The Abandoned

From time to time, horror filmmakers try to conjure up the ultimate in haunted houses (particularly strenuous efforts include The Haunted Mansion and the remake of The Haunting). Spanish fright flick THE ABANDONED (released in English) features an especially atmospheric example: a farmhouse moldering away in the dense backwoods of Russia. Unfortunately, the plot accompanying the chilling location is tedious, downbeat, and distasteful. Both Roden and Hille are respected actors in Europe, and they try to bring the material to life, even though the movie mainly just has them creeping and sliding amid the murk, mud, and caving-in floorboards.

As in PG-13 chillers like The Sixth Sense and The Others, a buried plot twist in The Abandonded tries to startle viewers into realizing that they've been fooled for part of the story -- but there really wasn't all that much story here in the first place. What plot there is seems to be rooted in universal ghost-story motifs (like the famous "crybaby bridge" urban legend) that kids in communities everywhere whisper to each other as true -- and which often contain seeds of folklore traditions about child abuse and neglect. Parents and teens will likely have a better time talking about that kind of chilling legend than watching this movie.