Review of The Abandoned (2006) by Johnny D — 05 Aug 2007

Being a big fan of the horror genre I sit back amazed at the indifferent, flippant attitudes toward this movie. In recent years we've been given a steady diet of "Psychological Thrillers", teen horror offerings, and big name celebrity leftover fright flicks.

The Abandoned however seems to me, to offer more of a pure horror movie experience. It is a ghost story. A sideways journey into one's own personal and very real hell. No plot twisting, grandiose "I didn't see it coming" ending.

You know the one's; filled with direction and misdirection. The Abandoned takes you down a deep, dark, brooding, dungeon of fear and growing dread with visuals that are both stunning and depressing.

Early on there was a sense of being left alone in the dark. While the dialogue may not be Tolken, it never served as a distraction from the anquish or terror that the film intensly provides. The chills were chilling.

The sets were authentic, dreary, and somehow left me wondering how do they find these places or let's give an Oscar for the artwork if this was just a set. Perhaps that is overstated, but no less the truth.

I left this movie feeling as if it was still playing. It kind of sticks with you which is one of the most important ingredients in a horror movie. Horror movies today deal more with surprises or twists.

This movie had neither. It was real fear and terror. The Abandoned is scary. Hollywood has it's hands full if it ever intends on giving us another Exorcist with it's sheer haunting experience, or the Omen which gave us an exercise in the deeper elements of evil.

The Abandoned however; gladly, frightfully, and uncompromisingly meets us in the middle of those experiences.