Abandoned

If you’ve ever looked at a perfectly renovated farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and thought, “This is exactly where my mental health goes to die,” then you’ve already tapped into the frequency of Abandoned. We’re currently living in an era where "prestige horror" has become obsessed with trauma as a literal monster, and this 2022 release from director Spencer Squire tries to plant its flag firmly in that soil. It’s a film that arrived with a whisper, earned a measly $60,500 at the box office, and then promptly migrated to the digital bargain bins where most of us eventually found it.

I caught this one on a rainy Tuesday night while eating a bowl of slightly burnt popcorn—the kind where you’ve let the kernels at the bottom get a little too much "character"—and honestly, that felt like the perfect atmosphere for a movie that is essentially a slow-burn architectural nightmare.

The Ghosts in the Nursery

The setup is classic contemporary horror: Sara (Emma Roberts) and Alex (John Gallagher Jr.) move into a remote farmhouse with their infant son, Liam. Sara is struggling with postpartum psychosis, a heavy and harrowing subject that the film tries to navigate alongside the more traditional "creepy house" tropes. Emma Roberts, who we usually see leaning into the sharp-tongued camp of American Horror Story or Scream Queens, plays it remarkably straight here. She’s fragile, frayed, and clearly white-knuckling her way through motherhood.

The house, of course, has a history. It wouldn’t be a thriller if the previous owners had just moved out because the schools were better in the next county over. No, there’s a secret hidden in the walls regarding the Solomon family, and the presence of a mysterious neighbor named Renner—played by the always-intense Michael Shannon—suggests that the past isn’t quite finished with the present. Michael Shannon could read a grocery list and make it sound like a prophecy of doom, and here, he’s used as a sort of human fog, rolling into scenes to provide gravitas and a healthy dose of unease.

Atmosphere vs. Execution

Visually, the film is quite handsome. Cinematographer Corey C. Waters makes the most of the farmhouse, utilizing long shadows and a muted color palette that reflects Sara’s internal state. There’s a specific kind of dread that comes with a baby monitor crackling in a dark room, and Abandoned leans hard into that auditory anxiety. The sound design is crisp, though it occasionally relies on those "stinger" chords that tell you exactly when to be scared, rather than letting the silence do the heavy lifting.

However, the film struggles with the "is it a ghost or is it a hallucination?" balancing act that movies like The Babadook or Hereditary handled with more surgical precision. The screenplay seems terrified to actually commit to being a full-blown ghost story. By trying to be both a sensitive portrait of a woman’s breaking point and a supernatural thriller, it ends up feeling a bit diluted. It’s a common hurdle in the current streaming era: movies that feel like they’ve been focus-grouped to appeal to fans of A24-style "elevated horror" while still trying to satisfy the jump-scare cravings of the VOD market.

Lost in the Streaming Shuffle

Why did this movie vanish? Part of it is the sheer volume of content we’re drowning in. Abandoned is a Vertical release, a distributor known for picking up mid-budget indies and dropping them onto digital platforms with minimal fanfare. In the age of franchise dominance, a small-scale domestic thriller without a "hook" beyond its lead actress faces a steep uphill battle. It’s the kind of film that would have been a solid rental at Blockbuster in the 90s, but in 2022, it was just another tile in an infinite scroll.

The trivia behind the scenes is as sparse as the Solomon farmhouse. It’s notable as one of Emma Roberts' early ventures into producing, showing her interest in moving beyond just being the face on the poster. Also, eagle-eyed horror fans might recognize Addy Miller as Anna Solomon; she was the very first "Little Girl Zombie" that Rick Grimes encountered in the pilot of The Walking Dead. It’s a fun full-circle moment for a genre veteran.

Ultimately, Abandoned is a "mood" movie. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and it certainly won't replace the classics of the genre, but it offers a showcase for Emma Roberts to do some grounded dramatic work. It’s a film that understands the terror of being alone with your own thoughts, even if it doesn’t quite know how to exorcise them.

Abandoned is a perfectly serviceably Friday night thriller that suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. While the performances from Roberts and Shannon are strong enough to keep you watching, the script plays it a little too safe with its "is it real?" mystery. It’s a quiet entry in the contemporary horror landscape that works best if you go in with low expectations and a high tolerance for slow-moving shadows.