Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4579 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-05-19
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Synopsis
The expertly crafted 2007 haunted-house movie THE ABANDONED puts an original sheen on the well-worn tradition of the haunted house flick. Shot in Bulgaria but set in Russia, the movie centres around Marie (Anastasia Hille), an American born in Russia and abandoned as an infant. Marie returns to Russia 40 years later to visit the family estate with her brother, Nicolai (Karl Roden), who was also abandoned, but raised in Russia. Together they explore the old homestead in the hopes of rediscovering their pasts and unearthing the truth about the family they never knew. Like any haunted-house movie worth its salt, THE ABANDONED is all about the psychic residue left in the house following a tragedy. In this case, the spirit of Marie and Karl's father has summoned them back to the family home in order to finish the foiled infanticide he was attempting decades ago.
The manifestations of the past--i.e. the things that go bump in the night--are terrifying. Director Nacho Cerda's cinematic frights come at the least expected moments and in unique forms, and his unflinching shots of Marie and Karl's decaying yet persistent doppelgangers offer some of the most chilling images in the movie. Ultimately, THE ABANDONED works because it takes the viewer by surprise on so many levels. Thrills and chills abound, but they are delivered in unexpected ways. While the premise isn't entirely original and the script isn't completely free of holes, it is expertly made from a purely filmic standpoint, and there is something unavoidably chilling about the idea of never escaping one's past, particularly when the past is as horrific as the one depicted in THE ABANDONED.

Customer Reviews

The haunted house movie of 2008!

I kept watching straight-to-DVD horror movies with a faint hope that one day I'd find one as good as The Abandoned. This movie is quality.

The previous reviewer has explained the plot. It starts off a bit slow, but about 15 minutes through, the lady enters the house... and all hell breaks loose right until the final credits.

The Abandoned is a beautifully shot scare-fest, with some of the most effective thrills and jumps I've seen. The two leads play their roles very well, and the circular story line is brilliantly and competently handled.

This would be so much fun to watch in the cinema. Fantastic.

Beautifully filmed, ultimately depressing.
The lead actress in this is supposed to be 41 but (in spite of most people of that age looking years younger nowadays) looks considerably older.
Which I guess fits in with this director's vision of hopelessness and despair, and the seemingly ultimate futility of life. (It is the same director who gave us "Aftermath"/"Genesis" after all!)
The woman inherits a property in Russia, and goes there from America to find out about it, but all is not as it seems and she gets enmeshed in a kind of tme warp trap, involving a twin brother she never knew she had and their doppelgangers, all entangled in the circular time trap.
The photography and atmosphere is superb and is used very effectively. Some genuinely eerie moments and well worth seeing. Just don't expect any happy endings.

Atmospheric but Disappointing Haunted House Film
This film starts well and builds nicely as an American woman in her early 40's returns to the Russia of her birth seeking answers to her family history. Before long she is making her way to the place where she was born, deep in the Russian countryside, only to be abandoned by her driver and left to wander the ruins of her family home on her own.

So far, so good. Unfortunately, no amount of scares and gore make up for the clear 'spoilers' that then give away the ending of the film! Lots of dark corridors, noises overhead, rooms going back in time 40 years and reliving of the horrors of the past give this film brilliant atmosphere, but the ending has been spelt out to the viewer and there are no final twists in this tale.

Good as part of a viewing double bill perhaps, but ultimately a disappointment.