The Abandoned: Limited Edition – Unearthed Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain/UK/Bulgaria, 2006
Director: Nacho Cerdá
Writers: Karim Hussain, Nacho Cerdá, Richard Stanley
Cast: Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden, Valentin Ganev, Paraskeva Djukelova, Carlos Reig-Plaza, Kalin Arsov, Svetlana Smoleva, Anna Panayotova, Jordanka Angelova, Valentin Goshev, Jasmina Marinova, Monica Baunova, Marta Yaneva

Release Date: April 9th, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 99 Minutes 13 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English/Russian, LPCM Stereo English/Russian
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $39.95

"In 1966, somewhere in Russia, a wounded woman drives a truck to an isolated farm with two babies. Forty years later, the film producer Marie Jones leaves her daughter in California and travels back to her home land in the wilderness of Russia. Marie is one of the children and had received a phone call from the notary public Andrei Misharin, who told her where the farm of her family is located. Marie arrives at the abandoned house and meets the stranger Nicolai, who tells her that he had also received a call from Misharin and he is her twin brother. Weird things happen in the house and Marie and Nicolai are haunted by zombie-like ghosts of themselves. Further, they find that they are trapped in the house and can not leave the place." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

The Abandoned comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.6 GB

Feature: 27.7 GB

No information is provided about this transfer's source. The Abandoned was shot at 35 mm, and it was filmed in the cinematographic process Super 35. That said, the source looks excellent, flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity, contrast, and black levels are solid, compression is very good, and there do not appear to be any issues with digital noise reduction.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English/Russian, LPCM Stereo English/Russian)

This release comes with two audio options: a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and Russian and a LPCM stereo mix in English and Russian. The Abandoned is a film in which sound plays a significant role, and both tracks sound excellent; dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well represented. Included are removable English subtitles, removable English SDH, and removable Spanish subtitles. Also, though there are subtitles, they only translate the English dialog, and when someone speaks Russian, the subtitles only say someone speaking a foreign language.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a promotional image gallery, a storyboards gallery, storyboard collection (BD-ROM content), French theatrical trailer in French (1 minute 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with non-removable English subtitles) and French theatrical trailer in English (1 minute 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles), a theatrical trailer in English (2 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer in Spanish (2 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer in German (2 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German, no subtitles), outtakes (10 minutes 27 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), four deleted and extended scenes (6 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), four alternate sequences (11 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled The Making of 'The Abandoned (13 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish and English with removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled In the Den of The Abandoned (30 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish and English with removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled Nacho Cerdà: Facing Death (27 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled The Little Secrets of Nacho Cerdà (13 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for text in French), an archival featurette titled When Buck Meets Cerdà: A Dialogue Between Friends (14 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for text in French), Zoë Rose Smith interviews director Nacho Cerdà (49 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Zoë Rose Smith interviews filmmaker Richard Stanley (44 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Zoë Rose Smith Interviews screenwriter Karim Hussain (51 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and a slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

Summary:

Directed by Nacho Cerdá, who is best known for the short films Aftermath and Genesis.

The narrative revolves around a woman who goes to Russia in search of the truth about her past.

Though the events that unfold happen in a linear way, there are many moments of description. And what starts off as a story about a woman digging into her past quickly evolves into a supernatural horror film in which the line between reality and the unknown is blurred. That said, at its core, The Abandoned is a fish out of the water story about a woman who goes to a foreign country where she does not speak the language.

Though there are some minor characters, there really are only two characters who have substantial screen time: the protagonist, Marie Jones, and Nicolai, a man who identifies as Marie’s brother. Performance-wise, the heart and soul of The Abandoned is Anastasia Hille’s portrayal of Marie Jones. It is her character's point of view that drives the narrative. She delivers a solid performance that does a superb job of putting the viewer into her character's state of mind.

Despite the narrative unfolding in a linear way, it is easy to see how it might present problems for some viewers. Though there is some backstory, there are many things that happen as the narrative unfolds that are ambiguous. That said, The Abandoned is the type of film that gets better with subsequent viewings.

Anyone familiar with Nacho Cerdá’s short films will want to temper their expectations when it comes to gore. Despite the lack of gore, there is an abundance of extremely disturbing moments and some well-timed jump scares. Without a doubt, the striking use of sound is The Abandoned’s greatest asset. Ultimately, The Abandoned is a well-made ghost story that has an ample amount of forbidding atmosphere.

The Abandoned gets an excellent release from Unearthed Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer