This is the kind of movie I hate reviewing. It always, always, ALWAYS results in conversations like this: "The movie was beautiful, it had great visuals and great acting and a great sense of dread and foreboding." "So did you like it?" "No, it made me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon." "Um, why?" Why indeed. I should start by saying that I couldn't WAIT to see this movie. I was excited about it, because I enjoyed the other After Dark Horrorfest films and figured this would be no exception (especially since everyone raves about how original this movie is). And right from the beginning the movie pulled me in with Anastasia Hille's superb acting and the movie's overwhelming sense of menace. The threat of danger is palpable while you're watching the movie, and the atmosphere is so prevalent that you can almost smell the musty scent of the house as Hille walks the halls investigating every strange noise.

And I felt for her character, even though her tough exterior made her seem like an insufferable bitch to other people, I could see in her eyes that she was trying to distance herself from everyone else, searching for meaning in the old house even while trying to pretend it didn't matter to her. The discovery that she has a twin brother that she never knew about frightens her, and the house pulls such a mind fuck on her that she doesn't know what to believe or trust anymore since nothing seems real. Windows crack and then heal themselves, she sees ghostly apparitions that can't possibly be real (or can they?) and the more she searches for answers the less she understands. There's a very real sense that this movie is a modern tragedy, no matter what the characters do they won't be able to escape their fate or destiny and as they spiral down toward doom, we mourn for them. So what? I've just sold you on the movie, and I myself admit that there's lots to love about it, so why did I have the overwhelming urge to throw my television off a cliff while I was watching the movie? It's because the story is original as everyone says it is...because it doesn't make any sense!

And why does Karel Roden's character suddenly become omniscient halfway through the movie and know exactly what is going on? I accept when I'm watching Freddy vs. Jason that when a character suddenly sits up and says "Freddy was killed by fire, Jason was killed by water, how can we use this?" that it's a ridiculous plot leap, but I let it slide because I was having fun. Forgive me for sounding like a snob, but I expect better from a movie like The Abandoned. If a character suddenly knows everything that's going on, I want to know why. And Hille just accepts it when he says it like it makes one damn bit of sense when it doesn't. I can see that the past has a powerful hold on them, and something about how their father wanted to kill them all so they'd be together and their mother stopped it but since it was meant to be she couldn't stop it for long and now fate has come back to get them...or something like that. But why? Why does he have this supernatural power?

Why was he able to take corporeal form and pretend to be a lawyer handing them the papers that led them to the house? This movie aims high and falls hard for me because it can't be asked to explain what it's raving on about. And it's very frustrating, because with a few added lines to explain everything, even the brother's sudden burst of omniscience wouldn't have been too much of a problem. It's as though the screenwriter couldn't be bothered, and that bothers ME, because the movie could have been damn near flawless with just a little added effort.

Great atmosphere, great acting (and I mean that, I truly believed and felt for these character's stories), great visuals, great score...and then a jumbled mess of plot salad and it's all over with. I don't mind being asked to think, but I shouldn't have to do the scriptwriter's job for him. I can think of a few explanations for almost everything the script leaves hanging, but in the end I feel like I shouldn't have to do that. I feel like I'm making excuses for laziness in what is otherwise a very tight film in every other aspect. And I won't do that. The flaws don't kill the film, but they sure put me in the mood to kill something by the time it's over.

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