Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Abandoned/Los Abandonados (2006)

8/15/2013

The Abandoned/Los Abandonados (2006) - Cerdà's under-appreciated horror gem

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Horror Movie of the Year + Best Spanish Movie of the Year + Best Haunted House Movie of the Year

An artistic and piercingly eerie poster for Nacho Cerdà's The Abandoned

An American woman inherits a property in a wooden corner of countryside Russia and goes there to seek out information about her roots.

The simple premise of this savagely affecting, European ghost horror film develops into a nerve-wracking nightmare, relentless in its terror and suspense. Especially the raw sound design will make you physically tense and sweaty for long after The Abandoned ends. - To get the most out of this, make sure to watch it at high volume.
The Abandoned mostly doesn't rely on violence or gore, but more so on a dense Russia-inspired, foreign land-kind of horror, along with deft cinematography (by Xavi Giménez (The Machinist (2004)) and editing (by Jorge Macaya (Perfect Obedience/Obediencia Perfecta (2014)).
The lead character (played by Londoner Anastasia Hille (Tulip Fever (2017))) is quite flat, and her dialog's span is very restricted, often just to swear-words, especially 'fuck', 'shit' and 'bitch'. Karel Roden (RocknRolla (2008)) in the other lead lights up the narrative, (but without lightening it.)
The script is by Canadian filmmaker Karim Hussain (The Beautiful Beast/La Belle Bête (2006)), South-African filmmaker Richard Stanley (The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)) and the film's Spanish co-writer/director Nacho Cerdà (Ataúdes de Luz (2002)).

Related post:

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Listen to a track of the film's score by Alfons Conde (The Haunting/No-Do (2009)) here

Cost: Estimated 3 mil. €, equating approximately 3.53 mil. $
Box office: 4.1 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.16 times its cost)
[The Abandoned premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. Hussain was supposed to direct, but as he was busy on other projects, Cerdà was offered the job. He refused casting a star (Nastassja Kinski and Holly Hunter were eyed) in the lead. Shooting took place in and around Sofia, Bulgaria in July 2005 as a Spanish-UK-Bulgarian co-production. It opened #19 with a 0.782k $ first weekend in 1,000 theaters in North America, where it only played 2 weeks and grossed 1.3 mil. $ (31.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest of its dozen or so markets were Mexico with 959k $ (23.4 %) and Spain with 515k $ (12.6 %). The film may well have turned profitable with home video sales, but those numbers are not made public. Cerdà has since only returned with 4 video, short and documentary credits. Hille returned in Tripping Over (2006, TV-series) and theatrically in Good (2008); Roden returned in Krásný Cas (2006, TV movie) and theatrically in Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). The Abandoned is rotten at 38 % with a 4.71/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Abandoned?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

8/15/2013

The Abandoned/Los Abandonados (2006) - Cerdà's under-appreciated horror gem

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (4-24)

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