DVD Reviews

Abandoned

 When you see the names Dean Cain and Tim Thomerson you know you're either in for a fun ride or a really bad one. Abandoned unfortunately falls into the later category. While having Brittany Murphy as the lead actor had me intrigued, she just didn't have the acting chops to save this film.

Mary is a high-powered career woman who brings her new boyfriend to the hospital for minor outpatient surgery. But when she returns later to pick him up, he has mysteriously vanished. The police can't help her. Her friends - who have never met him - don't believe her. Is the hospital administrator involved in a creepy cover-up? Could Mary's increasingly frantic state be connected to her previous psychiatric issues? Is it possible her boyfriend doesn't exist at all? Now Mary is about to discover the shocking truth... and the nightmare has only just begun.

Audio is presented in 5.1  Surround and while is isn’t exactly adventurous, it manages to do the film justice. Dialogue is always clean, clear and understandable. Surrounds aren’t used very often and when they are, they aren’t exactly enveloping. It’s not a bad track, just nothing to write home about. Video comes in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colours are pretty accurate with true skin tones (for the most part). Black levels are consistent though not exactly ink black. Detail is a mixed bag. Most of the well lit scenes are pretty clear with only a slight softness to them while darker scenes or even room lit scenes, are much, much softer.

The DVD opens with trailers for Growth, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and The Disappearance of Alice Creed. These are not accessible from any of the menus. You can however access a trailer for Abandoned. There are no other extras to be found.

I’m sure Brittany Murphy never thought she’d end her career in a low budget stinker of a film with Dean Cain and Tim Thomerson. I loved her in Don’t Say a Word. I thought she did a fantastic job but in Abandoned she is coming off as some nobody actor in what you might think was her first role! We all know what to expect from the likes of Dean Cain and Thomerson but throw in Mimi Rogers and Peter Bogdanovich and Abandoned should have had the makings of something half decent. The idea behind the film was decent, though you’d get better mysteries watching Murder She Wrote. The low budget look, poor acting and directing just take this film down so far that it shouldn’t have even been made. I’m sure the “pitch” for the film was more entertaining than what came out as the final product. Don’t bother with this one… even a PG-13 rating isn’t going to save it. An R rating might have but we’ll never know now.

Review By Rob Harding