Ok, I’ll admit, it’s been awhile since I’ve been scared by a movie. I am about as jaded of a horror movie fan as they come and I have pretty much seen it all. To be honest I never really expected to be truly unnerved by a movie again. I was wrong. Oh so very wrong.

Nacho Cerda’s “The Abandoned” is a truly terrifying experience, filled with claustrophobic dread and the kind of nightmarish surreal atmosphere that stays with you long into the darkness of sleep. If follows you around every corner tugging at your brain until you finally succumb to it’s will. It makes you dizzy with fear.

Superbly acted and vividly realized with some of the most effective photography and sound design I have seen and heard in years, if there is going to be one complaint it will invariably be with the plot. Yes there are holes. And yes there are going to be points where you wonder what the hell is going on. But the film is handled with such care and precise direction that these faults become assets, aiding the already surreal nature of the movie, reminding you of the disjointed nature of nightmares and how they seem so non-linear and real at the same time.

If you allow it “The Abandoned” will take you on the rarest of rides. One of true terror. One you will not soon forget. “The Abandoned” joins the ranks of a select few. Films that have achieved a rare status with me, a film I can admit I will never watch alone. Ever.