Marie Jones (Anastasia Hille), a forty one year old mother of a teenage girl,
returns to her birthplace of Russia when she receives news that she has
inherited a family farm in the rural countryside. Marie was originally born in
Russia, but was put up for adoption as an infant and eventually became an
American citizen. She never knew who her real parents were, or where she
actually came from until now. Desperate to fill in the blanks of her past, Marie
travels to Russia, where she learns that her mother was killed shortly after she
was born.
Her family farm is an abandoned mess that sits on an island in the middle of a
river--which is accessible only by bridge. A local truck driver takes her out
there, but the drive is so long that it’s nighttime before they finally arrive.
Anatoliy (Carlos Reig-Plaza), the truck driver, goes ahead to check to the house
to make sure it’s safe. He explains that the river has been flooding, and wants
to make sure the place isn’t underwater. Marie waits in the truck, but when
Anatoliy doesn’t return, she goes ahead on her own to search for him in the
desolated farmhouse.
And that’s when the creepiness really begins. Once in the abandoned old place,
Marie is startled by a confrontation with an eerie, zombie-like woman who
seemingly haunts the darkened corners of the house. Director Nacho Cerdà does a
marvelous job in creating a truly scary atmosphere that manages to get under
your skin. In any other movie, people wearing zombie makeup would be pretty
lame--yet here, in Cerdà’s capable hands, the very sight of these silent
apparitions is really very frightening, and they are just the tip of a larger
mystery within the house that must be unraveled.
Anastasia Hille is very sympathetic as Marie (and it’s high time a horror film
had a mature woman as a lead for a change), as is Karel Roden as Nicolai, her
fellow "guest" inside the house. Although actually shot in Bulgaria, the
production still makes great use of its locations to create an unsettling
environment. The DVD is pretty sparse on special features, with just a short,
‘making of’ documentary and no commentaries. But the film itself is worth owning,
since it’s one of the best supernatural horror films I’ve seen in quite some
time. The Abandoned was part of the Eight Films To Die For festival that was
released in late 2006, and it's one of the best of that lot. If you're looking for
something different than the usual 'slasher stalking
teens' tripe, look up The Abandoned and be prepared for some real chills.
--SF
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