Found footage is a very popular and extremely oversaturated subgenre. Like other areas of the genre facing the same problem, it’s harder for filmmakers to impress audiences. We’ve seen it all and think we know where every movie is going because everything has been done before. Which is why trying to reinvent the wheel feels futile, and promising something we’ve never seen before causes audiences to turn on cocky directors. This is a huge part of why Abandoned works. It’s focused on scaring you and adding its own special razzle-dazzle to your next panic attack.
I’m going to hold your hand when I tell you Abandoned isn’t a pure found footage film. Instead, it fuses diegetic and non-diegetic cameras to lead us into (and out of) this terrifying ordeal. I’m also going to tell you that not boxing itself into a corner allowed the film to go much harder than anyone could have predicted. Rather than trying to justify why a camera would be rolling in certain moments, it focuses on worldbuilding and scaring the pants off you.
What Is This Movie?
The film introduces us to Jess Burn (Grace Gallagher) and Adam Walker (Cameron Wight). They are two friends who explore scary spaces for their channel. Their working relationship has begun to take a toll on their friendship, and Jess clearly wants out. Meanwhile, Adam has found their next abandoned facility to investigate and has lost the uninsured drone while trying to collect footage. Like any good scary movie, choices are made. The duo makes their first bad decision and heads into the scary space.
We’ve been here before with two people taking the frustrating route. Both leads understand the assignment and deliver, but I’m not going to pretend you haven’t gone down a similar road before. However, in a year when most movies have been scareless, this terrifying gem is like a breath of fresh air. While you’re watching the beautiful shots and mentally writing it off, the movie has already trapped you in this rollercoaster of nightmares. The script is penned by Joe Bird, Andrew Daniel, and Joby Stephens (who also directs). It won me over with its Resident Evil vibes placed over a haunted asylum that must be located in hell. Listening to the woman on my left react to the movie let me know I wasn’t the only one feeling a little rattled in my screening.
Real Talk
I wanted to fight Adam. As he kept leading Jess to another circle of hell, he felt too realistic. Their relationship is similar to anyone who has ever followed someone who clearly doesn’t have survival instincts. Their constant arguing while being forced to go through this terrifying ordeal is so earned. The entire cast deserves some love just for the physical demands of the roles and how they pull it off. I don’t want to ruin anything, but Ashlee Montague and Sofie Dossi get to do some really badass things while looking ghoulishly cool. Meanwhile, our two leads had to work on endurance to hold these heavy cameras for some exceptionally long takes.
Stephens and company shared with the Screamfest LA crowd how this process was different. The actors were reacting to things as they saw them for the first time. Things were written, but they were given limited details to help them nail the fear and dread. To keep things seamless, there are also some exceptionally long takes, which meant departments had to get creative when applying SFX makeup. Learning about this at the Q&A hit me right in my recovering theatre kid heart and made everything even more impressive. It also explains why the two actors’ bond was so believable. They were literally the only other person experiencing this terror from their POV.
‘Tis A Banger
Abandoned goes above and beyond while trying to get you to piss yourself. It legitimately feels like you’re stuck in a never-ending escape room alongside Jess and Adam. The movement and shadows behind the duo make you lean forward and become painfully aware that they are not alone in this building. Each sick piece of the puzzle they find feels like another nail in their coffin. This movie is stressful because of how it weaponizes the moving parts of the genre we assume we know too well. It knows what it has to do, but does it on its own terms. We love earned confidence, and that’s the reason the transitions in and out of this nightmarish journey are carved into my brain.
Abandoned is an unexpected banger. It’s like a seatbeltless rollercoaster of WTF moments. It also reminds us that we can have fucked up and fun cinema on a tiny budget.
Miss Sharai Bohannon
I am a playwright, aspiring screenwriter, podcaster, and a bunch of other words I’m not allowed to use here. I am one-half of the podcast 'Blerdy Massacre', and I host another podcast, ‘A Nightmare on Fierce Street’, as well. I have bylines at Fangoria, HorrorBuzz, Neon Splatter, NightTide Magazine, and some other cool online outlets. I can usually be found yelling about intersectional horror on some social media platform or another. I am also a proud member of CherryPicks, The Online Association of Female Film Critics, and Rotten Tomatoes. If you can’t tell, I’m really fun at parties.
