The Abandoned (2006)

An adopted woman returns to her home country and the family home that she never knew and must face the mystery that lies there.

Director:

Nacho Cerdà

Writers:

Karim Hussain (screenplay), Nacho Cerdà (screenplay),

Stars:

Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Anastasia Hille	...	Marie Jones
Karel Roden	...	Nicolai
Valentin Ganev	...	Andrei Misharin / Kolya Kaidavosky
Paraskeva Djukelova	...	Marie's Mother
Carlos Reig-Plaza	...	Anatoliy
Kalin Arsov	...	Bearded Russian Patriarch Man '1966'
Svetlana Smoleva	...	Bearded Patriarch's wife '1966'
Anna Panayotova	...	Bearded Patriarch's daughter '1966'
Jordanka Angelova	...	Blind Woman 'present day'
Valentin Goshev	...	Patriarch - present day
Jasmina Marinova	...	Patriarch's Wife
Monica Baunova	...	Emily
Marta Yaneva	...	Natalya

Storyline

In 1966, somewhere in Russia, a wounded woman drives a truck to an isolated farm with two babies. Forty years later, the film producer Marie Jones leaves her daughter in California and travels back to her home land in the wilderness of Russia. Marie is one of the children and had received a phone call from the notary public Andrei Misharin that had told her where the farm of her family is. Marie arrives in the abandoned house and meets the stranger Nicolai that tells her that he had also received a call from Misharin and he is her twin brother. Weird things happen in the house and Marie and Nicolai are haunted by eerie ghosts of themselves. Further, they find that they are trapped in the house and can not leave the place.

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Plot Keywords:

farm | ghost | russia | house | baby | 

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Taglines:

Death never runs out of time.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence/gore, some disturbing images, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official soundtrack site

Country:

Spain UK Bulgaria

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

23 February 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Los abandonados

Filming Locations:

Sofia, Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

€3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$782,000 (USA) (23 February 2007)

Gross:

$1,255,524 (USA) (2 March 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castelao Producciones, Filmax International, Filmstudio Bojana

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer Karim Hussain said that the film was inspired by obsessions with family and the double aspects of everybody's lives. Also, Hussain based his work on some experiences he lived at his father's farm as a child.

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Goofs

After Marie rows across the river and starts walking, the boat started to float away. The first shot shows the front of the boat (pointed end) toward Marie, moving backward. The second shot shows the boat moving forward with the rear facing Marie. Then the last shot of the boat shows the front pointing toward Marie again moving backward.

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Connections

Features Arachnid (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Cistern"
Composed by David Kristian
Performed by David Kristian

User Reviews

Russia 40 years later

Taking us back and forth 40 years in Russia and it is obvious not a lot has changed from 1966 up until today, I found this to be an exceptional use of location to create a dark eerie presence and visual display on screen. Director Nacho Cerda got the most out of the 2 lead roles (Anastasia Hille and Karel Roden), I had never seen either one of them and I think they did a reasonably good job working out the kinks of the film. The story is the only thing that really bothered me, I tried to stay with it but honestly there were some times that I did get a little lost but every time I found myself wondering what was going on, the characters answered my questions. I was wondering how Nicolai got to the house and Marie asked him that very question. I thought the movie was well thought out and sound affects and visuals really helped draw you in to the film. A lot of moments that made my wife jump and grab my arm tighter.