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Summary:
Marie was born in Russia, and her mother was murdered while she was a baby. Forty two years later, she finds out who her mother was and goes to Russia to see the farm house she was born in. It's haunted, there's a man there who claims to be her brother, and they are both fighting for their lives against the hauntings of the house.

Review:
Hadn't even seen a preview before going into this one. I just went to kill some time, and wasn't expecting anything at all. I am very happy to say that this isn't a complete waste of time!
Over the past few years of monthly horror movie releases that bring the same four simple premises to theaters, provide scares that are nothing more than loud noises and shitty shock tactics, I have to say that The Abandoned - although flawed - managed to provide some NEW horror concepts. Or, at least some that I haven't seen in quite a long time, done in a way that hasn't been done before. I am the first to admit shock. Yes, Abandoned gave me new horror avenues to explore!

Abandoned went out of its way to provide a somber and foreboding mood of the forest and the house itself. I could have done without the surroundsound whispering voices, and I honestly can say that I wasn't high with tension at any point, but I can also say that I wasn't BORED, nor was I annoyed. In fact, I have to say that I was a little entranced. With a couple of the new simple yet original horror concepts, I found myself becoming rather engrossed in what was going on, and hoping that the conclusion would be satisfactory enough for my tastes. The dopplegangers theory especially provided concern about how things would end.
One of the most annoying aspects to The Abandoned was how Nikoli seemed to know everything that was going on in this supernatural setting. The man knew way too much, and was merely the vehicle for exposition to us, the audience, to keep us from being left too much in the dark by what was happening. I think that although this movie had mysteries by the time the credits rolled, a huge chunk of the giveaways by seemingly mystical eplanation from Nikoli was unimportant, and would have worked better had they made us try to figure out some of those explanations on our own.

I have to admit that when I left the theater, I thought of the immortal words of the infamous Fred Willard in A Mighty Wind when he said, "Wha- happened?!" Yes, it's true, I didn't 'get it'. When I try to grasp the final events - which were explained and telegraphed by Nikoli's supernatural knowledge earlier in the movie - I couldn't help find myself running into paradoxes. I was thinking, "Wait a minute if (A) happens, then (B) would be impossible," and on and on...

The Abandoned worked in areas that so few horror movies these last few years have done. It provided a fresh approach to the "haunted house" premise. I loved the 'flashlight' bit, and the idea behind the dopplegangers, but when it all came together... things didn't quite connect. For some, the pace may be a little slow, but I found it worked alright. Moreover, the tension building by dark lighting and overall freakish surroundings might work better for others on their nerves than it did for me. It might have been the mood I was in. I recommend The Abandoned if you still take yourself to all those horror movies of the month and think they're passable fair. This movie is better than those by FAR. For the others that know when to see a good horror movie... this might be worth it, but don't hate me if I'm wrong!

GRADE: B-

Reviewed 2/25/07