The Confines

This movie had all the parts it needed to be a great horror movie. A creepy situation, creepy location, good acting (Jason Patric), and part of a story.

They didn't do a good job though. It's like they were baking a cake, got all the ingredients out, and then just left it all on the counter in separate piles, tadah!!!

The story makes no sense at all. I think Louisa Krause is probably a decent actress, but was over acting all the time. All though I'm pretty sure that was due to the writing.

This would be a good movie to remake with all the same actors and the same place, but with someone that knows how to tell a story that makes sense.

I don't know why I let myself get suckered into the $7.99 rental fee for this film. Generally I'll do enough homework on a horror movie that I won't be cheated, but they got me here. The film was terrible from the start, girl with psychological problems takes a job at the creepy, deserted, dark, Gothic building. Lord.... need I say more. And how bout the obligatory wet t shirt? Spare me. I can't believe I fell for it. Every five minutes somebody says " we gotta get out of here", and I would say, why? But that's exactly what I should have done halfway through this dog......got out of here. But I will not go down easy after putting up 8 bucks. So I stuck it out until the end. And believe me when I say that 3 stars is being overly generous.

This murky little horror film involves a woman who may or may not be going out of her mind who gets a job as a security guard at a run down old apartment complex which has been long since abandoned. Her only company on the job is a fellow guard, cynical and disabled. The woman becomes convinced that a sinister presence lurks within the confines of the building and takes it upon herself to investigate...

As you'd guess from the premise, CONFINED is very much par for the course for this type of film-making. It feels a lot like GRAVE ENCOUNTERS and the like, albeit without the 'found footage' hook and shooting more traditionally instead. There's a lot of stuff with CCTV footage, which is quite neat, but more often than not the film descends into the usual wandering around in dimly lit corridor type scenarios.

The film lacks decent cast members; those present are okay, but hardly electrifying. Jason Patric (THE LOST BOYS) looks so unrecognisable that it took me half the film to realise who I was watching. And despite repeated efforts on the part of the director, CONFINED doesn't manage to be scary for a moment.

It reminded me of some good old-fashioned horror movies. This film relies more on suspense as opposed to cheap scares that I see in every horror film these days. Jason Patric gives an outstanding performance, and so does Louisa Krause although I was not familiar with her acting before this film. Mark Margolis is always a pleasure to watch even in his smaller roles. The location and setting are amazing, and the pacing and cinematography kept me at the edge of my seat. Personally I loved the ending but I always preferred films with good twists that keep me guessing.

9/10

Definitely recommend.

The scares are there, so are the intense moments, good chilling atmosphere, good execution and pretty much OK acting.

A normal horror, they didn't over stretch it, didn't over play it, they kept it simple and effective. Just don't expect to be blown away or even slightly impressed, the ending itself is very predictable. The Abandoned is a horror movie that some will see and they will most likely either quickly forget about it, or keep comparing it with so many other such productions before it.

All in all, an OK movie for a lonely late night.

Cheers!