The Abandoned (2015) User Reviews

Writers needed apply here...

[tmdarby · 4/10 · 7 March 2016]

This movie had all the parts it needed to be a great horror movie. A creepy situation, creepy location, good acting (Jason Patric), and part of a story.

They didn't do a good job though. It's like they were baking a cake, got all the ingredients out, and then just left it all on the counter in separate piles, tadah!!!

The story makes no sense at all. I think Louisa Krause is probably a decent actress, but was over acting all the time. All though I'm pretty sure that was due to the writing.

This would be a good movie to remake with all the same actors and the same place, but with someone that knows how to tell a story that makes sense.

Typical cliché roller coaster with a better roller coaster.

[Patient444 · 5/10 · 17 January 2016]

The scares are there, so are the intense moments, good chilling atmosphere, good execution and pretty much OK acting.

A normal horror, they didn't over stretch it, didn't over play it, they kept it simple and effective. Just don't expect to be blown away or even slightly impressed, the ending itself is very predictable. The Abandoned is a horror movie that some will see and they will most likely either quickly forget about it, or keep comparing it with so many other such productions before it.

All in all, an OK movie for a lonely late night.

Cheers!

A+ for atmospherics, C- for scripting

[drownsoda90 · 5/10 · 17 June 2016]

"The Abandoned" has a young troubled woman (Louisa Krause) working as a night patrol at a massive abandoned luxury apartment building in New York City. Training her on the job is a cynical longtime employee (Jason Patric), but what should be fresh on-the-job jitters becomes a living nightmare when she discovers something sinister lurking in the building.

Perhaps it's because I went into this film with relatively low expectations, but I found "The Abandoned" to really only be half-bad. Previous reviewers are astute in their observance of the film's atmosphere, which is laid on thick and is really the central reason that I stuck with the film from beginning to end. It's well-photographed and the sprawling Renaissance-meets-art deco interiors are profoundly creepy. The film is worth viewing for this reason alone, as it is truly engrossing on just a visual level.

The script is where this film is truly weakest, although this mostly lay in the hodgepodge resolution, which is where the film really begins to come apart at the seams. It is not necessarily as cliché-ridden as many have seemed to paint it to be, though it is most definitely clichéd. At times the film reminded me of 2011's "The Innkeepers" due to the sparse cast and nightshift setting, though a far less subtle version; at other times, it seems inspired by 1999's "House on Haunted Hill" remake. Louisa Krause and Jason Patric have great chemistry on screen here, and play off of one another quite well. Both provide solid performances that are better than the material demands.

Overall, "The Abandoned" is a middling supernatural horror film; it is far from revolutionary, and is at times frustrating in its employment of routine plot devices, but the synergy between Krause and Patric is great, and the film is at times legitimately creepy, even in its conventionality. On a visual and atmospheric level, it's fantastic, but, as I said, the script doesn't match up with the film's aesthetic strides. 5/10.

Almost great

[NotAFakeReviewer · 1 June 2019]

The main problem is that it meanders a little too much in the third act.

Acting was extremely good and the story intrigued me. I like a slow burn horror/mystery but this had some pacing issues

The lead actress did make me feel for her, her pain was palpable and her journey was heartfelt. Jason Patric remains underrated as ever, turning in a wonderfully dry and real performance.

I'm still not 100% on what was happening and I like that, I feel that the lack of understanding is my fault and not the movies and I'm sure if I rewatched it I would understand better

It's a very atmospheric movie so keep that in mind when you watch it and also remember some horror is a marathon not a sprint

Had they Abandoned the clichés there'd have been nothing left

[dwinfr1 · 3/10 · 12 January 2016]

I don't know why I let myself get suckered into the $7.99 rental fee for this film. Generally I'll do enough homework on a horror movie that I won't be cheated, but they got me here. The film was terrible from the start, girl with psychological problems takes a job at the creepy, deserted, dark, Gothic building. Lord.... need I say more. And how bout the obligatory wet t shirt? Spare me. I can't believe I fell for it. Every five minutes somebody says " we gotta get out of here", and I would say, why? But that's exactly what I should have done halfway through this dog......got out of here. But I will not go down easy after putting up 8 bucks. So I stuck it out until the end. And believe me when I say that 3 stars is being overly generous.

Abandon hope for originality, all ye who enter.

[quincytheodore · 3/10 · 18 January 2016]

There's no delicate way to say this, Abandoned is a husk made by imitating other horror movies, especially those with isolation theme, even down to the almost exact screenplay. Scene by scene comparison could be made to Keifer Sutherland's Mirrors to the most recent Last Shift. It matters not the level of sophistication replicated, it eventually comes down to silly characters running through plainly made corridors.

A troubled young girl has taken a job on secluded building as security. Right from the bat it follows so many conventional examples without adding anything. It uses backdrop of a psychological disease, the call from parent, the banter with rude co-worker. It creates a question of why such large building has only two people as security and these are not the most capable ones either, although this is an uninspiring effect of the dubious story, not intentionally done to set up mystery.

It doesn't create any engaging atmosphere as the few on-screen characters are highly unlikable despite the potential of the cryptic setting. They banter with mundane dialogues, almost equivalent to internet squabble. Their disabilities are merely there to enact stupid stereotypical jump scare moments. There's not much logic or structure to be had here, and it's even worse later on when the movie takes a dive with scrambled plot.

It also fails on producing any sense of dread. The beautiful setting promises a good clear environment for terror, yet it repeatedly shows only barren hallways. It's no understatement that it's one hour worth of plain tour of corridors with some possible haunted rooms in between. The progression is far too predictable, introducing vague entity as the characters are lost or confused if it's their minds playing trick at them.

The Abandoned is sloppy attempt at recreating horror from isolation premise, it starts poorly and ends with an implosion on itself as though the production value just abandoned any sense of coherency then pasted scenes from other movies.

Not much to look at here

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 27 June 2016]

This murky little horror film involves a woman who may or may not be going out of her mind who gets a job as a security guard at a run down old apartment complex which has been long since abandoned. Her only company on the job is a fellow guard, cynical and disabled. The woman becomes convinced that a sinister presence lurks within the confines of the building and takes it upon herself to investigate...

As you'd guess from the premise, CONFINED is very much par for the course for this type of film-making. It feels a lot like GRAVE ENCOUNTERS and the like, albeit without the 'found footage' hook and shooting more traditionally instead. There's a lot of stuff with CCTV footage, which is quite neat, but more often than not the film descends into the usual wandering around in dimly lit corridor type scenarios.

The film lacks decent cast members; those present are okay, but hardly electrifying. Jason Patric (THE LOST BOYS) looks so unrecognisable that it took me half the film to realise who I was watching. And despite repeated efforts on the part of the director, CONFINED doesn't manage to be scary for a moment.

A twist too far? BIG spoiler.

[parry_na · 6/10 · 2 May 2016]

It is just possible that in Security Guard Cooper, Jason Patric plays one of the most obnoxious characters in modern cinema. He plays it to perfection - as he 'welcomes' new security guard Julia Streak (a fine performance from Louisa Krause), you are waiting for whatever dark creatures that may lurk in the shadows of the apartment complex they are patrolling to come and do their worst to this embittered, annoying wheelchair-bound character. He even suggests Streak change into her uniform in front of him, revealing a certain deviance.

He is such a vile personality that it is almost a pity when he appears to soften as the various apparitions of scary faces in the darkness become more prevalent, especially as, at least initially, they aren't terribly frightening. His judgement appears to over-ride hers when a homeless man (Jim, played by Mark Margolis) begs to spend the night in the building, fearing he will die in the storm outside. Against Cooper's express wishes, Streak allows him into one of the vacant rooms. Luckily, there is a recorded documentary available for Streak and Cooper to watch, which explains how the building was a 'dumping ground' for deformed, mentally disturbed children many years ago, operating under-funded, by doctors who were being investigated for malpractice.

As Streak threatens to close the place down, believing the spirits of the children are still present, Cooper reveals he knows her secret – she is mentally unstable and on a course of tablets: she should not be working in a high security job such as this. He handcuffs her to the cupboard in the observation room: perhaps he has not softened after all.

The ending contains a twist. Freeing herself and travelling to the mysterious room where the children are sent as punishment, Streak confronts a young girl with a facial deformity – she hugs her and tells her "It's not your fault," which doesn't seem to signify anything. The doors open and appear to free Streak from the building. In what is a massive SPOILER (so beware): we then find that Streak has actually been in a coma all her adult life, and has just died. She is lying on a hospital bed. Her father is played by Jason Patric (who appears to have a security job, judging by his uniform). As the camera pulls away from her lifeless body, we see she has a facial deformity identical to the young girl in what appears to be her 'dream'. Outside her room is another patient, played by Mark Margolis.

Was the 'not your fault' line directed at Streak's younger self, signifying she was abused by her father, or does the remark somehow refer to her deformity? Whether it all fits together with what we have seen and forms a satisfying conclusion is up to viewer discretion.

Possibly it asks more questions than it answers. That revelatory confusion put to one side, this is an otherwise solid horror film, with some pedestrian scares and a fairly touching finale.

What was the point?

[leesimon-26357 · 1/10 · 18 October 2021]

This was excessively stupid, with lazy, loud jump-scares, no character building or development, and absolutely no thrills or suspense whatsoever.

The story is completely pointless. It relies on weak and offensive stereotypes of what disabled children look and act like, and what year was this supposed to be?! North America hasn't housed groups of disabled children in "asylums" since the 1920s.

What was the point of the facial deformity? Do children with intellectual disabilities have huge facial deformities now?? And what was the point of the coma? What was the point of the screaming and crying all the time? How is screaming into the sky compelling in any way?

This whole movie was one dumb turd of an idea after the other. I'd rather spend the night in the sewage below an actual hospital, in any time period, than ever see this dumb, stupid, predictable, stupid, stupid movie ever again.

similar to the 2017 movie " NIGHTWORLD " , but with another ending !?

[fanan450 · 6/10 · 8 September 2018]

Well , I like it , the first half of this movie was so good. the atmosphere and the acting was too , but i didn't like the end ( my opinion) , and before I watch this , by chance I watched NIGHTWORLD movie 2 weeks ago , then I asked myself who stole the script from the other ? , because both of them have the same story . so my advice is : watch this movie , after that go see the NIGHTWORLD and make a comparison by yourself because both of them were good.

6/10

Ups and downs, but mostly frowns.

[subxerogravity · 4/10 · 19 January 2016]

I been on a movie set like this in which a director was able to get access to a place were he can film his entire movie all at once in a few days or weeks. Sometimes the problem with that is that they try to stretch out something that cannot be stretched.

The first act is slow, and you can tell its slow because nothing happens that really drives the movie to go anywhere or get me interested at all (except for me thinking to myself "is that Jason Patrick?"). They could have used a better lead actress as well.

As the movie progressed, it keep looking like it was going to be promising, but they kept holding on to moment in the film for far too ling and you loose interest.

Overall this horror film was trying to be cleaver and imaginative, but mostly just lost me in boredom. Overall it was a good story that was just not implemented well enough.

Unpredictable and creepy

[bondza · 8/10 · 1 February 2016]

The premise here is somewhat original, because I didn't see a similar horror movie (or at least I can't remember) recently, and it reminds me on some of the David-Lynch-style thrillers. Streak (acted by Louisa Krause) takes a job as a night security guard at an abandoned apartment complex and discovers that she is not alone. Now the plot is much more complex than that, but I don't want to put spoilers in my review, so if you are a mystery/horror fan I warmly recommend this movie. The atmosphere is extremely effective, aided by a solid direction and a creepy music. The ending was unpredictable to me, with a very nice twist.

I definitely Highly recommend you watch this movie

[brittanywill21 · 6/10 · 20 February 2016]

I love supernatural movies, suspense and thrillers movies. I think people forget that there are many more sections or categories to scary movies They're not all combined into one. I don't like the slasher movies for example.

My point is this movie is more of a suspense movie than anything else. So if you like suspense movies then this is the movie for you. When I looked through the reviews everybody's comments are about jumpscares and things of that nature but they're looking at it from a different perspective than what the movie is intended to be viewed as witch is as a suspense movie.

Another piece of nonsense alleged Horror Film

[iamtherobotman · 4/10 · 14 January 2017]

Another film which had a decent concept but was once more let down badly by the execution. OK, so she gets herself a job as Security for an abandoned Luxury Tower Block and strange things begin to happen, fair enough. Why though must these films always have people act like complete morons?? Checking the buildings Blueprints she notices that room 411 doesn't have an active camera and states this amazing fact to her colleague who then informs her that that area was not completed and therefore didn't have a camera...Now, first day of the job would any normal person then continue questioning and then insisting that "someone" go check it out?? No, of course not, you'd pay attention to the guy who's worked there for a number of years and has the experience and know-how of the building, wouldn't you!! This is only one of the horrible horror cliché's within this attempt. She also becomes obsessed with gaining entry to the 'room' to such an extent she breaks in...She allows an old homeless guy access to the building to shelter from the storm outside... Now i realise that these instances were actually plot related but this is my point. The plot, the film, the alleged cliché of a 'twist' at the end were all poor, the film was poor. Her acting was passable at times though for some reason they constantly had her 'act' shocked or surprised by continually slapping her hand over her mouth and even at times forehead in some vain attempt to emphasise just how shocked/surprised/or worried she was. The whole thing was obvious from the word go, obvious 'jump scares', obvious overly dramatic score which at times went way over board, obvious occurrences...etc...etc. They tried desperately to create an air of malice and tension with use of lighting and angles and of course mixing in the CCTV footage but i'm afraid none of it worked. It had certain moments, brief though they were that were passable but overall this was just a horrible film rather than a horror film.

I really enjoyed this film.

[dans81 · 15 January 2016]

It reminded me of some good old-fashioned horror movies. This film relies more on suspense as opposed to cheap scares that I see in every horror film these days. Jason Patric gives an outstanding performance, and so does Louisa Krause although I was not familiar with her acting before this film. Mark Margolis is always a pleasure to watch even in his smaller roles. The location and setting are amazing, and the pacing and cinematography kept me at the edge of my seat. Personally I loved the ending but I always preferred films with good twists that keep me guessing.

9/10

Definitely recommend.

Great alone in the dark visual and mood but poor script

[stylegamer · 5/10 · 22 June 2016]

The horror premise is simple and straightforward, although i can only give an average rating for this movie. The script lacks any kind of depth and the usual clique used for the genre

Started off great with that James Cameron's Aliens type of feel but fell short in the 2nd half. When one expects a CCTV based survival horror in a cathedral kinda thing , the script rather turned out to be a simple run of the mill story in the second.

The visuals and atmosphere were pretty decent and apt but the script was a letdown. Recommend watching if u have nothing else on a Saturday night if else passable.

Slow and boring . . .

[mwidunn-95-631875 · 4/10 · 6 August 2016]

Girl starts new job doing security at huge, dimly-lit, and spooky building. . . . Girl meets cantankerous, wheelchair-bound cripple who is her supervisor (Jason Patric -- who's great). . . . Girl does just about everything that her Supervisor tells her not to -- like letting in homeless man and his dog and opening creepy door in basement. . . . Girl discovers part of building was used to house deformed and mentally-challenged kids, who were (of course) abused and whose ghosts are (of course) angry and whose angry spirits (of course) have now been released by the Girl's opening of "the door". . . . Girl runs around in dark corridors with -- well -- really not much happening. . . . Girl is shown in hospital bed where she -- deformed and in a coma -- sheds a tear and dies. . . . Girl's Father, the Supervisor, and Grandfather, the Bum, sit around her hospital room. . . . apparently, we were in the Girl's own head all the time. NOT poorly acted; NOT poorly directed, but: POORLY written and POORLY conceived. Not awful, just one big Y- AAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW-N.

Soooo.....

[Movieshepherd · 2/10 · 9 August 2021]

This movie was so cheesy and pointless, that my husband took away my movie picking privileges. So bad. I don't blame him. It's my fault I keep giving these crapfests, a try and watch until the end because damn it, I'm going to finish it. I do this to myself. Self inflicted torture.

Confusing

[TheWinterShoulder · 6/10 · 29 June 2016]

I wasn't expecting much from this movie; I personally enjoy making fun of low budget films. The script of this movie wasn't that good. It was very cliché and repetitive. The ending was very confusing, but emotional. What I am guessing is Clara is actually Streak. This all in Streak's mind since she has been in a coma for so long. Cooper is actually her father, who IS a night guard. She was in the institution because of her facial deformity, and she got out and into the coma because she drank the bad water, hence the young boy saying she was the only one to survive. In the scene with Streak hugging "Clara" and telling her it isn't her fault, it's about the water. She is saying to HERSELF that it isn't her fault she drank the water, that she had been neglected and she was desperate. That's why when Streak said she was going to leave, Clara died in the hospital. Clara was going to die. She was telling herself it wasn't her fault and it was okay to let go. Besides the script and the very common large fancy building cliché, it wasn't that bad.

I can't even begin to comprehend how bad this film is

[PeterLormeReviews · 1/10 · 23 January 2016]

The Abandoned (2015) is cliché, jump-scare ridden, piece of garbage horror film. Before I start my rant, I'll start off with what I liked. The atmosphere was creepy and the acting wasn't half bad. But Dear God, this film is awful. A dead rat acts as a jump-scare. A hobo knocking on the door acts as a jump-scare. A computer glitch acts as a jump-scare. WHAT THE HELL IS SCARY ABOUT THAT! Once we get introduced to the "monster" everything goes down-hill. I'll have to admit, once I saw the "monster" I started laughing hysterically. He looks like 'Sloth" from the Goonies. I had to pause the movie because I couldn't stop laughing. It was that bad. Then the film starts making no sense. I don't know how it could happen, but it rolls even further down hill. At this point, the film has gotten into a horrific accident. Then comes the plot twist. I saw it coming a mile away, and it is mind-blowingly stupid. This film was, at times, a "so bad its good" movie. But a majority of the film was so damn boring and predictable I can't even give it that. To be blunt: this film sucks.

Great atmosphere and performances at first, total copout ending.

[Sergeant_Tibbs · 6/10 · 1 July 2015]

It takes a lot for a horror film to win me over unless it's infused with a satirical streak of comedy. Great stories are hard to find, and a rich creepy atmosphere isn't enough, they have to have depth but it can't be too contrived to fit their symbolism. The last horror film I loved is quite recent, but I wouldn't call it scary, It Follows connects to me because of its representation of the anxieties of adulthood.

Before that, we have Let The Right One In and Michael Haneke's remake of his own Funny Games, a film that reiterates what the genre had become since his first 1997 version. To say director Eytan Rockaway's The Confines had me engaged at first is a big compliment. But when suspense builds too much to the unpredictable, there's three possible outcomes; either it's a fakeout and we cut away, or it's a predictable and poor payoff, or it's a payoff so out of the box that it abandons all reason. It's very good at everything but the horror. We got all three here.

Louisa Krause plays Streak, a young pill-popping woman desperate for work to keep custody of her offscreen child. She's generally strong-willed and well-intentioned, she's just on the wrong side of a few mistakes. Streak takes a job in the city to be one of two security guards, the other is Cooper, a disgruntled Jason Patric, for a huge extravagant apartment complex. It was built before the recession but has gone unused since as nobody could afford to move in.

Her good nature leads her to let in a homeless man who would otherwise die on the streets, played by familiar face in independent cinema Mark Margolis, despite protest from Cooper. It's a decision that she soon regrets as her first night appears to be her last. On frequent patrols through dark dusty rooms she discovers dark secrets about what happened beneath the apartment a long time ago.

The Confines is at the very least technically proficient. The sleek cinematography, editing and sound design are all sharp, boosting the modest production value of such a small scale film. However, the deeper you get into it the harder it is to justify certain leaps in logic in the plot. It's never explained why they have to guard an abandoned building so vehemently. I assumed it's because they want to reopen it again after the market revives, which would make sense but who's paying for 24 hour security on a place that makes no money?

And while it makes for a compelling character to play off Streak, why would they hire a disabled guard? Those contrivances are hard to see through. The Confines had the atmosphere to get under your skin, much like The Descent's organic claustrophobia, and then the potential grows as it heads into Titicut Follies-inspired territory. But no, it wants to only slowly follow the flashlight and use jump scares and loud music for cheaper thrills. The last half hour is such a shame after decent potential. That's not to say it's bad, it's just nothing special.

Fortunately, the performances are very solid, they have a strong conviction that you don't usually find in horror. Jason Patric is the highlight. His most memorable role remains The Lost Boys and the most significant films he's done since include In The Valley of Elah, Narc and Sleepers, despite the fact he's in four films this year. This is an example of his talent as a character actor, providing a key cynical humour that elevates the whole film. Mark Margolis has been sorely missed since his memorable exit in Breaking Bad but he struggles in a difficult role to pull off convincingly. You can rely on his natural gruff looks to feel the part though.

Louisa Krause has done lots of bit parts in notable films but she's great in a subversive leading role though she's not quite as well-measured as Patric. However, the film ends with literally the oldest trick in the book. I'm going to just pretend it finished two minutes earlier and say The Confines was solid for what it was but underwhelming when it comes to conclusion. I was ready to dig into it for a deeper interpretation of what it could represent as it doesn't really take on a conventional fear besides the dark, but its final moments aren't keen for this to be a film to remember. My commendations remain with the acting and production, which easily rise above the standards horror is held to these days.

6/10

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not recommended

[sjarja · 2/10 · 25 June 2016]

I'll make it quick... The Abandoned has a rather boring story that has been told in many a suspense movies before. Although the end may explain the many questions and plot holes - it remains a highly unsatisfying movie.

The acting is over the top. Instead of subtlety, the actors pretty much switch from one extreme to another.

Also - even a Ninja Turtle animated episode is probably scarier than this movie.

It is a very disappointing 2/10. It is not a 1 because it is not dreadful - just boring.

The Abandoned

[a_baron · 8/10 · 29 October 2016]

Some people can't be trusted to carry out the simplest of tasks. Julia is a single mother who has obviously had a troubled life, possibly due to substance abuse. Her mother is threatening to apply for full custody of her daughter, so this is the last chance saloon. She gets a well-paid job on the graveyard shift guarding a massive deserted palatial complex that has never been occupied owing to the slump. There is only her and the time-serving Cooper, who is confined to a wheelchair. All she has to do is watch screens all night, walk about every two hours, and don't let anybody in. What could be simpler? And of course, on her very first night she breaks every rule in the book, but if she didn't there would be no film, would there? Cooper is of the opinion she will last a week at most, par for the course due to a combination of the boredom and his sparkling wit.

As it turns out, girlie guard does have a pill problem, but not the recreational kind; she "sees things" others can't see, and the good doktor has prescribed these to ensure she doesn't continue to see them. Cooper is not impressed with her explanation that the things she sees are indeed real, especially in this vast empty building in spite of its past; apparently part of it has not always been unoccupied.

There is a massive twist in the end which is open to interpretation or misinterpretation, but this isn't a bad effort considering most of the film consists of people walking around in the dark.

Great first hour .... but the ending ruined it .....

[PimpinAinttEasy · 6/10 · 28 March 2016]

Dear Eytan Rockaway,

your first full length feature film was a good effort. For the first one hour at least. The location (an old building with many claustrophobic corridors and impenetrable rooms) and the atmosphere were perfect for a horror film.

A melancholic young woman (Louisa Krause) takes a job as a security guard at an empty old building with some spectacular architecture. Her interactions with her paraplegic and cynical colleague (a great Jason Patric) are the best parts of the film. The film is a great study of how the relationship between two people confined in a abandoned building engaged in stressful jobs develops over time. Some of Patric's dialogues and the way he delivered them were hilarious. The character reminded me of Jim Broadbent's in Art School Confidential.

But the rather strange twist and some of the scares ruined the film towards the end. It was a shame because the first one hour was quite entertaining. But I would definitely watch more of your films.

Best Regards, Pimpin.

(6/10)

Disappointed

[danjonesx · 3/10 · 15 August 2016]

Normally I'm extremely skeptical on horror movies. Most of the time I'm skeptical when it comes to "Will this scare me?" or "Will this put me on edge and accomplish what horror movies are meant to?"

After finishing watching the Abandoned, I can say it managed to accomplish both of those two things for about 95% of the movie.

The film had some obvious cues as to what was going to happen. Most horrors seem to hold basics of when a happens b is to follow followed by c. Even with the predictable moments, it still was able to keep my attention.

I was gripped onto the story of the film up until the very end. The ending of this film threw off the entire film for me. Perhaps there is a reason as to why it was written and produced as it was, but for me, it felt like it had gone a little too far in attempts to twist things up. If the directors and/or writers chose to go down a different path, I might have been left liking this film immensely more instead of instantly hating the ending to feeling as if it has effected the entire film.