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Jason and Shawn review: Creature and Absentia

Creature

Shawn: Yes! Keep it simple. How? A typical creature, but it's a dude in a costume kicking ass. That's cool! I quite enjoyed this movie. It was definitely a little strange in some parts. There was definitely gore, boobies, and a cool monster. Weird brother and sister lovin’ though? Not cool! This movie was so close to being a Good. So close! But the ending fucked itself. I want to see the final battle, fuckers! Don't dump them in a mud hole and not show us. Show us! That made a cool movie suffer, so I have to give it a Bad. Boooo!

Jason: The first five minutes of this movie are so amazing that the rest of the film can't possibly live up to it. Boobs! Blood! Full female nudity! And then more boobs! Wow! I'm quite conflicted about what to give this movie actually. There's things I really like about it and things I don't. What I like: boobs, blood, a man-in-suit monster, and Serinda Swan . . . who is visually distracting. What I didn't like: we don't see the kills. Yes, there's blood. But we don't see the kills. Even the final fight between Lockjaw and the black dude is done off screen. It actually pains me, but I have to give Creature a Bad. Sad face is sad.

Absentia

Shawn: Shorts shitting entertainment? Hell yes. I’m glad I coined that phrase, and I'm owed a $1 every time it is said. There were some stains for sure. Pretty neat idea this movie was. It moved a little slow, but the character development was top notch. You actually got to know these people, without getting to know them. You actually cared a little. And it was definitely worth the payoff for me, as it was paced fairly decently. This movie was not what I thought at all, and it was unique. This little budget that could is, once again, the reason Jason and I do this. Fucking Good.

Jason: Talk about going into a movie expecting one thing and ending up with something completely different. Is this a story about a junkie's hallucinations? Is this a story about a grieving pregnant woman seeing things? Or is something far more sinister at play? And there is one shorts shitting moment after another along the way to finding out. Absentia works so well because writer/director Mike Flanagan knows what the fuck he's doing. He wrote a good script, he cast his actors well, and he knows how to make a good, scary film. Sure, some of it's slow, but I know it will stick with me. This is how you make a no-budget movie. Good!

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