cast, all of whom bear a strong importance to the end result of Mike Flanagan's horror film that is utterly reliant on competent performances from a cast who has to sell not only the sheer terror of this situation that grows more and more maddening with each waking hour, but in the logical sense of loss and grief at the notion that they're losing the battle to a force of evil they can barely comprehend let alone battle." - Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed