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Tell Others About This Page By Using This Button "THE ABANDONED" (2007) (Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Extreme Extreme *Moderate Heavy Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Minor Mild Heavy None Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Extreme Mild Extreme Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Suspense/Thriller: A 42-year-old woman travels to Russia in search of her past, and finds an unexpected twin brother, assorted ghosts, and a terrible father. PLOT: Russian-born movie producer Marie (ANASTASIA HILLE) travels to Russia in search of her past, after receiving notice that she now owns her long-dead mother's home (the fact that the mother was brutally murdered is revealed in a pre-opening credits sequence, in which the bloody mother drives a truck away from the house, two babies screaming in the passenger seat beside her). After Marie meets with a mysterious estate manager (VALENTIN GANEV), who has her sign a paper and sends her on her way, she finds a driver (CARLOS REIG) to take her out to the house, so deep in the woods that it is accessible by only one bridge. When the driver disappears into the night, Marie makes her way into the house by herself, which is exceedingly creaky and dark, as reportedly no one has visited it since her mother's death 40 years ago. Exploring the house with a flashlight, Marie is terrified when she meets a ghost who looks like her (except the ghost has all-white eyeballs). Marie runs into the woods, where she stumbles into a river and loses consciousness. Things only get worse when Marie wakes up, apparently saved by Nicolai (KAREL RODEN), who claims to be her twin brother, also summoned to the house by the same sort of notice she received. After many hours facing down their matching ghosts (they each have one), the siblings decide that the house itself means to keep them there. Nicolai believes they must now die as they were "supposed to," when they were infants. This has to do with their father's efforts to kill them 40 years ago, and their mother's valiant efforts to rescue them, despite the fact that she had been stabbed repeatedly in her bed. Together and apart, Marie and Nicolai try to escape, blasting at the ghosts with a shotgun and clambering through the house in search of clues. Each foray into the woods leads them back to the house. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Older teens might be interested, if they like haunted house movies, and because the film first appeared during the young-adult-oriented After Dark HorrorFest last November. But without young performers or a trendy soundtrack, the film probably won't appeal to teens. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For violence/gore, some disturbing images, nudity and language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: ANASTASIA HILLE plays Marie, a 42-year-old movie producer who travels from California to seek her "roots" in Russia. She smokes cigarettes, argues over the phone with her unseen daughter about a boyfriend who's about to stay the night, and battles the ghosts valiantly when she has no other options. KAREL RODEN is Nicolai, Marie's long-lost twin brother. He tries to fight the ghosts, but believes he is fated to die at the house. VALENTIN GANEV is the strange man who reveals to Marie that she owns the house and encourages her to trace her "roots." CARLOS REIG is the creepy truck driver who drops off Marie and then races away in his vehicle. PARASKEVA DJUKELOVA plays Marie's mother in flashbacks, courageously fighting to save her babies from her husband's assaults. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a quick look at the content found in this R-rated horror film. Profanity consists of at least 6 "f" words, while other expletives and some colorful phrases are also uttered. Footage from a porno film is present, as is a vision of a fully nude woman, along with the touching of breasts. Much of the movie is comprised of extremely bloody and/or gory imagery, including gruesome scenes where a father stabs his wife repeatedly, tries to drown his infant daughter, and feeds his infant boy to pigs (lots of blood in this scene, and in others). The father is incessantly ugly and brutal, in flashbacks and as he comes after his grown children (obviously leading to tense family material). Scenes are repeatedly cut into pieces and point of view shots, to indicate the protagonist's confusion. This makes the action hard to follow, though it is simple: she looks for the ghosts and then she runs from the ghosts, repeatedly. Those and other moments might be unsettling, suspenseful, and/or scary to some viewers. Brief smoking occurs, and alcohol is present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's some camera movement in the film. This increases when the ghosts appear and Marie runs away. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE On her arrival in Russia, Marie washes her face in her hotel room and takes prescription pills. Nicolai has a mostly empty vodka bottle on his table when Marie first wakes. Nicolai has another near-empty bottle on another table when Marie returns from an unsuccessful effort to escape the house. As they wait for midnight, Marie clutches Nicolai's bottle of liquor. BLOOD/GORE The film starts with a gory moment, when a truck driver, unseen until the reveal, turns out to be a mother, her throat slashed and blood all over her now-dead body, with bloodied babies screaming beside her. Blood on a bed and floor indicates where the mother was stabbed. We see decaying animal and human corpses -- feathers, bones, etc. - in a barn. Nicolai's ghost appears bloodied, as he was eaten by pigs. After a scuffle with the ghosts, Nicolai has to dig a piece of debris from his thigh, shown in close-up and very bloody. Then he cauterizes the wound with a knife's heated/sterilized with a flare (more graphic close-ups). We see blood on walls, and fresh blood on the bed. Nicolai has a long scar on his cheek, especially visible toward the end. Nicolai is asleep on the kitchen floor, and blood drips onto his face. Back in the house, with her father, Marie sees adult Nicolai being eaten by pigs and vomits. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE In flashbacks, the mother is murdered by the father, who straddles her in the bed and stabs at her repeatedly and viciously with a knife. In a flashback-vision Marie watches her father try to drown her as an infant, then watches him feed baby Nicolai to pigs. Emily hangs up on her mother when Marie tells her she can't have her boyfriend stay over. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful, or scary, especially to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. There is pervasive use of dark clouds, spooky music, thunder, rain, and dark shadows (in nearly every scene once Marie arrives at the house). Throughout the scenes in the house, doors bang, and ghosts on the other side pound on doors. As Marie makes her way through the house (more than once), she carries a flashlight, the point of view limited. This allows for loud creaks, bumps, and wind to seem frightening. The ghosts have white eyeballs and move like old-time zombies, lumbering forward (Marie's ghost appears wet, as she has drowned, and Nicolai's ghost appears bloodied, as he was eaten by pigs). Nicolai falls through the floor, hangs on for a minute, then plummets into darkness: she screams. Marie hides in a closet in her onetime bedroom (cribs visible), hiding from the ghost, who turns up next to her in the closet. Marie's ghost approaches her and kisses her on the mouth, appearing to "suck" something from her, as Marie's eyes roll back and she collapses on the floor. While Marie gets in a boat to cross the river, she then sees the ghost on the riverbank she's supposedly leaving behind. Marie explores the downstairs, where the hallway floors are covered in water, so she sloshes, and can't see, because she only has the flashlight, again. Nicolai and Marie race to protect the house, in a kind of speed-montage scene, nailing boards to windows and doors. At midnight, the house goes into spasms, rewinding to 1966, violently: chairs and tables crash to new positions, forks fly into drawers, dishes and glasses unbreak; and Nicolai and Marie cling to each other in fear. GUNS/WEAPONS Shotgun/Knife: Wielded to kill, repeatedly, in flashbacks and the present. See "Violence" for details. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Bitch" and "Shut up." Marie appears in a slip in her hotel room, from the back and in a mirror image from the waist up. You can see her tattoo on her shoulder, which will match her brother's. JUMP SCENES None of the following is a completely "effective" jump scene, as they all move too slowly and are too easily anticipated. Marie's first encounter with the ghost startles her, as does a subsequent scene where she sees her own reflection in a mirror. Marie hides in a closet in her onetime bedroom (cribs visible), hiding from the ghost, who turns up next to her in the closet. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A great amount of supposedly scary music occurs in the film, but the scenes move slowly and predictably and the music sounds canned, sometimes like reheated Vangelis (from "Blade Runner"). MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 6 "f" words, 9 "s" words, 4 hells, 2 S.O.B.s, 1 damn, 3 uses of "Jesus," and 1 use each of "For God's sake" and "Mother of God." SEX/NUDITY Marie appears in a slip in her hotel room, from the back and in a mirror image from the waist up. You can see her tattoo on her shoulder, which will match her brother's. Marie appears in the shower, her face only visible, and barely, as it's viewed through blurry shower-glass. Marie flips through channels in her hotel room, happening on a porn movie, featuring naked breasts and moaning; but she's distracted by her mother's photo. Nicolai tells Marie he took off her wet clothes while she was passed out, then says it's okay, because "we're brother and sister." Nicolai sees an ex-girlfriend in a "vision," and she's full frontal nude. Nicolai approaches the ex-girlfriend, touches her breasts tenderly, and holds her hand (in this shot, her naked crotch is visible in medium close-up). Marie's ghost approaches her and kisses her on the mouth, appearing to "suck" something from her, as Marie's eyes roll back and she collapses on the floor. SMOKING A security guard at the airport smokes, Marie smokes several times (in a cab, her hotel room, the truck that takes her to the house). TENSE FAMILY SCENES In the pre-opening credits a mother escapes her murderous husband with her crying babies, then dies from wounds inflicted by her husband. Maries argues with her daughter Emily over the girl's boyfriend, who is apparently five years older than she is and about to stay overnight during Marie's absence. In flashbacks, the mother is murdered by the father, who straddles her in the bed and stabs at her repeatedly and viciously with a knife. Marie has trouble trusting Nicolai at first, as she never knew she had a twin brother. Marie and Nicolai try to save each other from the ghosts. In one scene, he falls through the floor and she tries to hold onto him before he plummets into darkness. In a flashback-vision Marie watches her father try to drown her as an infant, then watches him feed baby Nicolai to pigs. Marie admits she's come to Russia "because of her," apparently meaning her daughter, as Marie fears the day when Emily will grow up and leave her. Nicolai and Marie -- as adults -- overhear their parents arguing and then their mother screaming, in a flashback to 1966, the time when they were infants. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The importance of recovering one's familial history. Whether it might be better to leave the past alone, to remain, as Emily (still unseen) says at film's end, "abandoned." The effects of violence and trauma on children. The closeness of brothers and sisters. VIOLENCE In the pre-opening credits, the mother escapes her murderous husband with her crying babies, then dies from wounds inflicted by her husband. Marie bumps into a woman -- hard, with an unusually loud smacking sound -- on her way into the mysterious man's office. A strange man with her mother's death certificate tells Marie her mother was murdered. Throughout the scenes in the house, doors bang, ghosts on the other side pound on doors. Marie runs from a ghost and the house in a panic, and falls down a hill and into a river, where the subjective point of view shot suggests she drowns. Nicolai sees a human skeleton in the barn, and notes that part of the skull has been blown away by a shotgun blast (we see the skull with the hole). After a scuffle with the ghosts, Nicolai has to dig a piece of debris from his thigh, shown in close-up and very bloody. Then he cauterizes the wound with a knife's heated/sterilized with a flare (more graphic close-ups). Nicolai tells Marie he's seen her death, and that she drowned. Nicolai falls through the floor, hangs on for a minute, then plummets into darkness. Marie tries to escape the ghost, whacking at it with a baluster. She then falls down the stairs and appears to fall briefly unconscious (a blurry point of view shot). In flashbacks, the mother is murdered by the father, who straddles her in the bed and stabs at her repeatedly and viciously with a knife. Marie and Nicolai try to save each other from the ghosts. In one scene, he falls through the floor and she tries to hold onto him before he plummets into darkness. In a flashback-vision, Marie watches her father try to drown her as an infant, then watches him feed baby Nicolai to pigs. At midnight, the house goes into spasms, rewinding to 1966, violently: chairs and tables crash to new positions, forks fly into drawers, dishes and glasses unbreak, the floor repairs itself; and Nicolai and Marie cling to each other in fear. Marie sees her father try to drown her as an infant, then sees him feed Nicolai to the pigs. Marie witnesses, in a flashback-vision, her mother's murder of her father with a shotgun; and the body appears bloody on the barn floor. Nicolai sees a pig come toward him and cries. In the next scene, his bloody infant body is eaten by pigs while his very bloody adult body stands by, zombie-like. Back in the mysterious man's office, Marie sees her former self -- neatly coiffed -- walk toward the building. She pounds on the window, wanting to escape the office building and keep her former self from coming in. Marie runs out of the office building and slams into her former self, to reach the street, where she wails in the sunlight: "Help me!" Back in the house, with her father, Marie sees adult Nicolai being eaten by pigs and vomits. Marie escapes to the truck, and as her mother slams her bloody hand against the window, begging to be let in, Marie hits the gas, hoping to escape the past, as she feels she can't fix it. Marie drives the truck away from the house in a panic, driving it off a dock into the river; her ghost watches as the truck sinks. Reviewed February 23, 2007 / Posted February 23, 2007

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