I guess you folks aren’t from around here
Main Cast: Emma Roberts, John Gallagher Jr.
Director: Spencer Squires
Sara (Emma Roberts) and Alex (John Gallagher, Jr.) have just moved into a new home, their dream farm where Alex can practice his veterinary skills on the local livestock. Man, how many horror movies start that way, couple moves into a new house? (I can think of one or two off the top of my head.) Before they sign the papers, the realtor informs them of a murder/suicide that took place here, but Alex really wants Sara to want the place and Sara really wants Alex to be happy, so they say they’ll take it.
It doesn’t take long for Sara to start hearing noises in the middle of the night: children laughing, footsteps running here and there. Things start to go missing: their baby Liam’s pacifier, their wedding photo Alex had hung over the mantle, a toy tractor.
Alex insists it’s post-partum depression and that maybe she needs to be medicated. Sara insists she’s 1) not crazy and 2) breastfeeding Liam is the time she feels the most connected to him. And that’s important because in general Sara doesn’t feel much of a connection to her newborn. If she goes on medication, she won’t be able to do that anymore.
But mostly, she’s not crazy.
ABANDONED is one of those frustrating movies that plays with reality, but only so far as one character is concerned. SARA sees ghosts. SARA hears noises. SARA thinks there’s something in the house with them.
Alex see and hears none of it and fears for Liam’s safety when he’s not around. Which is a problem for him because he’s been pretty in-demand around the area since they moved here.
And then there’s Renner (Michael Shannon), their closest neighbor. He knew the family that lived there before, and living in the aftermath of that tragedy has taken its toll on him as well.
For the most part, I enjoyed ABANDONED. I think it laid the ghost stuff on pretty heavy at times, and I think the third act reveal in the secret room either came out of nowhere or went nowhere, maybe even both, but the ending definitely felt just a little off because of it. They could have saved the ending and maybe even the movie with just one more draft to cover the gaps that reveal opened.
Ending aside, I liked it well enough, I guess. Didn’t LOVE it, probably won’t ever watch it again, but I’m not making bargains with Father Time to get back the hour and 42 minutes I spent watching it. I don’t see anything listed for the writer or director of this one (Erik Patterson and Spencer Squire respectively), nor do I expect to any time too soon. And if I didn’t already know and respect the three main actors in this one, I’d say the same about them; the characters they portrayed were all either written purposely “slow” or they were all given the same direction to “play it dumb and unlikable.”
ABANDONED is psychological ghost story by the numbers and does not bother trying to tread new ground. Then again, cliches became cliches for a reason: because they work. And on some level, I’m sure ABANDONED would scratch that ghost story itch if you’ve got it. Just don’t expect to go to work the next day raving about this awesome horror movie you saw last night. Unless you happened to watch, say, SINNERS afterward.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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