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Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev, Carlos Reig-Plaza, Paraskeva Djukelova

An adopted girl returns to her homeland of Russia to explore the dilapidated mountain farm she has recently inherited, only to discover that it harbors a deadly secret in the feature debut from Afterm... read more read more...ath director Nacho Cerdà. Shortly after the mysterious death of her birth mother, young Marie was adopted and brought to live in the United States. When Marie receives word that she has inherited an isolated farm in her native Russia, she soon sets out to explore the vast estate and peel away the thick gauze obscuring her secret-shrouded past. Confounded by the local's refusal to show her to the "damned" locale and determined not to give up after coming this far, Marie convinces a man to take her there only to discover that he has inexplicably vanished shortly after arrival. As Marie sets out to explore the ominous and expansive property alone, a surprise encounter with a man named Boris, who claims to have been lured to the house under similar circumstances, sets into motion a chilling series of events in which the ghosts of the past -- as well as deceased doppelgangers of both Marie and Boris -- prevent the frightened pair from leaving. In the terrifying hours that follow, both of these tormented lost souls will find that sometimes the past is best left forgotten. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

46% liked it

33,064 ratings

Critics

36% liked it

33 critics

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: Nacho Cerdà

Release Date: February 23, 2007

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DVD Release Date: June 19, 2007

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Stats: 1,683 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,683)

  • theunknownhobo
    August 25, 2011
    theunknownhobo
    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 inter... read moreest. 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.
  • bbcfloridabound
    August 21, 2011
    bbcfloridabound
    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) whos... read moree 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
  • RCCLBC
    March 29, 2011
    RCCLBC
    A good premise, nicely shot, but it is SO convoluted that it ends up smothering itself.
    Proof that often times, "less is more".
  • 3niR
    March 4, 2010
    3niR
    This was so freaking freaky!
  • ScoopOnline
    December 13, 2009
    ScoopOnline
    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 mi... read morend never to watch this Movie again.
  • 76Majikat
    April 17, 2009
    76Majikat
    What started out as a fairly naturally acted Horror movie evolved into a monotonous storyline, without an offering of anything particularly original.
  • ceWEBrity
    January 1, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    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 direct... read moreor 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...
  • SilentWarProductions2009
    September 27, 2007
    SilentWarProductions2009
    Directed by: Nacho Cerda.
    Starring: Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev.

    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 struggli... read moreng 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.
  • kiriyamakazou
    August 26, 2007
    kiriyamakazou
    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 i... read mores 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.
  • MovieGeek13
    August 23, 2007
    MovieGeek13
    Horror movies are supposed to scare us, not bore us to death.

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Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman
February 28, 2007
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The movie sinks so deep into deathly atmosphere that there's no life to it. Full Review

Jim Ridley
February 27, 2007
Jim Ridley, Village Voice

The relatively tame horrors on display here may disappoint fans of the director's gut-spelunking short Aftermath, which made him an underground hero on the abra-cadaver circuit. Full Review

Erin Meister
February 26, 2007
Erin Meister, Boston Globe

Perhaps the worst offense of The Abandoned, however, is that so little effort is made by the screenwriters to make any 'sense' of it all. Full Review

A.O. Scott
February 26, 2007
A.O. Scott, New York Times

Through the murk and gloom of The Abandoned; a mystery emerges: Why didn't this go straight to DVD?

Dennis Harvey
February 23, 2007
Dennis Harvey, Variety

Eerie frights here are more a matter of sheer dread-soaked atmosphere. Full Review

Charles Cassady
September 2, 2010
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media

Slow, moody haunted-house shocker; not for kids. Full Review

Blake French
August 2, 2009
Blake French, Filmcritic.com

And at the end of the equation, things just don't add up. Full Review

Steve Biodrowski
March 9, 2009
Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

"This horror flick is atmospheric and often frightening, but the lack of a solid narrative creates a lethargic pace." Full Review

Lucius Gore
June 17, 2008
Lucius Gore, ESplatter

It is, to put it simply, a totally kick-ass horror movie that should be seen by every self-respecting fear film fan. Full Review

Anton Bitel
May 19, 2008
Anton Bitel, Eye for Film

All haunted house movies feature labyrinthine corridors and darkened rooms, but few achieve the tangible depth and texture of The Abandoned. After so many inferior generic excursions and aberrations, ... Full Review

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The Abandoned Trivia

  • In what movie do a group of Italian orphans/runaways live in an old abandoned movie theatre in the heart of Venice?  Answer »
  • In Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire, the animated hedges in the Third Task were based on Stanley Kubrick's abandoned idea for a hedge maze chase sequence from which film?   Answer »
  • In which movie did we see Dan Akroyd have two demonic looking children who get lost in an abandoned mine?  Answer »
  • In the film "House of Wax (2005), while filming the abandoned sugar mill chase, Paris Hilton was embarrassed by her scream, so the first three times she screamed she had the whole cast and crew scream along with her.  Answer »
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