A staple of the 80's, horror anthologies have experienced an resurgence as of late, with V/H/S and The ABC's of Death leading the charge in bringing audiences a collection of digestible, done in one horror stories. Now, it's the turn of indie feature Abandoned in the Dark to fly the anthology flag.
Telling four, loosely connected stories that thrust you forwards, backwards, and sideways on the movie's timeline, Abandoned in the Dark is a low budget, lo-fi affair free from any of the typical horror movie trappings. The only monsters here are human, and it forgoes any supernatural elements or gore, relying on old fashioned suspense to keep the audiences on edge. The budget constraints are felt from time to time, but the movie makes great use of what it has, adding to its charm. Ranging from an office manager dealing with the consequences of firing a vengeful employee to a helpline worker receiving sinister threats, each story is told in episodic twenty minute chunks, and are a wonderful slow burn, director Mike Lordi showing a fantastic talent for building tension, especially with one sequence presented in complete darkness. The episodic nature does rob the movie of its momentum somewhat, essentially restarting every twenty minutes with each story following the same structure of set up, stakes raising, and pay off. But they are well told, thankfully never outstaying their welcome, and once they get going, you find yourself hooked as the screws are tightened even further. The tales do get predictable as they go on, but the script from Lordi and David Boyle (based on his own book), throws us enough curve balls to keep things feeling fresh. The cast, led by Kane Hodder (horror movie royalty after portraying Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th parts 7 through 10), are made up of relative unknowns, but they play their roles admirably.
While it won't light the horror genre on fire, Abandoned in the Dark does a great job with it has, delivering a perfectly enjoyable experience.
Telling four, loosely connected stories that thrust you forwards, backwards, and sideways on the movie's timeline, Abandoned in the Dark is a low budget, lo-fi affair free from any of the typical horror movie trappings. The only monsters here are human, and it forgoes any supernatural elements or gore, relying on old fashioned suspense to keep the audiences on edge. The budget constraints are felt from time to time, but the movie makes great use of what it has, adding to its charm. Ranging from an office manager dealing with the consequences of firing a vengeful employee to a helpline worker receiving sinister threats, each story is told in episodic twenty minute chunks, and are a wonderful slow burn, director Mike Lordi showing a fantastic talent for building tension, especially with one sequence presented in complete darkness. The episodic nature does rob the movie of its momentum somewhat, essentially restarting every twenty minutes with each story following the same structure of set up, stakes raising, and pay off. But they are well told, thankfully never outstaying their welcome, and once they get going, you find yourself hooked as the screws are tightened even further. The tales do get predictable as they go on, but the script from Lordi and David Boyle (based on his own book), throws us enough curve balls to keep things feeling fresh. The cast, led by Kane Hodder (horror movie royalty after portraying Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th parts 7 through 10), are made up of relative unknowns, but they play their roles admirably.
While it won't light the horror genre on fire, Abandoned in the Dark does a great job with it has, delivering a perfectly enjoyable experience.
