COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - THE ABANDONED (UNEARTHED FILMS BLU RAY)
What makes a good ghost story? Sure, the answer depends on the person, but does that mean that there are no overarching qualifications that make a quality supernatural shocker? If we’re being honest, supernatural horror isn’t one of our favorite genres here at the Crypt. Even the genres best seem to fall squarely on the “indifferent” side of the opinion scale, with some notable exceptions like The Conjuring, Aterrados, or the Dark Castle remake of 13 Ghosts. These more modern supernatural films feel more dangerous and gruesome than their peers from the past, and for us here at the crypt at least, are a lot more fun. Perhaps it is time we re-expand our horizons and give ghosts another chance, which is why we are taking in Nacho Cerdà’s 2006 supernatural horror film, The Abandoned. Now with a slick new special edition from Unearthed Films will this scare us into believing in supernatural horror or remind us why we don’t?
An adopted woman returns to her home country and the family home that she never knew and must face the mystery that lies there.
HOW IS IT?
Nacho Cerdà is a special filmmaker to the keepers of the crypt in that he is the only one who has ever made us want to vomit. We’ve seen our fair share of disgusting, deplorable, and despicable stuff that the genre doth given us, but Cerdà’s film Aftermath takes the whole damn necrophilic cake. We aren’t here to talk about “Aftermath” though, we are here to talk about a film that feels as if it is made by an entirely different director than the one who did “Aftermath”, “The Abandoned”. While Cerdà’s dull and dreary color palette is fully intact, that would be the only thing connecting this film to that one, for better and worse. What “The Abandoned” does well is immerse the viewer in a mood and location that are deprived of joy, however, it struggles to deliver a cohesive and impactful narrative that engages the viewer without losing their interest.
“The Abandoned” is an intimate story with few characters and shot mostly in a handful of locations. Marie (Anastasia Hille) is returning to the Russian town of her birth to discover more about the family she never knew and encounters her long-lost brother, Nicolai (Karel Roden) who has been drawn back to their birth home for the same eerie reason. Once they arrive, they are confronted with two doppelgangers whose intentions are unclear and possibly dangerous. The setup isn’t an unfamiliar one for many a horror-drama movie, and while the film tries to separate itself from similar premises it struggles to find something novel that connects with the viewer. Take the use of the doppelganger as an example, while they look sufficiently creepy and receive a more than adequate explanation, they are more of a red herring for what is going on. The trouble is that these doppelgangers are more interesting than the actual reason for Marie and Nicolai being there, and feel more wasted in the grand scheme of the film largely due to the way everything ends. They almost serve as a metaphor for the film overall, a sleek and interesting aesthetic that is all show and no tell. These doppelgangers look great and are very effective, but ultimately become nothing more than fuel for a predictable twist.
Part of the issue with “The Abandoned” is pacing. Even shy of the 2-hour mark at 100 minutes, “The Abandoned” feels almost excruciatingly longwinded in the delivery of the story. It is easy to forgive this in the first half when the viewer is still getting their bearings and becoming familiar with the story and characters, but as the film stretches on there is a “start/stop” pattern of action that creates an uneven viewing experience where moments of excitement putter out fast and give way for long, moody exposition scenes. The location cinematography and look of the abandoned house are great, but not so unique to be above comparison and certainly not enough to carry the weight of the film's misgivings. Cerdà uses hues of gray, blue, black, and white for the canvas of the film, which adds to the gloom and doom tone permeating throughout. And while the film isn’t wholly original in its stylings or plot, it isn’t a bad film, it's just not all that interesting when compared to other supernatural films of this kind. One must wonder what Cerdà’s stamp on “The Abandoned” actually is, especially considering the kind of visceral and violent films he’s made before. In some ways this film feels very personal, but at the same time hollow given how cold and underdeveloped the characters we follow are. This makes “The Abandoned” a hard film to outright recommend unless you’re a devoted follower of Cerdà’s work or the supernatural genre as a whole.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
“The Abandoned” was produced in 2006, and as such isn’t a film in dire need of a restoration. The folks at Unearthed Film are likely aware of this, and since this is the first time for the film to appear on Blu-Ray in the United States it is nice to have a 1080p version of the film available for all. The appearance is solid, and the film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Given there isn’t a broad color palette at work here, and just some muted versions of softer colors, the visuals themselves show up clearly and are a marked improvement over the DVD version this replaces. Images from this release are used throughout the review and seen below.
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
For audio tracks, “The Abandoned” has two different options: a 5.1 DTS-HD surround soundtrack and a 2.0 PCM audio track. We opted for the 5.1 track for our review, and it is more than sufficient given that there isn’t much use of the rear channels here. Most of the “action” happens in brief moments, so you won’t be able to hear as much of “surround” elements, but rather a richer sound than the 2.0 track. These also seem to be the same audio options on the previously released DVD, so it is safe to say that these are ported over from there.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
One area that Unearthed Films seldom neglects is the special features department, and “The Abandoned” is chock full of newly commissioned as well as archival features seen on previous releases. The first feature we took in was a 46-minute interview, Circling Back with Nacho a 46-minute zoom interview between the filmmaker and Zoë Rose Smith. This was a very in-depth discussion starting more broadly on how Cerdà got introduced to horror, (fun fact: one the first horror films he remembers seeing was “The Living Dead at Machester Morgue”) but quickly moved into the production of the film. It is fascinating to hear Cerdà talk about this, as he seems to be both remiss and satisfied with the work he did here. Part of the former may be due to the fact that this story had to change significantly on account of the lower budget, which meant that some of the action scenes had to be removed to make way for more art-house-style melodrama. Cerdà is overly complimentary of the 9-week shoot they did for the film on location in Romania, and while he wasn’t able to create the film he imagined he is proud of how it came together.
The other feature we took in was a bit more boilerplate, The Making of “The Abandoned”. This 13-minute featurette is an archival extra pulled from the film's initial release, as is apparent by Cerdà’s look and the SD quality of the video itself. This is more of the opposite extreme of the interview in that it doesn’t go into as much detail given the length, but it does hit on various cast and crew perspectives which provide a lot more insight on how others felt while making the film. Once again, a lot of credit from the crew and cast goes to the production designers in Romania who built an extremely authentic set (one of our favorite parts of the film) and how Cerdà aimed to provide more realism with the violence as opposed to some of the more grand guignol style seen in his other works. A full list of special features included with this release is listed below.
Bonus Materials
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
LAST RITES
“The Abandoned” is a moody, atmospheric piece that doubles down on the dread while easing off other aspects such as plot and character development. While the imagery is enough to captivate for most of the runtime, it suffers from uneven pacing that makes it hard to keep invested in. Still, the release from Unearthed Film is easily the penultimate version of the film and should be a worthy addition to the shelves of those who prefer their spooky on the more supernatural side.
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you to the fine fiends over at MVD ENTERTAINMENT for providing a review copy for the crypt! The Abandoned is available NOW and can be purchased via MVD DIRECT!
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