The Abandoned

Before streaming began slopping out content to horror fans like pigs at a trough, the After Dark Horrorfest was a cool way to provide obscure and international genre efforts some theatrical exposure, quickly followed by a premiere on the burgeoning DVD platform.  There were more than a few gems in there, including Frontier(s)and Lake Mungo.  And director Nacho Cerda’s The Abandoned (2006) probably sneaks into the top ten; a long dark night story set in the Russian backcountry where two siblings attempt to get uncover their family history…which, as they discover, probably should have stayed buried.

After inheriting the property, Marie discovers her birthplace is an isolated, spooky dump that provides more questions than answers.  But she does discover a twin brother, Nikolai (Karel Roden), who also experiences lingering doubts about his identity.  Confronted by zombie-like doppelgangers and jumbled recollections of their parent’s death, the duo struggles to make sense of the past before their future is cut short.

 

The script, with a polish from Richard Stanley (Hardware), doesn’t quite live up to its ambitions; meaning there is plenty of psycho-supernatural goings-on that never get a satisfying explanation.  But it gets quickly to the creepy stuff and sets its characters loose with matching flashlights (X-Files style!) to peek into every dark corner.  Cerda pulls off some nice directorial touches involving time-loops, giving the film a very organic feel, drenched in a blue-green color scheme popular from the era.  The undead duplicates are a used with panache too, giving the entire film a sort of Carnival of Souls atmosphere. 

 

The Blu-ray from Unearthed Films features a nice 2.35 transfer with 5.1 DTS-HD and a whole lot of new extras, including zoom interviews with director Nacho Cerda and co-writers Karim Hussain and Richard Stanley, plus alternate endings and deleted scenes.  There’s also a good selection of archival promotional material and BD-ROM storyboards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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