ABANDONED DEAD ** U.S.A. 2016 Dir: Mark W. Curran 78 mins
Sarah Nicklin (THE DISCO EXORCIST) stars as the security guard Rachel Burke, who after a long day shift is asked to do the night shift at a medical centre in a less then attractive part of town. Rachel reluctantly accepts the job even though she has a fear of the dark which will be explained later in the film. Greeted by the perky receptionist, Rachel is quickly shown around and what to do on her rounds before being left alone in the medical centre for the night.
It is not long before things start to appear in the darkness adding more to Rachel’s fear of the dark. As the film progresses we hear alot of loud noises which are there purely to add a cheap scare and are not effective. Cue Rachel walking around in the dark brandishing her torch which as you may well guess runs out of power. More supernatural elements turn up before the film has a neat little plot twist but its all a little too late to add anything to the film. There is a moment in the film where the radio is on and the radio host seems to thinks she is Adrienne Barbeau’s character from ‘THE FOG‘ (1980), right down to saying things like “look out for that fog bank“. Look out for Judith O’ Dea (Barbara, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) (1968) in a role that is key to the plot twist. Nicklin does her best with what the role has to offer but this somewhat effective psychological horror at 78 minutes long mainly consists of banging, clanging and jump scares. The cinematography is of very good quality but overall its not a great movie and will be easily forgotten.
Review by Peter ‘Witchfinder‘ Hopkins
