PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The Afterdark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For –remember that? While the series was a great platform for new filmmakers to get noticed, and foreign filmmakers to get a foothold in the US, it was responsible for some turkeys too. And don’t get me started on the “Miss Horrorfest” crap. While the 8 films got progressively worse, the first couple of years produced some bonafide genre classics. The Abandoned, which is enjoying a shiny new blu-ray release from the fine folks at Unearthed Films, is one that isn’t truly a turkey or a classic. It kind of falls into the “unrealized potential” category.
Synopsis
“An adopted woman returns to her home country and the family home that she never knew and must face the mystery that lies there.”
Check out the trailer!
A troubled production from the start: writer Karim Hussain (Ascension) originally wanted to direct. Nacho Cerda (Aftermath) got the nod. Embattled writer/director Richard Stanley (Hardware) was brought in to punch up the script, and the team balked at studio pressure to use “name” actors. The Abandoned is a study in what could have been.
Marie (Anastasia Hille; The Awakening), an American woman, finds out she has inherited some property in rural Russia. Traveling out to inspect the mysterious property, Marie finds the dilapidated house occupied by some strangely familiar zombie-like creatures. While trying to escape, Marie runs into Nikolai (Karel Roden; Hellboy) who informs her that he is her fraternal twin, both being adopted out after their mother’s murder. What follows is a Jacob’s Ladder type descent into: alternate realities, doppelgangers, family secrets, and weird rifts in time that are as confusing as all get out.
The Abandoned, while ambitious as Hell, ultimately falls victim to that very ambition. Cerda and Hussain attempt to craft a slow burn, Euro style film, and what they end up with is…imagine this, you’re walking through a great scene in your local haunt around Halloween, scary and foreboding, you are visibly shaken, but, after you pass through the exit…you have no idea why you were scared.
That, friends, is what The Abandoned feels like, atmosphere over content.
There are plenty of extremely well executed moments, that genuinely raise some gooseflesh, but the overtly convoluted plot just takes you out of it. Much like Silent Hill, The Abandoned looks creepy, but that’s about it. There’s a feeling of dread that just permeates this film, but, unfortunately, there’s no pay off. Even the twist ending falls flat.
I own the DVD version of The Abandoned that Lionsgate dropped in ’06, and yes, me being nerdy me, I A/B’ed the transfers. The Unearthed Blu-ray is a noticeable step up in visual quality, sharp contrast and black blacks. The packaging features a sturdy slipcover with new artwork that differs from the old DVD release. And extras?? Wow, as they normally do, Unearthed dug deep for this one: new “circle back” bits with Cerda, Hussain and Stanley, alternate cuts/endings, deleted scenes, outtakes, 4 featurettes, a gallery and trailers. All the stuff and more, to quote the Ramones.
An original premise, with a ton of creepy atmosphere that, unfortunately collapses under its own doomy weight due to an overcomplicated plot (keep it simple guys!), The Abandoned nevertheless stands out among other, more completely plotted, Afterdark Horrorfest entries just on visuals alone. Hussain eventually went on to do a metric fuck-ton of genre DP/cinematography work (most recently the brilliant Infinity Pool), Stanley rebounded with Color Out of Space, and Cerda…well, he never lived up to the potential he shows here. Maybe with the right script he’ll direct a game changer, who knows? A fatally flawed but interesting film.
Unearthed Films’ Blu-ray of The Abandoned is available now from fine retailers.
