Abandoned Dead

I rather enjoyed this independent film concerning an over-worked Security Guard's night spent in an inner-city medical clinic. Rachel, very well played by Sarah Nicklin, has an aversion to darkness (and therefore the night), so her enforced nightshift already sets her nerves on edge.

Director and writer Robert Adams, ubiquitous behind the scenes, supplies a very effective, minimalist electronic music score which adds greatly to the low-key atmosphere of murky horror.

I like this because it attempts something a little different and for the most part succeeds. While the idea of a young woman spending the night in a creepy building (seemingly) alone isn't exactly new, this is a story atmospherically told, and not one that relies on 'jump scares', which has become a rather monotonous staple of many modern films. My score is 7 out of 10.

Directed by Mark Curran, Abandoned Dead is a pretty great suspense thriller. When first watched as a horror film, I would have rated this lower, but despite the name and couple of goryish scenes, it's more of an introspective look into the life of a security guard who is working an extra shift, and has to deal with some psychological mystery surrounding the place she is guarding.

There is some nice camera-work and lighting, some good acting, and everyone involved did a great job from cast to crew. Sarah Nicklin does a great job as the main character Rachel, who plays the security guard the movie focuses on. The atmosphere was great for what they were trying to accomplish with this film. I would definitely give this a watch if you are into suspenseful thrillers, and keep an eye out for more films from Mark Curran and team.

I can't say I hated this movie but I can't say I loved it either. It wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just, there. The music was okay but i found the photography kind of flat. The acting was okay, all the cast did their thing, but there was nothing that stood out to me. The movie should have been creepier and the atmosphere should have held more dread but it didn't and that is a shame because the plot was good, it just didn't hold my interest. I do not hold the belief that a horror movie should be filled with buckets of gore, but it should grab your attention and hold it and this one just does not. It's not a bad movie, just a rather bland one.

The flaws in this indie film are too obvious to belabor. Suffice to say that you should not expect to witness anything approaching Oscar winning or nominated acting, writing, directing, etc. But this, with rare exceptions, is what one should expect in what is obviously a low- budget production. It comes with the territory. So, if your central purpose in watching an indie film is to indulge a desire to carp and criticize, you easily will find faults in this film. However, if you are among those who subscribe to the standard of criticism enunciated long ago by none other than the undying Master of the Macabre, Edgar Allen Poe, you may discover redeeming signs of life in Abandoned Dead, which while not on the sublimely sinister level of any of Poe's classic creations, is in a consanguineous vein. The Procrustean 1,000 word limit for this present review precludes anything but a rough paraphrase of Poe's dictum: A creation should be judged on whether the creator accomplished what he set out to create. Judged by this standard, the film leaves a favorably impression of what Mark Curran, who happens to have produced a one-man "Poe" show presently on stage, while doing this other one man show as Producer/Writer/Director of Abandoned Dead, managed to squeeze out of a tight indie budget. His promising script explores dark, twisted psychological mine-shafts, and he wastes no precious production money on the gratuitous goo and gore that spray the sets of cheap thrillers. That he managed to cast (sans the services of a casting director) a few quite capable actors among the miscast misfits that somehow manage to make unseemly appearances in practically every indie film, is itself remarkable. Any indie film lover who has been thinking of having a go at production should first have a word with Mark Curran, who evidently knows how to do a lot with a little. In sum, while this film is by no stretch a nine or ten as some apparent partisans proclaim, neither is it a one or two as some slag-slingers say. All things considered in the indie genre, it is a solid six or even a seven.

I was initially lured in by this movie's cover and the fact that it is a horror movie. And also the fact that I hadn't already seen the movie helped to win me over. So I ended up sitting down to watch the 2015 horror movie "Abandoned Dead" from writer and director Mark W. Curran.

Well, if you are unfamiliar with the horror genre and this is your introduction movie to horror movies, then I suppose you are off to a good enough start. But for a horror veteran such as myself, then "Abandoned Dead" was a swing and a miss.

For me, the plot and script was boring and uneventful. Nothing of any interest happened throughout the course of the entire movie. And while I managed to sit through the entire movie, then I can't claim to be entertained in any real way. And for a horror movie, then "Abandoned Dead" was just way too tame and uneventful.

The acting in the movie was adequate, taking into consideration the severe limitations of the script and storyline. But keep in mind that you are not in for any Shakespearian experience when you sit down to watch "Abandoned Dead".

This was, for me, a boring movie. And I cannot recommend that you waste your time, money or effort on it. Some of us did, so you don't have to.

My rating of "Abandoned Dead" is a mere two out of ten stars. While I did manage to endure the entire movie, this is by no means a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.