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:

40 years to learn the truth. 24 hours to survive it.

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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

Filmax wanted a name actress for the role of Marie and there were some executive negotiations with actresses like Nastassja Kinski and Holly Hunter. Director Nacho Cerdà insisted on an unknown because he wanted to bring more humanity to the character. Cerdà picked up Anastasia Hille after a casting session in London and Filmax finally went with the director's choice.

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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

"Natalya"
Composed by David Kristian
Performed by David Kristian

User Reviews

horrorfest

Make no mistake that unlike the previous film The Abandoned is polished, features stunning cinematography and a haunting score. What it doesn't have is any real entertainment value or true sense of logic. The film works best as horrifically beautiful sequences and hauntingly grotesque images. Some of which will be permanantly burned into your psyche. But Nacho Cerdas story of a young woman that returns to her native country to learn about her adopted parents and discovers horrifying truths just really isn't that involving. The film however does feature plenty of symbolism and subtext but feels like it goes on forever and doesn't feel as scary as it should've been. However, this is a respectable horror film the performances are soso and the pacing is off but the film looks gorgeous and works best as a piece of art. Certain scenes should be studied but as a whole just isn't completely successful. But the scenes that are effective and cringe worthy are disturbingly atmospheric and memorable, they just seem to drop the ball halfway through and keep teasing at some sort of payoff that never comes. Nonetheless the film makes for an interesting viewing.