a_baron Review of The Abandoned

The Abandoned (2015)

The Abandoned

[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.