Abandoned

Starring:TamÃ¡s MÃ©szÃ¡ros (III), Szabolcs Csizmadia, Attila ZsilÃ¡k, PÃ©ter MÃ¼ller (II), Imre ThÃºri, KrisztiÃ¡n TÃ³th, ZoltÃ¡n NÃ¡dhÃ¡zi, PÃ¡l MÃ¡csai, LÃ¡szlÃ³ GÃ¡lffi, DÃ³ra LÃ©tay, TamÃ¡s Fodor, SÃ¡ndor GÃ¡spÃ¡r, Krisztina Somogyi, Lajos KovÃ¡cs, LÃ¡szlÃ³ SzabÃ³, TamÃ¡s ErdÃµsi, JÃ³zsef OszkÃ³, Rudolf Frecska, EnikÃ¶ Eszenyi
Director: ÃrpÃ¡d Sopsits
Studio: Picture This
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Nine-year-old Aron finds himself abandoned at a bleak orphanage by his recently divorced and despondent father. The ultra-strict nature of the institution comes as a complete shock to the boy, and he must frequently endure beatings both from the staff and the other boys. He finds solace in a special relationship with his young classmate Attila. And that sexual awakening gives him the courage to lead his peers in revolt. In Hungarian with English subtitles.

Description

An American woman searching for her birth parents learns she has inherited a house in the middle of a forest in a remote area of Russia. It is the house where she was born. Abandoned and uninhabited for 40 years, it stands in total disrepair and neglect. What she finds is more than an old house. She meets a mysterious man claiming to be her twin brother and together they find the house holds dangerous secrets to a past they don't even remember. They are forced to relive a series of horrifying events and shocking murders that occurred just after they were born, and in the place where they were supposed to die.

Customer Reviews:

It was worth it as a movie rental........2007-07-02

I just watched this movie last night. I have to say that the middle portion lingered a lot but the ending was quite fascinating. I found myself rewinding the movie to catch certain details that were later replayed in the movie. Like the scene where the main female character gets bumped into as she's walking up the stairs. People who have seen this movie will understand what I'm talking about. I also found it interesting that the two characters (the supposed fraternal twins) wind up enduring the very same fate that they tried to escape as babies. One involving water and the other one, well, it was a bit more gruesome.
This movie really wasn't about gore or something truly scary. To me it was something a bit deeper. For me it was about time lines and how, for some, a destiny is inevitable. And how inexorably determined spirits can cross into the physical world to claim something they feel is theirs.
I didn't think the acting was bad either. It wasn't profound per se. I found humor in Karel Roden's "toilet mouth" outbursts when faced with something overwhelmingly scary. Maybe it's just me but I like it when a woman uses the "F" word. :)
I'd actually like to give this movie "3.5" stars but that option isn't available. So I'm feeling generous and am giving it 4. I'm glad I rented it. As the movie climaxed to explain all the details toward the end, I thought it was quite creative. No regrets here for having rented it.

A deeper darker look at the Final Destination concept, where death takes the form of an abusive parent........2007-06-30

However death is a little more patient than in Final Destination he'll give you 40 years or so, and if you don't follow your destination death might just leave you alone.
I read a review of The Abandoned in the August 2007 issue of Fangoria #265 under the VIDEO EYE OF DR. CYCLOPS section. I actually have never seen him give a rating over 2 1/2 eyeballs out of 4 that I can recall and I've been getting Fangoria now for about a year and a half to two years, so when i saw him give 3 1/2 eyeballs on the cyclops rating and made it video of the month i had to pick it up. I figured either it's gonna be good and I'd have a good reference for horror, or even better all the movies he thought sucked maybe were actually great.
At first i was hesitant, ok so she runs away from this house crosses a lake runs all day and boom she's back at the house she started at, Blair Witch Project anyone. The above referenced house that her parents owned in 1966 is surrounded on all sides by water only way out is a bridge that resembles the bridge in Evil Dead 2, Who are these peoples real estate agents? Perhaps the same that sold the Amity ville house and just relocated to Russia. The house basically eats her brother, I was waiting to hear Kathleen Turners raspy voice from Monster house. Then i stopped trying to find things wrong, what horror movie can't you poke holes in and how hard must it be to at least not be subconsciously influenced by other horror movies i mean everything has been done, and writer director Nacho Cerdà does put his own spin on this.
I can also see what DR. CYCLOPS means when in his review he says that "the film's deliberate pacing (particularly during its wandering about in circles midsection) might annoy ADD-afflicted viewers in search of typical hollywood horror hokum". Not this viewer I'm always looking for something different and i wasn't let down. This movie is best to not analyze until it's over and you look at it as a whole without breaking it down into parts.
So, the plot it's pretty simple, SIKE, it's anything but. An adopted woman from Ca returns to where she was born in Russia seeking information about her mother. She leaves behind a daughter of her own who she briefly argues with about having her older boyfriend in the house.
A man she meets with in Russia tells her that her mother's house has been left to her.
She is driven to her mother's house by an unknown man in a truck that looks straight out of Jeepers Creepers. Once there the man disappears and soon after she meets another man in the house who is there for the same reasons as her own. Soon ghostly manifestations show up actually more zombie like, well the man (who is this man?) has a gun, so shoot them right, k bang, whoops he shoots the zombie in the leg and he ends up with a bullet in his own leg. This zombie looks allot like him, oh it is him, i know what your thinking and your wrong. I'll say this, it's a good thing he didn't see any zombie movies, if it was me I'd shoot the zombie in the head without hesitation and then the movie would only be about 60mins. What happens after this I'll leave to you.
On a serious note this is a horror movie like a lot of horror movies that just might be trying to say something. Maybe we shouldn't chase the past. Maybe things happen for a reason be it the end of a relationship or growing up without a parents more literally. Perhaps things are better left alone and we should move on and not dwell on or dig up the past, especially if your last name is Kaidavosky and your family tree resembles the tree from Poltergeist, it might just be better to be "Abandoned"!
I've heard negative things from the After Dark Horrorfest movies i personally found the majority to be pretty good. Other than this Gravedancers, Unrest, The Hamiltons, and Reincarnation was also a bit freaky. They all try to be scary and take themselves seriously.
I'll be interested in catching some of the new one's in After Dark Horrorfest 2, in the meantime check this one out, let me know what you think.
One other thing The Dolby Digital 5.1 Track also gave my Sonus Faber speakers a pretty good work out.

I hate horror movies........2007-06-28

I hate horror movies. Horror movies should be banned from civilized
society. Yes, that means the U.S. too, theoretically.

The Real Deal.......2007-06-25

I didn't know what to expect when I put in the Abandoned. 2 other movies from the horrorfest that I'd watched were good, but not great. Also the older protagonists were a welcome change from the usual teenage/early 20's players that are the formula these days.
The setting is the creepiest house you've ever seen. I was scared as soon as the main character arrives on the grounds of the old family house she has inherited. This was one of the few movies that actually had me hiding under the covers as I watched.
The story was unsettling, the direction and cinematography were excellent. I loved it.

Abandon all hope..........2007-06-23

They say, when your times up, your time is up. Well this movie shows it well. No matter what you try to do, eventually the past will come to haunt you. Some creepy moments in this atmospheric adventure. Although, many questions are still unanswered. For example, what were the motives for the murders? All in all, a good suspenseful movie, at a slow pace. Good acting and interesting enough to keep you on your toes. See this one, and dont let this movie on the shelf, abandonned:)

Seduced & Abandoned - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

Seduced and Abandoned
Battling For Honor--A Classic Italian Comedy Takes No Prisoners
Hilarious!
a nice Italian comedy
Hilarious, at times painful -- don't miss this Italian Cinema classic

Seduced & Abandoned - Criterion Collection
Starring: Stefania Sandrelli , Saro Urzì , Aldo Puglisi , Lando Buzzanca , and Lola Braccini
Director: Pietro Germi
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Conformist (Extended Edition)

ASIN: B000FUF7D0
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Amazon.com

The graceful, biting, deadpan humor of Italian director Pietro Germi has no parallel; it fuses the sly wit of Ernst Lubitsch with the bilious social critique of Luis Bunuel. In Seduced and Abandoned, the blackest of black comedies, a young girl named Agnese (the delectable Stefania Sandrelli, fresh from Germi's Divorce Italian Style) is seduced by her sister's fiance, setting in motion a series of increasingly deranged pretenses by which Agnese's apoplectic father (the volcanic Saro Urzi) attempts to salvage the family honor. Central to everything is a legal code that states if a rapist marries his victim, all wrongdoing is forgiven. Germi, appalled at this distorted justice, attacks it with propulsive satire, clawing at sexual double standards, macho hypocrisy, and small town oppression along the way. Seduced and Abandoned tears along like a race car down a steep mountain road, turning and lurching in all directions. Its exhilarating momentum escalates into an outright horror film, with all of Italian society as the monster. The ferocity of Germi's characters and the savage ending are almost unbearable; the movie, though almost 50 years old, can still inspire outrage. Accompanied by a few sparkling extras, including a brief interview from 2002 with Sandrelli, still one of the loveliest women in cinema. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Shotgun weddings, kidnapping, attempted murder, emergency dental work—the things Don Vincenzo will do to restore his family's honor! Pietro Germi's Seduced and Abandonedwas the follow-up to his international sensation Divorce Italian Style, and in many ways it's even more audacious—a rollicking yet raw series of escalating comic calamities that ensue in a small village when sixteen-year-old Agnese (the beautiful Stefania Sandrelli) loses her virginity at the hands of her sister's lascivious fiancé. Merciless and mirthful, Seduced and Abandonedskewers Sicilian social customs and pompous patriarchies with a devilish grin.

Customer Reviews:

Seduced and Abandoned.......2007-06-28

Black comedy skewers Sicilian mores with a sharp cinematic knife, making "Seduced" by turns funny and tragic. Agnese, the central object of all the fuss, is maltreated throughout, but the beautiful Sandrelli strikes the right balance so that our sympathies for her don't overwhelm the film's broadly humorous tone. Though the ferret-like Puglisi is tailor-made for the unsympathetic role of Peppino, this is truly Urzi's film. His volcanic Don Vincenzo serves as comic center-piece and driving force behind the whole tumultuous affair. An unbridled satiric masterpiece from director Germi.

Battling For Honor--A Classic Italian Comedy Takes No Prisoners.......2007-01-04

Pietro Germi, fresh from the success of his "Divorce Italian Style" (which won a Screenplay Oscar), returns with another slapstick slice of Sicilian life. Those familiar with the genre, and particularly Germi, will recognize the same black humor and macabre sensibilities that fashioned many pictures of the day. There is the requisite machismo, the sexual double standards, the wild gesticulating, and the need to preserve family honor at all cost. Wait a minute--maybe those are the same qualities employed in many films today!

I'll be frank, if you don't know what you're getting into, "Seduced and Abandoned" may seem a bit misogynistic. There is definitely a strong division of the sexes which we're not as accustomed to seeing in modern films. However, much of the sexual warfare plays as satire--so even though the stereotypes can be somewhat dismaying, none of the characters escape unscathed. Basically, Germi sets an environment where everyone is despicable. It's the blackest of humor that can make you identify with the characters even as they are proven to be buffoons and hypocrites, and that's a real achievement of "Seduced." You accept things at face value and go with it, no matter how ludicrous it may seem.

The plot revolves around a man, who while engaged, impregnates his fiance's sister. This sets in motion a riotous chain of events as the families battle to maintain respect. It would be difficult to describe much of what happens concisely, so let's just say things continue to escalate as everyone (at one point or another) joins in the moral debate with a strong-headed opinion.

"Seduced and Abandoned" is a very funny picture that still maintains its appeal today. The cast is filled with colorful characters giving robust performances. Definitely recommended for lovers of Italian cinema or screwball comedies--this is a dark and amusing picture that doesn't play it nice and safe. That's always refreshing. KGHarris, 01/07.

Hilarious!.......2006-10-17

This movie is hilarious and entertaining as can be! I loved "Divorce Italian Style" by Pietro Germi so I took the risk of buying "Seduced and Abandoned" from Criterion without ever seeing it. In my opinion I actually enjoyed it more than Divorce Italian Style! I won't repeat the plot again but the movie definitly brings you into their family. Once your sucked in it turns into a hilarious nail biter taking unexpected turns and twists. Very memorable movie I highly recommend purchasing for repeated viewings!

a nice Italian comedy.......2006-09-11

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Seduced and Abandoned" known in Italy as "Sedotta e abbandonata" is about a family and the teenage daughter becomes pregnant. Her father is outraged and tries to exact revenge on the man who impregnated her.

The DVD contains a theatrical trailer, interviews with Stefania Sandrelli and Lando Buzzanca, Stefania Sandrelli's screen test and Commedia all'italiana, Germi Style, a special with interviews with cast and crew.

This is a really humorous film and I recommend it.

Hilarious, at times painful -- don't miss this Italian Cinema classic.......2006-06-20

Criterion has released yet another classic Italian film. Director Pietro Germi's DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE was previously released by Criterion, so I was hopeful that SEDOTTA E ABBANDONATA might also be in the works. The ensemble of actors work together brilliantly to satire Sicilian mores. SEDUCED is much darker than DIVORCE, and the beautiful Stefania Sandrelli gives a very sympathetic, at times painful performance as the victim of her societies prejudices. Sandrelli, 60 this year (still beautiful), has given us many excellent cinematic performances over the last 40-some years. Check her out in Bertolucci's masterpiece, THE CONFORMIST, and another fine film, Gabriele Muccino's THE LAST KISS/L'ULTIMO BACIO (2001; the American remake is being released this year, starring Zach Braff). And the late Leopoldo Trieste (d. Jan. '03) gives another fine comic performance, here as an impoverished nobleman. Trieste's most recognized screen role is likely that of the censorius priest in CINEMA PARADISO. Italian Cinema fans should not miss the amusing interview with Trieste, a special feature on Criterion's release of Fellini's THE WHITE SHEIK, in which he speaks of his insulting (and hilarious) first encounter with Federico Fellini. And how 'bout the cool cover art by graphic novelist Mike Allred?! Keep those Italian Cinema classics coming, Criterion. We love you!

N.B. Criterion Collection's most recent Italian Cinema release is a restored, loaded 2-disc edition of THE most beloved Italian film of all-time, BICYCLE THIEVES (LADRI DI BICICLETTE). Don't settle for the previous Image Entertainment release under the film's better known (inaccurate) title translation, The Bicycle Thief. The White Sheik - Criterion Collection Bicycle Thieves (Criterion Collection) The Conformist (Extended Edition) The Last Kiss

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Love Foreign Films
A Profoundly Disturbing, Resonant Film
Abandoned
Truely Abandoned
Powerful and impactful.

Abandoned
Starring: Tamás Mészáros (III) , Szabolcs Csizmadia , Attila Zsilák , Péter Müller (II) , and Imre Thúri
Director: Árpád Sopsits
Manufacturer: Picture This
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Boys of St. Vincent
For A Lost Soldier
You Are Not Alone
Put the Camera on Me
Return to Innocence

ASIN: B00006LPHE
Release Date: 2002-12-10

Description

Nine-year-old Aron finds himself abandoned at a bleak orphanage by his recently divorced and despondent father. The ultra-strict nature of the institution comes as a complete shock to the boy, and he must frequently endure beatings both from the staff and the other boys. He finds solace in a special relationship with his young classmate Attila. And that sexual awakening gives him the courage to lead his peers in revolt. In Hungarian with English subtitles.

Customer Reviews:

Love Foreign Films.......2006-11-11

As a border-line autistic and mentally abused child, I just watched my childhood pass-by. I was never in my own life, just followed what happened to me, like watching a movie. My childhood was like boot-camp. Now that I'm older, I'm breaking out by reconstructing my new, more happy life thru understanding movies like this. Excellent movie, showing decisions/choices through logic that I am beginning to understand, versus instant obedience. Abandoned helped me understand childrens thought-process as it should have been for me. Good photopgraphy, color and direction. I would recommend to anyone, but you need to watch it closely without distractions. I have watched it 3 times already, and each time I understand the film and myself better.

A Profoundly Disturbing, Resonant Film.......2006-04-01

'Torzók' ('Abandoned') is a brilliant Hungarian film written and directed by Árpád Sopsits that takes us back to Hungary of 1960 when the oppressive Communist rule altered the lives of everyone, especially children. The quality of the film is absolutely first rate from story to acting to filming to scoring. It may be a tough film to absorb and certainly not for the easily offended, but it is a perfectly honed gem of a film that deserves wide audience exposure.

Áron (Tamás Mészáros) is a young lad whose life seems warm at first until suddenly a disease of vision impairment attacks his mother and his parents divorce: the mother is somewhere in a hospital and the father (Sándor Gáspár) beats the boy and eventually turns him over to a rigid orphanage for boys run by cruel taskmasters. Áron undergoes initiation tactics by his fellow orphans but despite the beatings he is strong enough to survive. He is befriended when he has his nightmares about his mother's blindness by his friend Atilla (Szabolcs Csizmadia) and the two bond emotionally and physically. In this bleak atmosphere a little light comes from the beautiful young housekeeper Anya (Krisztina Somogyi) but even her contributions are compromised by the cruelty of the staff. There is one 'teacher' in the orphanage school, Nyitrai (László Gálffi) who has been reduced to his position as an 'imprisoned one' by the government and his sadness is offset by his playing his cello and studying his beloved astronomy. Nyitrai offers Áron solace and introduces his 'fellow traveler' to the glory of the stars, giving Áron a map of the heavens that Áron cherishes - his window to a world beyond the dark confines of his prison-like orphanage. He gradually wins over his fellow orphans and when Nyitrai, in the pit of depression for his life situation and the cruelty of the orphanage and the government, hangs himself. This horrid incident drives Áron to organize an escape from the orphanage, an event that is ultimately fractured with a death for which Áron feels responsible. And the end of the film fades into the many possibilities that event could trigger.

The atmosphere created by the stunning cinematography by Péter Szatmári defines the darkness that represents the orphanage well but also suggests the darkness in Hungary of that period. The musical score by Péter Fejcsik, Tamás Görgényi, Ferenc Toma, and Balázs Winkler is some of the most beautiful composed for the screen, making tremendously effective use of the cello and lower strings. In all, this is a brilliant piece of filmmaking, acted with depth in every role, and unveiling a portion of history and tragedy too often pushed to the background of our books. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 06

Abandoned.......2006-03-10

A fun little movie, but not really what I was really expecting. I was expecting more bed time from the main boy with the other boy that he was suppose to be fooling around with. I wasn't expecting any of the other kids to die on their escape from the orphanage.

Truely Abandoned.......2005-11-16

A new boy (Aron) has arrived at the orphanage. At first they pick on him but after awhile they decided he was one of them. The teachers inflict great abuse onto these children. Children who already have suffered and lost so much. Aron and Attila become close friends. When Aron has a bad dream, Attila lets him sleep in his bed. There seems to be more then just friendship between these two boys, but when you are young and have no one really to love, you often get close to those who have been kind to you. It was not what I thought it would be but I found it touching. So sad to see how unlucky so many children are and to see children who have so much and not appreciate all that they have. It is truely sad.

Powerful and impactful........2005-08-11

Like many in America, I'm one who enjoys venturing away from the all-too-common Hollywood films that are filled with flashy violence, gangs, killings, (mostly done with special effects).... and of course an unending supply of four letter words in nearly every situation imaginable.

Yet foreign films often tend to derive their impact more from a sense of 'realism', and that is precisely what this film "Abandoned" ("Torzok") does.

Most of us would like to believe that a Hungarian orphanage such as the one depicted in this film could never exist. But they have.... and likely still do.

Some of the scenes I've read about in other reviews of this film have often been referred to as sexual, and I hardly see this as such. Most of us cannot begin to imagine what it must be like.... as a very small child being tossed into a world of sheer abandonment from any sense of security or love from family. But that is precisely what these children represent.... and a kiss between two little boys who share a bed after one has had a horrendous nightmare - - I can hardly imagine why one would consider this sexual.

There are many chilling scenes in this film.... most notably the whipping of one boy by other boys (against their will).

I was also deeply disturbed by the way the orphanage leader lied to the blonde-haired youngster, by bribing him with a lie about the child's brother. This is something I've reflected back upon with this film, and it bothered me as much, if not more than the physical abuse we see. Because as devastating as physical abuse may be.... nothing can compare to destroying the trust of a child in a moment of utter despair and vulnerability, (not only was the boy naked, he needed a reason at that very moment to believe and to have hope), and this trust is literally shattered with a false promise.

After renting this dvd, I have hesitated to purchase this film... because of the haunting effect it has on our inner-being. It forces me to wonder why one child in this world is fortunate - - - and another's fate is doomed before he's even given a chance to truly live. Perhaps I feel guilt in being one of the "fortunate" ones.

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Gun Sword, Vol. 2: Abandoned Past
Starring: Gun Sword
Manufacturer: Geneon [Pioneer]
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Gun Sword, Vol. 3: Separate Ways
Gun Sword, Vol. 4: Fallen Knights
Gun Sword 5 - Tainted Innocence
Gun Sword - Endless Illusion (Vol. 1 + Art Box)
Gun Sword, Vol. 6: Lost Prayers

ASIN: B000F3AAJI
Release Date: 2006-07-11

Description

The search for the elusive man with the claw takes a turn for the worse, as Van, Wendy and Carmen99 become embroiled in a deadly dispute over a buried secret between the inhabitants of a strange town, leading them to a fateful encounter with another drifter. Ruthless and cold-blooded, Ray will stop at nothing to find the Claw and will not let anyone can stand in the way of his vengeance... not even his younger brother, Joshua. Ready to kill each other at any moment, Van and Ray must team up to bring down a destructive Armor to uncover answers they seek, but their truce is about to end!

Sedotta E Abbandonata (Seduced and Abandoned) - PAL DVD

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Sedotta E Abbandonata (Seduced and Abandoned) - PAL DVD

Manufacturer: Film Prestige
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Divorce Italian Style - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B0007NDBFQ

Product Description

This is collector's edition PAL DVD (EUROPEAN TV VIDEO STANDARD)without region coding officially released in Russia by studio "FILM PRESTIGE". Available soundtracks: original ITALIAN and RUSSIAN (voice-over). Available subtitles: ENGLISH, ITALIAN and RUSSIAN. CUSTOMERS FROM NORTH AMERICA and JAPAN: Please, make sure your DVD player supports PAL DVDS (Europe, Australia, and Asia) before bidding; otherwise you can watch PAL DVDS on computer with DVD-ROM. ....................................... Mistakenly labeled as a neorealist drama in some sources, Seduced and Abandoned is actually a slyly constructed Italian domestic comedy (could anyone have really taken that florid title seriously?) Aldo Puglisi plays a "love 'em and leave 'em" type who impregnates the teen-aged sister (Stefania Sandrelli) of his own fiancee (Paola Biggio). Saro Urzi, the girls' infuriated father, insists that Puglisi break off with the older girl to marry the younger. The police get into the act, threatening to arrests Puglisi for corrupting the morals of a minor. Through some quick thinking on his part, Puglisi manages to get the younger girl to indignantly refuse his hand in marriage. The family is torn asunder by this incident, with darkly comic results.

Dream Debate: Hobson Vs. Solms - Should Freud's Dream Theory Be Abandoned?

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Dream Debate: Hobson Vs. Solms - Should Freud's Dream Theory Be Abandoned?
Starring: David Chalmers, Stuart Hameroff, Stanley Krippner, Stephen LaBerge, and Jaak Panksepp Sue Blackmore
Manufacturer: Neti Neti Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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A MUST have for any Freudian Student!
A Debate between two giants of Dream Science
Includes appearances by many world reknowed experts
Extras feature extend the debate

ASIN: B000NSHKXY

Product Description

The meaning of dreams has been debated since ancient times, with 20th century science dominated by Sigmund Freuds view of dreams as the royal road to the unconscious. According to Freud the bizarre nature of dreams reflects repressed infantile wishes and primitive drives (the id), censored and disguised by the ego. Hobson and Solms have argued this question in many contexts including Solms 2004 Scientific American article "Freud returns" and Hobsons accompanying response "Like a bad dream". These two giants of dream science met for the first time in formal debate at the April 2006 conference Toward a Science of Consciousness in Tucson, Arizona. Held Biennially since 1994, the interdisciplinary Tucson Conference are sponsored by the Center For Consciousness Studies at The University of Arizona.

Charlie Rose with Lawrence Eagleburger; Will Steger & Julie Hanson; Newton Minow (July 13, 1995)

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Charlie Rose with Lawrence Eagleburger; Will Steger & Julie Hanson; Newton Minow (July 13, 1995)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger discusses the current situation in Bosnia, the ethnic conflicts involved, and what role the U.N. should play. Then, Will Steger and Julie Hanson talk about their recent historic crossing of the Arctic Ocean. Finally, FCC chairman Newton Minow discusses his new book Abandoned in the Vast Wasteland, which explores the current state of television, and offers his opinions on the government's role in ensuring quality television programming.

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Home is Where the Fright is
good hardcore horror film
The "best" film from Horrorfest 2006 gets released on its own
Beautifully Depressed

The Abandoned
Starring: Anastasia Hille , Karel Roden , Valentin Ganev , Jordanka Angelova , and Svetlana Smoleva
Director: Nacho Cerdà
ProductGroup: Theatrical Release
Binding: Theatrical Release

Now Playing | Movie Showtimes | Video
ASIN: B00005JPNC

Customer Reviews:

Home is Where the Fright is.......2007-02-24

"The Abandoned" is all style but no substance, a great looking horror film with a needlessly cryptic story and virtually no character development. The filmmakers must have studied every haunted house movie ever made, because it looks and feels exactly the way a haunted house movie is supposed to look and feel. The hallways are dark. The walls are chipped, dirt coated, and shrouded with thick spider webs. The sounds of off screen creaks and groans fill the air. The atmosphere was right, but it only amounted to something that was scary just for the sake of being scary; there was nothing much holding it all together, and what little there was completely lacking in value.

The main character is a woman named Marie (Anastasia Hille), an adopted Hollywood movie producer who was "born in Russia, raised in England, and divorced in America." She returns to her native Russia hoping to learn about her family heritage and find her true identity. All anyone seems to know for sure is that the mother was murdered back in 1966, when Marie was only an infant; there's absolutely no record of the father or any siblings. I find it baffling that a journey of self-discovery necessitates the character being a mystery to the audience. We do learn that she has a daughter named Emily; they have an argument over the phone. But that's all. Could nothing more have been revealed, namely her childhood experiences with her adoptive parents?

Marie meets with a mysterious man who gives her the deeds to her mother's secluded estate. She's clearly hesitant to be a part of this; her only intention was to learn about her mother. Still, she decides to give the estate a quick once over. That's pretty much when the scary scenes begin piling on top of one another; they begin when she's offered a ride by another mysterious man. They stop in the middle of the woods, just in time for the convenient horror movie cliches to mount. The fog rolls in. The moon is ominously bright. Frightening noises surround them. Not only is it impossible to believe that anyone would tolerate this level of tension, it's also impossible to believe that anyone in a horror movie could do the same. And yet Marie plunges right in, leaving the car (after her driver disappears) and walking to the house.

She enters to find that the house is completely dilapidated, as is expected in a haunted house movie. For a short while, nothing much happens, which I admit helps to build the suspense; she wanders from room to room (shouting the obligatory, "Hello? Are you there," lines), with her flashlight serving as the only form of illumination. Then she sees a woman wandering the halls, a woman that's pale and sopping wet. We quickly discover that this woman is the spitting image of Marie (minus the eyes, which lack both irises and pupils). And that's when she runs. She leaves the house, runs through the forest, and falls into the river.

She then wakes up in the presence of the film's third mysterious man. His name is Nicolai (Karel Roden), and as it turns out, he's Marie's long lost twin brother. I truly disliked this character; he's stereotypically elusive, yet always seems to have an answer for everything. I suppose this would have worked had his circumstances not been so ridiculous. He claims that both he and Marie were lured back to this house, and that the forces at work are trying to keep them there forever. How he came to these conclusions is anyone's guess; he supposedly only arrived at the house only a few days before Marie, which I don't think is nearly enough time to have the sinister plot figured out. Top that off with the fact that he, too, has a ghoulish clone wandering the house. He explains that whatever physically happens to the doppelganger will have the same effect on the real person. If he understood this, then I can't understand why he would shoot his own doppelganger in the leg.

The rest of the film works at pretty much the same level, with many more scenes of aimless hallway wandering, unexplained supernatural occurrences, and nonsensical plot twists. I distinctly remember a frenetic scene of the house restoring itself back to the way it looked in 1966 (surprisingly, it didn't look much better than it does in present day, save for working electricity). According to Answer Man Nicolai, the house is recreating the night of their mother's murder. He also says that this time, the murderer will succeed in killing them as infants. Am I honestly supposed to take such unfounded claims seriously, even if he's right? What about his stay at the House of Terror would lead him to this idea? He says that he saw the past while walking through a flooded underground tunnel, which would have been believable if only Marie had a similar experience. She didn't. All she experiences are more creepy noises.

It would be unfair of me to say that I knew what to expect from "The Abandoned." Nonetheless, I was definitely not expecting this; this is an extremely haphazard film, weak in story, characterization, and plot advancement. It's all made worse by completely unnecessary bookend narrations courtesy of Marie's daughter. Her understanding of her mother's search for her past is incredibly flimsy; Emily claims that she will never go searching for her past, like her mother did. Only in this kind of film can a character understand someone's fate without having been there to witness it. It simply made no sense. The same can be said for the film in general. Not too long ago I reviewed "The Messengers," another haunted house film that was too cliched to allow for a recommendation. While I stand by my review, I can also say this with absolute certainty: you'd be better off seeing that than "The Abandoned."

good hardcore horror film.......2007-02-24

This is a really creepy hardcore ghost story movie. Forget about the Amityville Horror because this is scary and creepy. Forget about all the PG-13 [...] ghost movies like the Grudge, Boogeyman, the Messengers, The Ring, etc. This movie is really creepy. This is a foreign film. This is a Russian foreign film but produced by Spanish people. Don worry there is no subtitles. This movie has Russian actors but they speak English so this movie isn't dubbed either. This movie is about a lady who wants to find her real parents, she's adopted. She was born in Russia but raised in England but now lives in America. She flys to Russia to visit her parents estate which is in the deep mountain wilderness of Russia. She finds out that her real Russian parents were murdered at the farm. A trucker drops her off at the farmland and thats when everything becomes scary. She meets another Russian guy who is there for the same reasons. He also just found out his real parents lived at the farm and were murdered. They start seeing dead ghosts of themselves. The house, farmland, and the deep woods in this movie are really frighthening no fake looking CGI background here. And the ghosts are really scary looking. No fake corny looking CGI ghosts here. There's a lot of twists and turns in this movie but this movie is kinda slow like roaming from room to room and checking the basement sort of thing. I was really impressed with this movie because i thought this was going to be another teeny bopper PG-13 ghost movie. This movie is rated R. I was going to see it the 2nd time but there was no one in the theatre so i chickened out. That's how creepy it was. Go see it especially with your wife or girlfriend because they will be creeped out.

The "best" film from Horrorfest 2006 gets released on its own.......2007-02-24

I was pleasantly surprised that "8 Films to Die For: After Dark Horrorfest" 2006 actually made it to the Zenith City last November. I went to all of the afternoon shows, so basically it was the same bunch of us watching each film. I bought all my tickets up front so I have the t-shirt, which features art that has nothing to do with any of the films. We just about memorized the one trailer that they showed us nine times (if you had all eight ticket stubs or your face was well known to the cashier you got to see a ninth film, "Snoop Dog's Hood of Horror"), and dissected each film and talking about our current favorites with "Audition" being the prime recommendation. We also made our predictions for which film would be selected as the one of the eight that would get a real theatrical run.

"The Abandoned" was not our choice, although it was certainly in the top half of that weekend's offerings. Our favorite was "Penny Dreadful" by director Richard Brandes, because we thought it made the most of a rather simple situation: crazed killer traps terrified teen (Rachel Miner) by wedging the car she is in between two trees in a forest so she cannot get out and we were impressed by what all they came up with in that confined situation. Our prediction was "Dark Ride," which starred Jamie-Lynn Sigler, because we thought it was the most commercial of the bunch. After "Dark Ride" and "The Gravedancers" we had this running riff about how the climax of a film involved the heroine driving a truck through a building at the right time (and place). So when "The Abandoned" started with a woman driving an old truck up to a farm house in Russia and dropping dead, leaving the farmer to find a pair of infants in the truck we were laughing how the truck element was becoming a dominant theme in these movies, epitomized by "Penny Dreadful."

"The Abandoned" is one of those movies where the prologue is a prelude to the main action of the film, which takes place four decades later. Marie (Anastasia Hille) has grown up in America and when she learns she has inherited the house in which she was born she heads for a remote forest in Russia. There she finds a house that has been neglected pretty much since the day she was born. There she meets Nikolai (Karel Roden), who claims to be the twin brother she never knew about. Obviously these are the two babies who were in the truck when their dying mother delivered them to safety. Together they will uncover the past they were too young to remember, and learn why the abandoned house if haunted by not only their past, but by what appears to be their futures as well.

This 2006 horror film is directed by Nacho Cerda ("Aftermath," "Genesis"), with a script by Cerda, Karim Hussain ("Ascension"), and Richard Stanley ("The Island of Dr. Moreau"). This is a Spanish production (which explains cinematographer Xavi Gimenez, whose work was far and away the best of the Horrorfest), filmed in Bulgaria passing for Russia, but with most of the dialogue is in English. The rural setting of the main action is of more importance than the foreign local, but it is also different to have the two main characters be a pair of fortyish siblings, which means a horror film with neither teen angst nor romantic entanglements. True, you could make the two characters twentish or thirtish without changing anything essentially to the story, but having the leads being basically twice the age of your normal main characters in a horror film does lend a certain gravity to things. A lot of what happens here is disturbing, based more on our understanding of what is going on, and not by a driving interest in engaging our gag reflexes by showing blood and guts.

There is what can be considered a science fiction element thrown into the end game, somewhat unnecessarily I think, but for me the film's flaw lies elsewhere. I fully admit that it might not bother most people but for me it was one of those moments where I roll my eyes and (to clean up the phrase) request I be provided with a respite from sexual intercourse. It has to do with the revelation of how Marie was brought from America to Russia for all these fun and games. I understand the whole idea of vengeance from beyond the grave and that somebody can be more powerful after death, but better educated? That I cannot buy. I was still shaking my head over that one when the film finished, which is why I was no longer having to decide to round up or round down on the film. Still, all things considered, "The Abandoned" is different enough from the usual fare of horror films for aficionados to check out. I fully admit that I never would have seen it in a theater if it had not been part of the Horrorfest ride, but then except for the "Saw" films I watch pretty much all of my horror films late at night on DVD and this one is at least worth checking out on that basis.

Beautifully Depressed.......2007-02-16

If you only know Nacho Cerda from "Aftermath," then this will either completely suprise or dissapoint you depending on your feelings about that film. Instead of concentrating on shock effect or gore, this is very much a mood and atmosphere piece without the overt suckerpunch of "Aftermath". That said, this is an amazing piece of work, pulling you in and drenching you in absolute despare and looking absolutely beautiful while doing it. The acting is spot on, the cinematography is goregeous and don't even get me started on the directing, this is one of the reasons that I love this genre so much. Don't get me wrong though, this is 100% horror of the kind that slowly seeps into your soul and infects you and there is a bit of boundary pushing from Cerda having to do with a baby. If you loved "Aftermath," then his name alone will get you to buy it but if you hated it then give this one a chance, either way you will be in awe... period. Cerda has proved himself to be an artist of the highest degree, the kind that can actually affect you. Sometimes it is best to be abandonded.

Dream Debate: Should Freud's Dream Theory Be Abandoned?

Average customer rating:

Dream Debate: Should Freud's Dream Theory Be Abandoned?
Starring: J. Allan Hobson; Mark Solms
Director: Maurizio Benazzo; Stuart Hameroff
Manufacturer: Neti Neti Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

The meaning of dreams has been debated since ancient times, with 20th century science dominated by Sigmund Freud s view of dreams as the royal road to the unconscious . According to Freud the bizarre nature of dreams reflects repressed infantile wishes and primitive drives (the id), censored and disguised by the ego. Hobson and Solms have argued this question in many contexts including Solms 2004 Scientific American article "Freud returns" and Hobson s accompanying response "Like a bad dream". These two giants of dream science met for the first time in formal debate at the April 2006 conference Toward a Science of Consciousness in Tucson, Arizona.

Average customer rating:

Home is Where the Fright is
good hardcore horror film
The "best" film from Horrorfest 2006 gets released on its own
Beautifully Depressed

The Abandoned
Starring: Anastasia Hille , Karel Roden , Valentin Ganev , Jordanka Angelova , and Svetlana Smoleva
Director: Nacho Cerdà
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

Home is Where the Fright is.......2007-02-24

good hardcore horror film.......2007-02-24

The "best" film from Horrorfest 2006 gets released on its own.......2007-02-24

Beautifully Depressed.......2007-02-16

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