The Abandoned

Note: When I file my DVD's away, I do that library thing where you skip the 'the', so The Abandoned is filed as Abandoned, The. That's why it's here, and not under T.

2006 • Dir: Nacho Cerda • St: Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden

Premise: A woman is told that she has inherited property from parents she never met in Russia. Going there to learn more about her mother and father, she is plunged into an inescapable fate.

Analysis: I'm coming right out and saying it: I love this film. It is a genuinely creepy offering from Spanish director Cerda.

In essence, this film is a claustrophobic loop, where the main characters Marie Jones (played by Hille) and her long-lost brother Nicolai (played by Roden) are pretty much doomed the moment they appear. In the old, rotten house where they were born Marie and Nicolai are constantly haunted by ghosts of the past and future. I especially like the two leads. Hille and Roden are convincing as very ordinary 40-somethings. They don't have the artificial polish that characters in a Hollywood film would have. Hille especially is refreshingly realistic as a 40-year old woman.

What is most scary in this film is the appearance of the doppelgangers of Marie and Nicolai. The film sets up their existence, and rationale relatively early, though that does not detract from their pure creepiness one iota.

I cannot discuss this film in too much detail. The events of the film, and its conclusion are so intimately bound, that to unveil too much in one place is to undo the film in another. I will say that it is a bleak and horrific film, but one that you will enjoy, if - like me - you're fond of a good ghost story. It also deals with a truly dysfunctional family dynamic, where possessiveness and resentment reach a point where obsessiveness is too small a word to describe just how screwed up it is.

This is well worth a play on a dark and stormy night, with the lights out. Just make sure you're wearing your adult nappies when you do.

Stars: 4 out of 5