The Abandoned

This film is a solid 6, no it isn't going to win any awards or anything like that but what horror suspense film with 2 no name actors does anyway.. ever. What The Abandoned will do for you is keep you wondering what is down the hall or around the next corner. It is a suspense film, sprinkled in with some horror elements. I can't tell you how many times the audience jumped out of the room. It was great, the people were embarrassed for themselves because they got so scared. That to me is what going to these movies is all about, it is about the experience and the film and how it draws you in at 10:00 at night. I did think the movie had a lot of credits at the beginning, the writing caught me off guard, but I like how when the family was speaking Russian we didn't get subtitles, that was cool, we don't need to know every word these folks are saying, just know that something bad is about to go down and it did. Check out The Abandoned for a good time with friends, the movie is pretty solid in a day when a lot of these movies leave you wondering what you just wasted your darn money and time on, this one will keep you jumping and guessing the whole way through.

Make no mistake that unlike the previous film The Abandoned is polished, features stunning cinematography and a haunting score. What it doesn't have is any real entertainment value or true sense of logic. The film works best as horrifically beautiful sequences and hauntingly grotesque images. Some of which will be permanantly burned into your psyche. But Nacho Cerdas story of a young woman that returns to her native country to learn about her adopted parents and discovers horrifying truths just really isn't that involving. The film however does feature plenty of symbolism and subtext but feels like it goes on forever and doesn't feel as scary as it should've been. However, this is a respectable horror film the performances are soso and the pacing is off but the film looks gorgeous and works best as a piece of art. Certain scenes should be studied but as a whole just isn't completely successful. But the scenes that are effective and cringe worthy are disturbingly atmospheric and memorable, they just seem to drop the ball halfway through and keep teasing at some sort of payoff that never comes. Nonetheless the film makes for an interesting viewing.

In 1966, somewhere in Russia, a wounded woman drives a truck to an isolated farm with two babies. Forty years later, the film producer Marie Jones (Anastasia Hille) leaves her daughter in California and travels back to her home land in the wilderness of Russia. Marie is one of the children and had received a phone call from the notary public Andrei Misharin (Valentin Ganev) that had told her where the farm of her family is. Marie arrives in the abandoned house and meets the stranger Nicolai (Karel Roden) that tells her that he had also received a call from Misharin and he is her twin brother. Weird things happen in the house and Marie and Nicolai are haunted by eerie ghosts of themselves. Further, they find that they are trapped in the house and can not leave the place.

"The Abandoned" is a frightening and creepy film of ghosts, with a nightmarish atmosphere but a dull story. The unknown Anastasia Hille has great performance and the cinematography is very dark; but the story is very confused and predictable. Cristopher Smith used in "Triangle" (2009) a similar idea of people trapped in a location that can never leave the cycle. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Abandonados" ("Abandoned")

Note: On 04 January 2021. I saw this film again.

Now I am not that old, early 30's but I have to say what is the movie crowd watching, I am afraid this film may fall in between the older group, older than me and the young crowd. It isn't Jack Ass and it is not Hills Have Eyes, The Abandoned is a well written and in my opinion an over all good suspense film that is getting over looked by the movie goer. I have seen the banners on the internet and some trailers but they don't even do this film justice. What I like is that it takes us on a journey to a part of the world where you know there was and is a lot of adoption abuse and other acts against humans going on and it tells a story of a home, a haunted past that won't rest until the family is all but gone. The spirits may be stuck in another place, who knows, the point is that the movie has a story, it has a life and I applaud the movie fan who like me can appreciate this, God I sound like my Mom, I give the movie a B and I encourage people not to over look this just because it doesn't have a flashy cast. Have fun, this movie will make you jump a few times and takes you on a few rides. I look forward to more films from Nacho Cerda, I will keep my ears open for his name in the future.

ABANDONED is a sleek Spanish production with acceptable budget and packs genuine chills , suspense , tension , and shocks , it's a terror-thriller very exciting . It deals with an American film producer named Marie (Anastasia Hille) goes back to her homeland, Russia (although shot in Bulgaria), where her mother's (Paraskeva) dead body has been found under strange circumstances. She never knew her, having been adopted and brought to America as a baby. The only track as to what might have happened is an abandoned , isolated house in the mountains that supposedly belong to her natural parents. Being the only next of kin, she inherits the farm , but no one will take her there as the local superstitions state that the area is condemned . Only one man will embark on such a long and risked trip . A stranger that oddly seems to know quite a bit about her history. But once arrived the guide mysteriously disappears, forcing Marie to explore the derelict place alone. She discovers someone else on the property. A man named Nikolai (Karel Roden), who claims to have been lured there exactly in the same manner, so he could discover the truth behind his unknown past as well. They become stranded in the immense compound, plagued by horrifying, ghostly visions .The problem is that the ghosts that wander around are their own. Dead versions of themselves marauder between the house in the night . Time begins to change in reverse as history re-lives itself in front of their very eyes. While both their ghosts, illustrating how they will die, patiently await their living counterparts to expire. A cycle of terror comes to fruition, as they are revealed the reason they have been summoned for this perverse meeting . And the cruel secret behind their family takes place at the end of the movie.

This is a horror story with creepy atmosphere and plenty of twists and turns . It contains mystery,violence, gore , suspense in a dark environment with imposing tension and intrigue . This spooky movie produced by the successful Catalan producer Julio Fernandez displays terror, shocks, hard-edged drama , plot twists and creepy images . The story come to life in a terrifying fashion, giving it a haunting ominous ambiance that often shows the past , present and future at a nightmare's atmosphere. While the look is suitable atmospheric and ghastly , the argument stretches plausibility to the breaking point in a surprising finale . Xavi Gimenez cinematography is excellent creating a frightening and scary atmosphere filmed on location in Sofia, Bugaria, he's expert on sombre photography as proved in ¨ Fragile, Intact, and Nameless ¨. Mesmerizing and intriguing music by Alfonso Conde . The motion picture is well written and directed by Nacho Cerda who create a powerful story that blends chills , thrills , suspense and familiar drama in a cleverly devised plot that certainly offers more than the usual terror film . Cerda is a good director who formerly made amazing and gory shorts as ¨The awakening¨ , ¨Genesis¨and ¨Aftermath¨. Rating : Good : 6,5 . This is a frightening , chilling, and horror drama , all at their best that will appeal to terror buffs .