Os Abandonados (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 Goshev

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, who told her where the farm of her family is located. Marie arrives at the abandoned house and meets the stranger Nicolai, who 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 zombie-like 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:

house | inheritance | father daughter relationship | woods | island | 

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Taglines:

Death never runs out of time.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

M/18

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

When we see the family around the table in the opening scene, the daughter crossed herself with her left hand.

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Connections

Features Fausto (2000)

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Soundtracks

Red Kitchen
Composed by David Kristian
Performed by David Kristian

User Reviews

I liked it

Objectively - i think this movie is pretty much average. The story is fairly slow but solid ... not really creative or surprising though. The visuals are well done though and the whole movie has a very somber, tranquil tone with no jump scares but just a slow ascent of suspense.

Where the movie falls short is the characters that are rather simple archetypes without any development and the story that --- does not quite make much sense to be honest. Then again - it is a horror movie that plays in a rural backwater place.

It is not as bad as some reviews make it out to be in my opinion - but not good enough to be memorable much.

Details

Official Sites:

Official soundtrack site

Country:

Spain UK Bulgaria

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

21 June 2007 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Os Abandonados

Filming Locations:

Sofia, Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

EUR3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,482,000, 19 November 2006

Gross USA:

$1,653,012

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,529,892

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