Abandoned (2026)

I like found footage when it actually feels like found footage. That sounds obvious, but I've watched plenty of movies where someone conveniently puts a camera down at exactly the right angle to capture whatever is about to happen. You can tell the shot was designed for the audience instead of being something the characters would realistically do. That's one of the things Abandoned gets right.

The camera work feels natural. When Jess and Adam are exploring the building, I believed the way they were using the cameras and where they were pointing them. There are also more traditionally cinematic sections, so it isn't entirely found footage, but that combination works. It gives the movie a different feel without constantly pulling you out of the experience.

What I found especially interesting was the way director Joby Stephens approached filming. The actors weren't necessarily aware of everything they were going to encounter. Certain scares were kept from them, and parts of the environment could change as they worked their way through the building. I love that idea because it means some of what you're watching isn't just somebody pretending to be surprised. There's an actual element of uncertainty there. It's a pretty cool way to approach a horror movie, especially one that depends on feeling believable.

Grace Gallagher and Cameron Wight do a great job together, too. The relationship between their characters feels like a real friendship. Their conversations and the back-and-forth between them never felt like two actors just delivering dialogue to move the story along. That matters because you spend so much of the movie with these two people.

The pacing was another big positive for me. These movies can sometimes grind to a halt while characters stand around explaining what's happening. I never felt that here. The movie keeps moving, the building gets increasingly unsettling, and the story goes in some interesting directions without needing to explain everything immediately.

I'm a bit of a tech guy, so the filmmaking side of Abandoned probably interests me more than it would the average viewer but even setting that aside, I thought this was a really well-done horror movie. The performances, atmosphere, and pacing all come together, and the found-footage approach actually adds something instead of just being a gimmick.

Found-footage movies creep me out. There's something about only being able to see what's right in front of the camera that immediately gets to me. You know there's a whole room or hallway you can't see, and I'm sitting there waiting for something to come out of the dark. Abandoned does a really good job with that.

One of the things I hate, in the best possible way, is when the camera catches something happening in the background and the characters have absolutely no idea. I'm sitting there thinking, turn around! There's something behind you! Or they'll put the camera down to go look at something, and you can see what's happening while they're completely unaware. That stuff gets me every time.

And this building? Absolutely not. You're telling me there's some enormous abandoned place out in the woods, nobody really knows what it was, it's not even on the map, and you want to go inside? No, thank you. Then you get there and have to walk down a ton of stairs just to get into it. I'd already be back in the car. The rooms don't even seem to make sense once they're inside, which makes the whole place feel even worse.

I also thought the actors did a really good job. Jess and Adam feel like actual friends, and I believed the way they talked to each other. Knowing that they weren't told about every scare makes it even creepier. I don't know how I'd handle that. If I went into a room and something unexpected happened, I'd be yelling cut. Can we stop for a second? Is this place actually haunted?

Another thing I appreciated was that the cameras weren't constantly shaking around. Some found-footage movies make me dizzy, and I spend half the time trying to figure out what I'm looking at. I didn't have that problem here. I could follow what was happening, which made the scary parts work even better.

The movie also went by really quickly. I never felt like I was sitting there forever waiting for something to happen. And yes, some of the scares genuinely got me.

Watching these two run through that building had me stressed out. I'd be trying to make sure nobody got left behind, and I'd probably trip on the first set of stairs. Honestly, if something started chasing me in that place, I might as well tell the monster to take me. I'm not making it out.

I had a really good time with Abandoned. It was creepy, it kept me interested, and it reminded me exactly why found footage makes me so nervous.