Review of The Abandoned (2006) by Ed C — 04 Jun 2014

One line summary: Ineffective mostly kid-safe horror film.

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Five school friends (Sharon, Brad, Laurie, Ethan, Jim) organize to spend Halloween in or near the Jarvis Mine. The abandoned mine is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the Jarvis family, who were murdered so that greedy parties could steal the mine. They bring miner's hats and some climbing supplies (ropes, matches, food) to stay overnight.

They make a short descent down a fairly shallow shaft. They find the Jarvis daughters' toys, plus dynamite, tarantulas, and all sorts of stuff. Things are going fine until someone burns through the heavy rope tied to their base at the level of the mine opening. They try to climb out the way that they came, but fail. So they try alternate routes.

Jim is too large for some of the passages the group attempts, plus he is claustrophobic. So the party separates. Clever. Jim is stuck where he is until someone can extricate him from above, that is, the place where they came in.

The remaining four push on and find more artifacts from the Jarvis family. They follow fresh air. At one juncture, Brad leaves his backpack behind, and goes back to get it. He falls (well, perhaps is pushed) to his apparent death. Sharon, Laurie, and Ethan rush on a bit too quickly.

How many of the scares are Halloween pranks, how many are something unexpected?

-----Scores-----.

Cinematography: 5/10 Varies considerably, from crisp and nicely shot to full-on shaky cam found-film nonsense.

Sound: 4/10 There is a whole lot of mumbling going on, punctuated by loudness.

Acting: z/10 I hate to fault the actors when the script is so bad.

Screenplay: 0/10 Scary? No. Thrilling? No. Engaging? No.