Customer Reviews

The Abandoned

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I didn't know what to expect when I put in the Abandoned. 2 other movies from the horrorfest that I'd watched were good, but not great. Also the older protagonists were a welcome change from the usual teenage/early 20's players that are the formula these days.
The setting is the creepiest house you've ever seen. I was scared as soon as the main character arrives on the grounds of the old family house she has inherited. This was one of the few movies that actually had me hiding under the covers as I watched.
The story was unsettling, the direction and cinematography were excellent. I loved it.

Abandoned reminded me quite a bit of an Asian film called The Echo (aka, Sigaw) -- and a few others; it's nothing new in the genre, but aside from a severely sagging midsection, the horror and suspense aspects are far from, er, abandoned by first-time director Nacho Cerdà. This is no doubt a low-budget film with a lot of spoken supposition, running and hiding; however, when the creatures are shown, they don't disappoint. The makeup is well-done, and special effects are wisely kept to a bare minimum.

The gloomy, yet sharply rendered imagery from cinematographer Xavi Gimenezs (The Machinist) adds to grim terror experienced by our protagonists, as does the jangling dissonance of the original score by Alfons Conde.

While I will admit I was pretty bored during the middle of the movie (I don't mind when things get talky, but nothing new was added to the suspense via the dialogue), it rallies in the end and has a satisfying, fittingly unsettling conclusion.

Staci Layne Wilson

The Abandoned is the story of a woman born in Russia but who was adopted as a baby and is now going back to Russia from her life in the U.S. to find out about her birth parents. The summons leads her to the old family farm, which she has the legal right to. Once she arrives there, dark family secrets arise, evil forces abound, and even when the woman decides to leave the house, she finds that she cannot.

It is, perhaps, not the most original plot. Certainly there have been movies where a person has gone searching for information about their ancestors and found a haunted house. But the setup was rather well done. There was a nice sense of foreboding and trouble brewing. I also liked Anastasia Hille, the woman who plays the main character. Most ghost story movies with a female heroine typically cast a much younger woman who tend to look out of place. That's not to say Anastasia Hille blended in with the decrepit house but it just felt more authentic that this woman was interesting in her past - as compared to a 20 year old model who would be more interested in going clubbing than investigating some old house in Russia. Regardless, I was on board from the beginning of the film. It started with a nice pace and an excellent atmosphere.

And that is where the movie fell apart. The plot jumps around from point to point. The characters become relegated to set pieces, waiting for the next shocking vision to occur. They never seem to take full shape as real people. The exciting climax also leaves a lot to be desired.

I did like some of the special effects and makeup work at the end, where things got very graphic. [There is gore, briefly but spectacularly done.] But the confused plot and rather predictable ending [coupled with the disease of having too many endings where none have any impact] leave a lot to be desired. I'd suggest it as a rental but certainly not to buy.

sincerely,
R.C.

this film isnt scary, it isnt well written or shot well. I agree with some of the other reviewers that the scenery stole the show. The house and surrounding countryside are both beautiful and unnerving. The story itself, twins returning to mother russia to figure out what happened to thier murdered mother and what secrets lie in the house, never quite reached a level of clarity and i found myself quite bored with its momentum.

To tell a horror story right, even without a clear ending, you have to be able to spin its details in a way where the viewer cant tear thier eyes away and where the characters at least are interesting. This didnt achieve any of that in my opinion. It ended and I was just angry that i wasted my time.

I don't know what exactly happened here? When the After Dark Horror Fest was announced I was incredibly excited, especially when it came to The Abandoned. Helmed by Spanish director Nacho Cerda(the mind behind the disturbing and beautifully shot short films Aftermath and Genesis) and featuring a script co-written by Richard Stanley(writer/director of overlooked horror classics Hardware and Dust Devil), The Abandoned should have been amazing but... The story follows a woman on the arrival back to her birth place in Russia, where she seeks out answers from her mysterious past, however; her mysterious past seems to be searching for her as well. I'm sure the script was written deliberately slow as it allows for Cerda to create some fantastic atmosphere by chewing up the creepy scenery with long ponderous shots that do plant the seed of dread to come, unfortunately though, the buildup is wasted with an ending that doesn't deliver on scares or answers for what's been happening for the last hour and fifteen minutes. The end result is the most upsetting film from the already overly disappointing After Dark horror fest, and it's far from the worst of the batch, but it had so much potential and promise that it stands out the most. The cinematography and atmosphere are both great but then... nothing really happens? With some decent payoffs (or even payoff)the movie could be awesome... maybe a directors cut with added footage? As is, The Abandoned feels like it was written as another Cerda short film but was stretched in an attempt to create a feature length movie and it drags plenty to support that thought. Nacho Cerda is still a director to keep an eye out for in the future, just hopefully not attached to another script like this. If you see this at your local video chain store and for even a moment think about renting or buying it, you'd be better off leaving it on the shelf... abandoned.

When two long lost siblings, clueless about their past are drawn to an old house, bad things are bound to happen.

as they spend time in the house, things slowly escalate out of control. as time goes on you learn more and more about that house, which was the house they were born in. the house they were supposed to die in.

sort of "Final Destinationish" in theory. this movie is a tale of fate and death. as time goes on you learn about their parents, and how their father tried to kill them.

outside of what i already said there really isnt much to say. theres a very good, creepy atmosphere abound through most of the movie. this one probably has the best effects of any in the set with some very good gore, as brief as it was. a paper thin story was the only thing holding this one back.

I don't expect that most people will like this movie. Its a low budget film, distributed in America at a little known horrorfest, with little sex and even less testosterone. What it does have however is ATMOSPHERE. This movie is creepy...really creepy. And it remains that way through the entire film. Sure, its a slow build and the gore doesn't always prevail (although the scenes that are gory are disturbingly so), but for a low budget-little know film...its pretty damn good. Watch it in the dark on a stormy night and you won't be disappointed.

Relentlessly creepy, albeit long and slow on tempo, The Abandoned streams in the viewer into unexpected trippy parallel worlds and freighting doppelganger ghosts. If you notice the reviews are mostly positive, with a few negative which seem either to have short attention spans thus bored by the slowness, or they are expecting a different movie. (the advertisement led me to believe, I would be seeing some sort of spooky, decaying doll-- one reviewer states)

So these facts tell you that this movie will put you off guard which is one mark of a great film. I was at times saying WTF (in a good way) trying to figure out the mystery. When the reveal happens its outright acid flash back. The Abandoned is more conceptual than anything so of coarse there are a few whom won't get it and there are some unbelieveable parts but I suggest go with it you will have more fun. If you believe in the concept this movie works on all levels. Few films are perfect and when you rent this realize your RENTING a movie and not bought stock in the company thus having unrealistic expectations. I personally will buy this, a movie I feel is a modern horror masterpiece.

As for as the 8 Movies To Die for series, I have seen Dark Ride (which was Ok), Penny Dreadful (amazingly dreadful but somehow entertaining) and The Abandoned which is so much more superior than those movies its no question.

Overall 5 high stars, with a recommendation to buy. When watching, turn the lights off, turn your speakers up and hunker down and fall into this creepy world

This is a really creepy hardcore ghost story movie. Forget about the Amityville Horror because this is scary and creepy. Forget about all the PG-13 [...] ghost movies like the Grudge, Boogeyman, the Messengers, The Ring, etc. This movie is really creepy. This is a foreign film. This is a Russian foreign film but produced by Spanish people. Don worry there is no subtitles. This movie has Russian actors but they speak English so this movie isn't dubbed either. This movie is about a lady who wants to find her real parents, she's adopted. She was born in Russia but raised in England but now lives in America. She flys to Russia to visit her parents estate which is in the deep mountain wilderness of Russia. She finds out that her real Russian parents were murdered at the farm. A trucker drops her off at the farmland and thats when everything becomes scary. She meets another Russian guy who is there for the same reasons. He also just found out his real parents lived at the farm and were murdered. They start seeing dead ghosts of themselves. The house, farmland, and the deep woods in this movie are really frighthening no fake looking CGI background here. And the ghosts are really scary looking. No fake corny looking CGI ghosts here. There's a lot of twists and turns in this movie but this movie is kinda slow like roaming from room to room and checking the basement sort of thing. I was really impressed with this movie because i thought this was going to be another teeny bopper PG-13 ghost movie. This movie is rated R. I was going to see it the 2nd time but there was no one in the theatre so i chickened out. That's how creepy it was. Go see it especially with your wife or girlfriend because they will be creeped out.

The setup for the story had all the right ingredients. The mood was set, the characters showed promise, and then... Nothing. Within the first 30 minutes, Ray Charles could see what was going on. The rest of the movie is spent driving the point home, as if it were really necessary. Could have been fun. Turned out to be a boring waste of time.