Abandoned (2010)

Abandoned (2010)
Directed by: Michael Feifer
Written by: Jeffrey Schenck, Peter Sullivan
Starring: Brittany Murphy, Dean Cain, Stan Bly

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a4WQUd2jmc[/youtube]

Abandoned (2010)

(15) Running time: 88 minutes

Director: Michael Fiefer

Writers: Peter Sullivan, Jeffrey Schenck

Starring: Brittany Murphy, Dean Cain, Stan Bly, Mimi Rogers, Peter Bogdanovich, Jay Pickett

Reviewed by: Matt Wavish, official HCF critic

I believe that Abandoned was Brittany Murphy’s final major starring role before she sadly passed on, and what a shame it is that she should go out on such a great performance. Great things were ready and waiting for her, and even though Abandoned is not the most perfect of films, it certainly shows off Murphy’s impressive skills as an actress. Here she is called upon to go through all sorts of emotions and possible mental breakdown’s in a twisty thriller that is guaranteed to catch you off guard.

Murphy plays Mary Walsh, a young girl who has recently found her perfect boyfriend. Never lucky in love, she believes she has finally found ‘the one’ in Kevin (Dean Cain). Wasting no time for introductions the film heads straight into the story as Mary delivers Kevin to hospital for a routine operation on his leg, a hospital which is in the process of closing one of its wards and moving patients out. After parking up, Mary heads on in and wishes Kevin well before leaving him to the operation which is only expected to last an hour or so. Many hours later Mary is concerned and goes looking for Kevin as she has not heard from him. Asking around it would appear that Kevin’s name is not on the computer system, no one has heard of him, and the Doctor treating him is on holiday. Naturally Mary begins to panic and get angry, and so the manager is called in and security start a search for the missing boyfriend. An outside detective called Franklin (Pickett) gets called in and starts to investigate, but everything begins to show that Kevin never existed, and that Mary just might be a little crazy. In one scene she drops her anti depressant pills on the floor, only adding to Detective Franklin’s theory that she has lost it. Security camera footage doesn’t show and awful lot, and the hospital’s psychiatrist is called in to help Mary.

As you can probably guess, things are not as they seem, and the story does offer up a number of plot twists and some well crafted surprises. Murphy does a superb job in handling the damsel in distress role to the more aggressive, let’s sort this out kind of character. The small budget allows the camerawork to feel real and authentic, it doesn’t quite feel like a polished movie and so adds some well crafted tension and menace thanks to the strong lighting and lack of colour. Yellows and whites are the key  colouring here and they really do make the film feel a little uneasy. Some of the acting is questionable, especially the main security guard, but thankfully Murphy counteracts the bad acting with a strong performance you cannot help but side with. She also becomes more attractive as the film continues forward, and with her good looks comes vulnerability. The hospital setting adds some nice atmosphere, and the often edge of your seat plot is extremely engaging. For such a simple idea, the director cranks up the tension and makes something quite impressive out of a very simple idea. All in all, Abandoned, average as it is, certainly hit the mark.

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