Filmed on an ridiculously small budget over several years Desmond and his crew of loyal and talented sidekicks put together what just may well be the most ambitious indie project every attempted. Nice thing is that on most levels he succeeded. I want to state early on in this review that I am friends with Desmond and his crew but I don’t think that will detract from this article, if anything it should add to it as I have watched this crew struggle through equipment problems, bad festival screenings, more rewrites than you can possibly ever imagine and just about every other problem, situation and hardship that you can conjure up. I originally became involved with Patrick as a result of working with Tom Savini. At a con many years ago Savini called me over to his side to check out a trailer for a small indie film that he had done some work on. The short DVD blew me away. Tom proceeded to introduce me to the films director Patrick Desmond, we were fast friends and have talked frequently ever since.

I have been present for some re shoots and discussed with Patrick the merits of having to “dumb down” the complicated story line so folks could “get it”. All in days work I guess for a film maker who shoots on weekends and around a steady day job and had to travel across the country to conventions to film parts of the project the required his “star powers” involvement. Patrick assembled an amazing cast of genre “who’s who” for his little dity. We’ve got Tom Savini, Michael Berryman, Caroline Munro, Tony Todd, David Hess, and that is just scratching the surface. It is really quite impressive how he managed to get all those folks involved and got great performances from all.

And if directing, writing and editing the entire thing was enough on his plate he also handled all the digital and old school effects. Wow, kind of daunting.

The film is not without it’s concerns though. Most of what plagues the film could have been fixed with a little money. If I told you how much it cost Patrick to shoot this film you would call me a liar. Lets just say most of you spent at least this much on your first car. Now go into a viewing of this film with that info in your head and you will be amazed, as I was, at just how good and professional this film is. This is however a film that you have to pay attention to. The story is a bit convoluted but not to the point of being unwatchable, you do have to pay attention though as it moves along at a pretty good clip and just getting up to go grab a beer could result in you scratching your head and wondering what the hell happened.

This isn’t storytelling for the meek, this is hardcore thought provoking and complex. The world that Desmond creates has murky dangerous corners and bad things can hide in those corners, things we all know exist and just don’t want to talk about.

So, what’s the bottom line on The Absence Of Light? It is a well crafted, well paced freshman effort from a man who we are all going to be talking about for years to come. The Absence Of Light shines brightly as does the future for Patrick Desmond and New Illusion Pictures.

Released nationally and internationally by YORK the DVD is a beauty. Chock full of a ton of special features and packed to the rafters with commentaries and the like this one is a must have addition to any horror fans collection if for no other reason then the grouping of horror veterans that Desmond a massed for this project.

The Absence Of Light is available now at most on line retailers and at select stores across the country.

For more info on where you can pick it up you can check out the films official site HERE or their MY SPACE page HERE,