Directed by Nacho Cerdá
Written by Karim Hussain, Nacho Cerdá, and Richard Stanley
Starring Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev, Paraskeva Djukelova, Carlos Reig-Plaza

I was lucky enough to see this in the theater when it was released in 2007 nationwide, as part of the After Dark Horrorfest’s 8 Films to Die For. This was the first year of this happening and it had some great titles in there, such as Mike Mendez’s The Gravedances and J.S. Cardone’s Wicked Little Things (you can read our review of that HERE). I knew of Cerdá work because of his 1994 short film Aftermath that made quite a lot of noise in the horror underground, with it being a very nasty and graphic tale of a coroner who just happens to be a necrophiliac. Very disturbing, but incredibly shot and very effective. So, when his first feature film was coming out, I wanted to take advantage of seeing it in the theater. And I’m glad I did.

Now, Unearthed Films will be releasing The Abandoned on Blu-ray on April 9^th, with a slew of extras that we’ll list below. But let’s get to the film first, shall we?

The story is about a Marie (Anastasia Hille) traveling back to Russia, where she was born but has very little memory of it since she was taken out of the country when she was an infant, after some very mysterious circumstances with her parents. She has spent years trying to uncover any kind of details but has come up with pretty much nothing. Not until she was contacted by someone in Russia with some info. Once she arrives and meets up with her contact, a strange man named Andrei Misharin (Valentin Ganev) gives her very little more than she knows but does give her some news that she has inherited some property. . . her parents’ farmhouse. She travels out in the middle of nowhere to a very decrepit and rundown house and grounds, and seemingly left there by her driver.

She starts to wander about the house, which looks like the perfect setting for a haunted house, with its filth covered floor and walls, cobwebs all over, and honestly like a place that has been sitting there for 40 years. As she’s looking around, she is scared by seeing a figure, soaking wet, with eyes completely white, standing there. What is even more frightening is that it is her. As she tries to uncover more, she also runs into Nicolai (Karel Roden) at the house. Scared that he might be a robber or worse, not only does she whack with a piece of wood, then tries to escape the house. But for some reason, logic doesn’t seem to work the way it should while they are there. The longer they stay there, the more they piece together their own history, as well as the house.

With all the different ghost stories out there, have you ever wondered what exactly that might be like? To be a ghost? What do they go through? What is their existence like? This might just give one answer those questions. There is a line from the narrator in the beginning of the film that says, “That just because you’re through with your past, doesn’t always mean your past is really through with you.” That is a perfect start to what this film seems to be about, and sort of foretells how the story is going to play out.

This is not a fast-paced story, filled with action or wild video-game type sequences. And it’s not one that you’re going to have all your answers by the time the credits roll. What we do get is an incredibly shot film, filled to the brim with beauty and atmosphere. From the wide landscapes of the Russian wilderness to the darkened corners of this run-down farmhouse, the visuals alone could almost tell the story. It tells us the ending pretty early on, so it’s really no surprise. At one point, Nicolai even says that these two doppelgangers are them, or what will happen to them. But it is that journey there that will captivate you.

Anastasia Hille has had her fair share of work, but only working int the genre a few times, 2011’s The Awakening being one of them. But Karel Roden will be a much more familiar face, having appeared in both in Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II (2002) and Hellboy (2004), the later as the evil Grigori Rasputin, as well as Orphan (2009) and Frankenstein’s Army (2013). Since they are really the two characters we see through a majority of the running time, they have to carry the viewer along, and with it being a bit more concerned with mood and atmosphere, the job is even harder. But they both do incredible jobs here, never knowing if either of them should trust one another, but then also feeling so sorry because they both just want answers. And it is this wanting that will seal their fate. As Nicolai says, “the house wants us back.”

But for me, the real reason to watch this is the amazing work of cinematography by Xavi Giménez. Honestly, I wasn’t aware of him or what he had worked on, but after looking up his filmography, I was shocked to see so many films that I love, especially because of the way they look. He worked on Jaume Balagueró’s first two films, The Nameless (1999) and Darkness (2002), as well as Fragile (2004). He also worked on Brad Anderson’s The Machinist (2004), which is another film that has a very specific look to it. So once again, when you look a little deeper into the people behind the films we like, you’ll start to see some patterns or at least some of the same names.

The only thing I could complain about is that the subtitles are not the most accurate. I put them on because in the very beginning there is some Russian spoken and I thought it be translated, which it’s not. But I just left them on, but then noticed several times where words are completely wrong, almost like it was being transcribed phonetically.

This is definitely a film that needs more love and attention because it really is a powerful film, with plenty of frights, and if anything else, just the look of the picture throughout every frame. Just amazing.

The new Blu-ray has a bunch of extras which include the following. You can get more information through Unearthed Films website HERE.

Zoë Rose Smith Interviews Nacho Cerdà
Zoë Rose Smith Interviews Richard Stanley
Zoë Rose Smith Interviews Karim Hussain
‘The Making of ‘The Abandoned’ Featurette
‘In the Den of The Abandoned‘ Featurette
‘Nacho Cerda: Facing Death‘ Featurette
‘The Little Secrets of Nacho Cerda‘ Featurette
‘When Buck Meets Cerda: A Dialogue Between Friends‘ Featurette
Alternative Sequences
Deleted & Extended Scenes
Outtakes
Photo Gallery
Trailers
BD-ROM: Storyboard Collection