The film starts off on a dark night, as a man is alone walking down a lane. There are interludes of the antagonist character getting undressed; he is bloody and has a weapon. I enjoyed the atmospheric feeling of something sinister growing right away. Then we see some ghastly images of dismembered body parts, and if you look close enough you will see something that lets us know a man is now missing his favourite body part. It's a gory bloody scene. I think the heads were so terrifying, especially the closeup shots. By now we have worked out this man is a serial killer. His creepy face was enough to give me the chills. There are images of the man lying on his bed staring at the ceiling with a pistol in his hand. Is he regretting his actions, or reliving them in his head for his demented pleasure? The end scene when he is contemplating his next move, is done so well; the silence is deafening, although there is a sharp musical ensemble that adds an element of dread into the scene. So, from the titles name, Absolution, what he does next, will it bring him absolution, or will it mean he is propelled into purgatory instead? Interesting play there. The sound effects are creepy, I appreciate the moodiness, and the darkly sinister tones threaded through this 4-minute micro-film. Dark colours add to the atmosphere. Another beauty by Phil Brocklehurst. What I love about his films is what we don't see. We see the aftermath, but with such a short length film of this type, there is no room, or is not necessary to see the murder itself. Sometimes, like in this film, there is no need to show the killings, the gory body parts were enough to capture the essence of this disturbing micro-film. Well done!
Reviewed by Del Gibson.
