The Abandoned (2007)
Directed by Nacho Cerda
Written by Michael Katleman
Starring Karel Roden, Anastasia Hille
Release Date August 23rd, 2007
Published August 25th, 2007
Courtney Solomon is the honcho behind After Dark films and the man behind the "8 Films To Die For" traveling horror film festival that managed to find nationwide distribution for what amounts to 8 direct to video features. By the numbers the most successful of this group of 8 b-movies was a tiny foreign set ghost story called The Abandoned.
Anastasia Hille stars in The Abandoned as Marie, a movie producer mired in depression and a general spiritual malaise. In an effort to turn her life around Marie goes out of her way to discover her birthplace on a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere hills of Russia's hinterlands. Marie was adopted as a small child and brought to America.
Called home by some unearthly feeling she must confront, Marie arrives at the farm to find another haunted soul already there. Nicolai (Karl Roden) claims to be a vagabond and caretaker but soon reveals himself to be Marie's brother, long separated since Marie's adoption following the mysterious deaths of their parents.
At first Marie finds Nicolai to be a terrifying presence, brother or no brother, but once the visions and ghosts begin making their appearance, Marie and Nicolai must become a team if they are going to survive the supernatural.
Directed by Nacho Cerda, in his feature debut, The Abandoned is a rather dull and dreary ghost story. The one working element is the bleak Russian setting which creates an oppressively creepy,gloomy atmosphere. That seems like a proper location for a good ghost story but The Abandoned never manages to become as frightening as its location is dismal.
Stars Anastasia Hille and Karl Roden are wonderful character actors in the right roles but as leads, neither shows the ability to hold the center of the screen. Roden is better known to American audiences than Hille thanks to small roles in Hellboy and The Bourne Supremacy, but his rote bad guy performances and thick Eastern European accent do little to make him an appealing leading man.
Hille's problem is a script that calls on her to be whiny and neurotic without an ounce of humor. Her teutonic textures formed into a permanent mopey frown, Hille is not a very compelling lead. I'm not asking her to dance or crack jokes but a modest amount of good humor would have been a way to lighten the oppressive moodiness of this dull gray horror trudge.
The Abandoned is a forgettable ghost story with uninteresting characters and boring plot twists. Director Nacho Cerda has a talent for an oppressive atmosphere but it's exactly that talent that manages to crush anything even modestly entertaining. The harsh gray look of The Abandoned may be evocative but it's also burdensome and crushing and make the film nearly impossible to enjoy.
