Abandonnée

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.

This movie is a horror movie where the cinematography and the eerie atmosphere is what carries this movie most of the way through. There is however few plot holes and stuff that happens that doesn't make any sense sometimes. Everything seems dreamlike which is sort of a positive because I liked the vibe in this film. But there are just a lot of unanswered questions which is fine in some cases, but the movie comes off a bit too vague. It has few explanations in the dialogue but the premise isn't all that clear. Especially when it comes to the supernatural stuff your just going to have to go with it. There is some coincidences but it just doesn't make much sense as well sometimes. Also what is this supernatural stuff that is haunting them and the situation they are in isn't developed very well either. It just seems everything is happening is all a dream which works in some parts but falters in others. Even at the end your left with a bunch of questions like if this really happened or if it's a dream. This movie reminded me of the video games "Silent Hill" and could have been is decent adaptation if the stuff that is happening is explained a bit more and if there were a bit of other elements added into the movie. This is a horror movie with some creepy atmosphere but just doesn't have a plot that is developed very well, but the twists was decent at times. There is also some scary parts here and there that has a bit of tension in it and can also be haunting at times as well. For anyone that likes horror movies or like the feeling of being scared just might enjoy this flick.

6.8/10

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 .

The Abandoned was billed as the fan favorite of the Horrorfest (i.e., 8 Films to Die For) that occurred in late 2006. Most of the rating lists that I have seen from posters on IMDb have ranked The Abandoned very high, while ranking the Japanese film Reincarnation in the middle of the pack. I personally thought that Reincarnation was very good, so I figured that the re-release of The Abandoned would give me the opportunity to experience what everyone has been talking about. After the show one thing is for certain: The Abandoned could not have been the best film at the Horrorfest, because Reincarnation runs circles around this film in terms of storyline and entertainment value.

This film had everything it needed as far as atmosphere is concerned. The woodland areas, the river, and the house were perfect to build atmosphere and a sense of dread. Unfortunately, the filmmakers were too impatient to allow the fantastic environment to mature and reach the viewer in full effect. A character would be walking in the dimly lit forest, and just when I began to take in the atmosphere, the filmmakers would intrude with an excessively loud scream or noise for no apparent reason. There were so many "false scares" in this film that they effectively mitigated any atmospheric effect whatsoever. In other words, the filmmakers "prematurely ejaculated" with stupid sound effects before the viewer was able to reach "atmospheric orgasm."

Ironically, there were probably a dozen or so "jump-out-of-your-seat" scares during the first portion of the film, and most of them were in situations with no real danger. For example, the opening scene shows a few babies crying in a truck, which transitions to an airplane arriving at an airport. Regrettably, the director couldn't stand by and allow such a transition to pass without cranking up the damn sound to the point where my eardrums were ready to explode. The filmmakers are apparently stupid enough to think that scene transitions with sonic booms clocking in at over 200 decibels are somehow entertaining.

Perhaps the most common method of premature sound ejaculation in The Abandoned is the use of voices coming from nowhere. These voices begin at a whisper and crescendo to a loud scream in between scenes. Instead of just allowing the scene transition to occur, the filmmakers would use these idiotic gimmicks to make the viewer jump in their seat before continuing on to the next chapter. Imagine someone sneaking up behind you in a store, only to then scream in your ear and startle you. Any no-talent hack can do that. It's not scary. They're just being a jerk. That's what The Abandoned is – a jerk who annoys you at their every opportunity.

It's really too bad, because the concept that presents itself at the very end of the film is quite good. It's a blending of doppelgangers and premonitions that works well for the few seconds that it presents itself, but everything leading up to that point is nothing more than 90 minutes of sonic booms and premature ejaculations.

Not recommended.

Taking us back and forth 40 years in Russia and it is obvious not a lot has changed from 1966 up until today, I found this to be an exceptional use of location to create a dark eerie presence and visual display on screen. Director Nacho Cerda got the most out of the 2 lead roles (Anastasia Hille and Karel Roden), I had never seen either one of them and I think they did a reasonably good job working out the kinks of the film. The story is the only thing that really bothered me, I tried to stay with it but honestly there were some times that I did get a little lost but every time I found myself wondering what was going on, the characters answered my questions. I was wondering how Nicolai got to the house and Marie asked him that very question. I thought the movie was well thought out and sound affects and visuals really helped draw you in to the film. A lot of moments that made my wife jump and grab my arm tighter.