They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and quarantine has the potential to suffocate those who crave conversation and discussion, especially about pop culture and movies. Ex-New Yorker and current Texan Peter Marsh felt that strain and used his time off to create his own YouTube channel, AnchorPete, in which he does movie and book reviews and interviews with genre authors. Through a mutual friend, he contacted Chris D’Onofrio and me to do a horror podcast focusing on our favorite director, Mike Flanagan. After two successful shows on his channel, the three of us have created The Lasser Cast, a new channel and horror review video podcast now on YouTube.

Absentia
Netflix Streaming | Amazon Instant Video | DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Mike Flanagan
Written by Mike Flanagan
Starring Katie Parker, Courtney Bell, Dave Levine, Justin Gordon, Morgan Peter Brown
Fallback Plan Productions
Run time: 87 minutes
Originally Released: March 3, 2011

A good buddy of mine made a passionate plea on Facebook for someone to watch a particular horror movie currently on Netflix Instant. His plea intrigued me not because of a plot description, nor because of an actor we like; but rather his comment that this horror film was completely cliche-free. In a world where even the biggest grossing horror films are filled to the brims with jump scares, musical cues, and special effects, I am fortunate to find and recommend Mike Flanagan‘s 2011 film, Absentia; or as I am now calling it, the “cure for the modern horror film.”