The Abandoned (2007)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Unknown H

  
  I have to admit I was really psyched for this movie after it slipped off my HorrorFest radar. The film started off evenly enough with the delightfully grey green tones of most movies set in Moscow and Karel Roden as always was brilliant, but that's where the movie loses its… More
  I have to admit I was really psyched for this movie after it slipped off my HorrorFest radar. The film started off evenly enough with the delightfully grey green tones of most movies set in Moscow and Karel Roden as always was brilliant, but that's where the movie loses its interest. The rest of the film, past the first half an hour or so, is overacted and overdone, leaving me feeling exasperated and bored. Its a shame, I really did want it to be better but this was one I definitely endured rather than enjoyed.

• Bruce B

  
  One of the first films in the 8 Films to Die For, After Dark Horrorfest. If you haven't seen the films from the After Dark Horrorfest you are really missing something, this is a awesome collection. This film is from a Russian film company and a Russian Director (Nacho Cerdà)… More
  One of the first films in the 8 Films to Die For, After Dark Horrorfest. If you haven't seen the films from the After Dark Horrorfest you are really missing something, this is a awesome collection. This film is from a Russian film company and a Russian Director (Nacho Cerdà) whose spin on horror is indeed intense. A women from the United States is going back to her roots in Russia where she finds that she is the owner of some land in Russia. When she goes back to the property she also discovers she has a twin brother. So begins a recreation of how her father killed her mother, and she and her brother are stuck in a never ending lope of there past and parents past. Very Creepy, an excellent movie for a stormy windy night, just don't forget to lock the doors. 4 1/2 stars

• Robert C

  
  A good premise, nicely shot, but it is SO convoluted that it ends up smothering itself. Proof that often times, "less is more".

• Dead A

  
  This was so freaking freaky!

• Wahida K

  
  I have seen it about twice the second time I remembered why I was so disgusted by the Movie but it was actually the whole movie it was basically the scene in the Movie where they kill infants and feed them to pigs. It began like I expected but then this Scene. Have to keep in mind… More
  I have seen it about twice the second time I remembered why I was so disgusted by the Movie but it was actually the whole movie it was basically the scene in the Movie where they kill infants and feed them to pigs. It began like I expected but then this Scene. Have to keep in mind never to watch this Movie again.

• Lady D

  
  What started out as a fairly naturally acted Horror movie evolved into a monotonous storyline, without an offering of anything particularly original.

• Drew S

  
  I'm two for eight on the After Dark horror movies, and The Abandoned is strained just like Rinne was - a lot of potential that simply wasn't realized. In this situation, it's that the movie is all buildup. There's really not much fear (or plot) to be had. Nacho… More
  I'm two for eight on the After Dark horror movies, and The Abandoned is strained just like Rinne was - a lot of potential that simply wasn't realized. In this situation, it's that the movie is all buildup. There's really not much fear (or plot) to be had. Nacho Cerda is a director to watch, though. He has a really great eye for music, camera work and cinematography. With a better screenplay, I'm sure that he could make a decent product, but how rare are those in the horror world? There were some things about The Abandoned's writing that I did like, such as the fact that the two primary characters were in their forties, instead of being dumb teenagers in wet t-shirts. Not that it really did much, because ol' Marie is kind of...dumb. Yeah. She's salty, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer, with a propensity for wandering into sewers and poorly lit areas. I'm fond of the wistful, terminally depressing ending, and a few of the passages are almost grade-A horror. The Abandoned was a very promising foundation for a film that just didn't crystallize. I'm sure that there won't be much better from the other 6 After Dark horrors...

• Craig S

  
  <b><u>Directed by:</u> Nacho Cerda.</b> <b><u>Starring:</u> Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev.</b> Critics bashed it, but I had heard great things about it from a trusted horror website I visit so I kept my eye out for this… More
  <b><u>Directed by:</u> Nacho Cerda.</b> <b><u>Starring:</u> Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev.</b> Critics bashed it, but I had heard great things about it from a trusted horror website I visit so I kept my eye out for this film and hoped for the best....I am struggling to rate this film any higher, some things about the film deserve it, but something also lacks terribly. The film follows a Russian born American film producer who returns to her homeland because of a bizarre death of her birth mother. She never knew her, as she was adopted from a baby, but she is entitled to inherit the family home. Once she arrives there, the house holds a terrible secret, and a past she never knew comes back to haunt her. The strong point of the film is visually, the film is drenched in atmosphere, with bleak cinematography and beautiful set design that adds a great feeling of dread to the film. Director Nacho Cerda shows a lot of potential with scares, they are built up around cliche but most avoid it at the right moments and some scenes are really slow and tense. But that is really where the film stops, I had expected a lot more....the film is ultimately dull and predictable, each character is just a prop in this house and we never learn or care about them, each 'twist' to follow is predicted before it happens and by the end of the film, I felt cheated, I had expected much more in the way of logic and because of the lack of that, my interest was lost. Visually stunning with some chilling scenes, but not enough to save this film from being dull, predictable and illogical. A disappointment.

• Luke B

  
  The film begins with some beautiful cinematogrophy. Lovingly composed and well lit shots of a beautiful Russian countryside. The cinematography is the only thing that stays consistent in this film. It lends itself to the dark nature and spooky goings on. Another noticeable plus is the… More
  The film begins with some beautiful cinematogrophy. Lovingly composed and well lit shots of a beautiful Russian countryside. The cinematography is the only thing that stays consistent in this film. It lends itself to the dark nature and spooky goings on. Another noticeable plus is the sound, from the moment where a child's scream tranistions seamlessly into the roar of a plane I knew my ears would be treated as well as my eyes. These two things aside not much else gels together. The plot is moderately interesting but falters in the middle as it fails to engage, before picking itself up for a semi-interesting finale. The actors do okay with their parts but their characters are just hollow shells who take their frustrations out on each other. Result of this is two quite annoying leads for the most part. Brother and Sister protagonists also share two very simple roles, the sister constantly asks questions and the brother (for some reason, probably pacing) instantly knows the answers. When they aren't together the sister acts like a complete horror cliche idiot. Despite having encountered the identical looking ghosts of herself and her brother she sees the back of whom she presumes to be her brother. She calls out his name but gets no answer as he silently slips into a room. What does our heroine do? She follows him of course. A few nice ideas are incorporated in the film, such as the stars being haunted by themselves and any injury they inflict on their own ghost harms them, as well as a flashback scene where a torch surveys a room and wherever the light shines it shows how the room was 40 years ago, as well as what was going on. This scene offers one of the only genuine frights. It's nice to see a horror with an older cast and for it not to be slapped around by fast edits. It looks good, it sounds good and there is certainly some talent shining through. A more compact, fleshed out script could have served this film better.

• E.J. B

  
  Horror movies are supposed to scare us, not bore us to death.

• Steve K

  
  Great atmosphere, but suffers from a bit of incoherency.

• Emily A

  
  It's nice to see an original ghost story that resists the Japanese dripping spectre theme that most modern ones feel they need to follow. This one is scary not because of the ghosts themselves, but because the main characters have no idea why they exist. This is scary in a way… More
  It's nice to see an original ghost story that resists the Japanese dripping spectre theme that most modern ones feel they need to follow. This one is scary not because of the ghosts themselves, but because the main characters have no idea why they exist. This is scary in a way few other movies are scary. It's gard to describe.

• Leigh R

  
  Interesting.

• Ryan M

  
  5.4/10 I really hate movies that make you feel as if you're only watching half-and-half of one. "The Abandoned", a 2006 horror offering from Spain, is one such movie that feels half good and half bad, and all-together, half-finished.… More
  5.4/10 I really hate movies that make you feel as if you're only watching half-and-half of one. "The Abandoned", a 2006 horror offering from Spain, is one such movie that feels half good and half bad, and all-together, half-finished. It's not a bad horror movie, and it's not impossible to live through as an experience, but given the praise it has gotten from some horror fans, I expected something better. Love and dedication went into the production, but so what? That's the director's personal pleasure and not ours. There needs to be something for the audience to chew on while they're waiting for the scares, but alas there's nothing worth chewing on, and there are few successful scares. The story is told with simplicity at first, and then dives head first into a pool of pretension and confusion. We open on a Russian farm-house where a family is quietly eating dinner. A truck comes crashing into their land. Father goes out with shotgun loaded, ready for whatever is inside the truck. There turns out to be nothing in their aside from a dead mother and her two crying children. The kids are twins. Forty years later, one of the twins has grown up, and we don't know too much about the other. The one who we do see is a woman (Anastasia Hille), all grown up and seeking answers to her whereabouts. She returns to Russia to find where her mother lived, the house which she was born in, and other super-fun secrets along the way. Soon after arriving, she meets her long-lost twin brother, the ghosts of a future lost, and a doppelganger; one for each twin! Let's just say that while this all seems like a simplistic set-up, things get rather complicated real soon. I won't spoil the aspects of the story that make is so darn complicated, but I'll just hint that (1.) they're not that special and (2.) they're not that original. "The Abandoned" seems like it's trying to say something through its narrative, but everything is so often boring and tedious that we could all care less. Sure, it will have its defenders who attempt to see it as a lost gem, although I see why others didn't like it. It's simply not a good movie; one that needs and deserves some good polishing. If only the story were as good as the ambitions, then maybe "The Abandoned" would qualify as good entertainment, but it's never engaging let-alone memorable. What I liked about the film was that it looks great. Horror movies often invite more stylistic exploration, and sure enough, "The Abandoned" intends on doing a LOT of exploring. It's adventurous and inventive in its visual style; sometimes even fascinating. I admired the work done in this department rather than the work done anywhere else, and while I was entertained by the visual sequences, they don't quite amount to art. This is really nothing more than your typical run-of-the-mill ghost story, complete with bloody imagery and paranormal pop-ups; completely lacking in truly riveting chills or scares. The jumps and attempted frights keep repeating, repeating, and repeating themselves until our heads finally pop. "The Abandoned" has energy. It is a well-acted, well-directed effort; worthy of some admiration and a good amount of respect, but never high praise. It may deserve some praise and it may not deserve some praise, but never-the-less, it's as I said; it still feels like only half a movie. And given this genre, the horror film, that might just amount for even less. The film is appropriately named, as most people will leave with the same goddamn impression. I shall forget and abandon "The Abandoned" for lacking the ability to be consistent. But I shall never say that I detest it.

• John M

  
  "The Abandoned" is a movie with an original premise and well made from a technical point of view along with a couple of atmospheric moments that made it not a complete waste BUT the movie is not entertaining at all, I kept watching it because I wanted to know what was going… More
  "The Abandoned" is a movie with an original premise and well made from a technical point of view along with a couple of atmospheric moments that made it not a complete waste BUT the movie is not entertaining at all, I kept watching it because I wanted to know what was going to happen with the woman and the problem is that by the end of the first half I was too bored and disappointed to care because the repetitiveness of the situations. Not recommended.

• Matthew A

  
  Maybe it was a pretty scary and atmospheric horror film full of suspense and a twisted story, but it was way too weird and abstract. The beginning was very boring. The ending was very confusing. The middle bit was more or less enjoyable due to the suspense.

• Anthony V

  
  An attempt to do something different with horror. Some great moments and a nice circular story line.

• Patrick D

  
  Through horror channels this film normally gets good reviews. So I was really excited to see it. Just before seeing it I checked out some other feedback for it and it was somewhat negative. I decided to go for it, obviously. To start with I wasn't too impressed as it almost… More
  Through horror channels this film normally gets good reviews. So I was really excited to see it. Just before seeing it I checked out some other feedback for it and it was somewhat negative. I decided to go for it, obviously. To start with I wasn't too impressed as it almost positions itself to be another supernatural flick in the same vein that Hollywood has been churning out since Sixth Sense and The Others (granted both pretty good flicks but I only need to see them, not every other rendition), but it picks up and becomes really quite different, and estremely strange, especially near the end. What was a put off for me is it's very polished look (which was one of the things that made me feel it was a trying to be just like the maintream flicks) which kind of works for it as the cinematography really benefits. Also I feel I would have enjoyed the film better, had I a better sound system and not just the speakers on my TV, the sound design is a big part of the film. Overall it's pretty good and a whole other kind of supernatural story.

• Donna D

  
  This movie was a great horror movie with awesome cinematography, images and special effects all due in makeup. Story is about Marie that returns to Russia to find out what happened to her parents. Story gets creepy from then on, which all turns in to eeriness and heart stopping… More
  This movie was a great horror movie with awesome cinematography, images and special effects all due in makeup. Story is about Marie that returns to Russia to find out what happened to her parents. Story gets creepy from then on, which all turns in to eeriness and heart stopping moments. I was intrigued with the movie the whole time. Great movie! You will be scared and horrified at the same time.

• Chris M

  
  Not the best horror movie i've seen. Probably one of the worst. You only really need to watch about 35 minutes of this film to know the beginning and what happens in the end. The rest of this movie looked as if it was just throwen together with no thought and had nothing to do… More
  Not the best horror movie i've seen. Probably one of the worst. You only really need to watch about 35 minutes of this film to know the beginning and what happens in the end. The rest of this movie looked as if it was just throwen together with no thought and had nothing to do with the plot itself.

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