THE ABANDONED
Release Date: June 19
Starring: Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden
Director: Nacho Cerdà
Length: 94 minutes
Price: $26.09

You need to stick with “The Abandoned.” It’s a slow-moving horror-thriller that builds tension and chills as it moves along. Part of After Dark’s “8 Films to Die For” festival, “The Abandoned” is about an American woman who returns to her birthplace in Russia, seeking answers to her mysterious past. While there, she meets a man who claims to be her twin brother and together they encounter ghosts and the horrible events that led to their home being abandonded and uninhabited for the last 40 years. The movie works more on a psychological level and doesn’t focus much on the blood and gore as most horror movies do today, which is refreshing. It delivers the creeps the good ol’ fashioned way.

DVD GOODIES
Includes the featurette “The Making of The Abandoned.”

Not long into the movie, you realize the filmmakers squandered a golden opportunity. I got a thrill when I noticed that the cops investigating Richard Speck’s murders were played by Andrew “Wishmaster” Divoff and Tony “Candyman” Todd. So, I’m thinking, The movie I want to see is “Wishmaster Vs. Candyman.” Okay, I got that off my chest… “Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck” is the tale of a drifter (Corin Nemic) responsible for one of the worst mass murders in history. Speck beat, raped, stabbed, and shot a group of student nurses in one night of brutality in 1966. Nemic (”Parker Lewis Can’t Lose”) does an admirable job playing the psycho Speck and it’s always cool to listen to Divoff talk. But I’d only recommend the movie to fans of such low-budget serial killer flicks as “Ed Gein” or “Dahmer.” DVD special features include audio commentary with director Michael Feifer and Corin Nemic as well as a stills gallery. Currently available | $19.99

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