Abattoir (2016) User Reviews

A Ruined House

[kupukupumu · 5/10 · 29 September 2016]

I like the idea of this movie which I considered quite original. Also the story has the potential to make this as a very good movie. But unfortunately, it the journey is ruined by the execution.

The Good The idea is quite good. Not some haunted family or teenagers running around.

The Bad Casting of the main protagonists: no chemistry and (sorry) the main actor's acting is not convincing at all. She looks blank when presented with an ultra scenic ghost house in the middle of no where, in which normal people will be amazed, fearful, run away or anything. Maybe the green screen is a just a big green screen so she cannot imagine what she should see. The scenes are also boring and at many times feels too slow. Some dialogs are too wordy trying to be poetic, but in the end only confuse audience. This is not Penny Dreadful series conversations.

Summary Hope they can remake this movie into a better one.

Slow, tedious, depressingly predictable...

[bushtony · 3/10 · 14 September 2016]

Without giving too much away, the writers and director might have thought they were being really smart and subversive. But I'm afraid they weren't. They were just being predictable.

A third of the way in there is a huge signpost on the subject of how to defeat evil in the context of the film. A murderer tells the main female protagonist that you knock a hole in a prison to let the prisoners out. He says this more than once. The female protagonist is a wannabe investigative journalist. Maybe the reason why her boss keeps her confined to writing a column on real estate becomes clear in the end. She has all the insight of a house brick.

The "evil triumphs" motif in 90-99% of most modern horror films is such a stale and predictable cliché. So much so that despite almost all, it no longer shocks and disturbs as it is so routinely expected by audiences. It's not a twist any longer. It just elicits a resigned shrug.

This is a silly drag of a film that does little to exploit it's inventive premise. Is it too much to expect that the main characters make some effort to win these days - rather than just resign themselves to being submissive, unintelligent pawns? People root for characters who actually try to put up a fight. The neutral and banal don't usually get much audience engagement or sympathy. Especially when they behave like thoughtless ciphers.

On the plus side, there are some decent production values and some FX reminiscent of those from a Disney theme park. But unfortunately for the most part it's safe, non-scary and reluctant to be visually explicit - or even properly suggestive - when it comes to carnage and mayhem.

On top of that, the story unfolds in a laborious by-the-numbers fashion and unfortunately fails to excite. You may want to give it a miss.

A bit of a mess

[antide-42376 · 4/10 · 27 August 2020]

In the end this is a confused and tedious movie. One of the main problems is the casting of the two leads who aren't very good. Jessica Lowndes diction is poor and her acting is wooden while Joe Anderson struggles to convince as a cop. The best acting comes from Dayton Callie & Lin Shaye, older hands that manage to cope with the script.

It does look pretty good and the haunted house is quite cool but overall this doesn't really work.

Door of evil

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 24 May 2018]

'Abattoir' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing and quite creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me was very weak, its worst elements being pretty awful, with a lot more wrong than right. 'Abattoir' is not great, or good, has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are however a few decent, even good, qualities in 'Abattoir'.

Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric, likewise with the very nice way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it.

Found too that 'Abattoir' started off fairly promisingly with a few effectively spooky moments.

However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary it got. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours insult the intelligence. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The acting is also terrible, particularly from the lead actress.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. A lot of the film completely fails to make sense, both in underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. The last third badly sags in momentum and the atmosphere completely falls flat.

In conclusion, very weak but not unwatchable. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Half of an interesting movie

[mtabernac · 5/10 · 14 September 2016]

I really liked the premise of this film: a mysterious person/group is purchasing houses where brutal deaths have occurred and are removing the sections of the house where the incidents happen to build their own strange structure.

Once all is revealed (the last half hour of the movie), things really kick into gear -- some great effects, cinematography, thrills, chills, etc. -- and reminds me a bit of some classics like "13 Ghosts" or "House on Haunted Hill." I found these parts very original and inventive.

Unfortunately, getting to this point is a bit tedious. The film relies on exposition supplied by characters' dialogue, and the result is that the middle half of the film seems to be missing a plot. The tedium isn't helped by some stilted dialogue and a pretty bad performance by the lead actress.

Also, the production design choices are a little confusing. The director is obviously trying to reference film noir tropes, but does this by throwing in some incongruous touches such as the costume/makeup of the main character, the car she drives and the odd idiomatic way her cop friend talks and slings back whiskey. Everything else is modern-day ,however. It just seems arbitrary and tacked on, and doesn't work. It would have been better to have just set the film in the 1950s.

If not for the ending, I would not recommend this film, but those willing to sit through the slower bits (and you have to in order to understand the ending) might find the journey worthwhile.

It is really that bad

[kitteh-76 · 1/10 · 19 September 2016]

I am still mourning my money that I wasted on this turd of a movie at the fantasy film fest. Sitting trough this felt like a root treatment without anesthesia, wearing Spanish boots while listening to Justin Bieber. I seriously doubt that most of positive ratings are authentic. It is a really bad movie. Period.

It started with a decent idea - houses with crime scenes are sold off to some mysterious buyer, who rips out the killing room to install it somewhere else. A journalist dressed up like a 50ies starlet and a cop (her boyfriend? A fling? There is literally NO chemistry between them and it really doesn't matter considering the movies many, many flaws.) try to solve the case. Hadn't seen this before, thought it might get interesting. No man. No.

The story went downhill fast and disastrous, becoming super abstruse and pointless, ham-fisted and plain stupid. The dialogues are so cringe worthy, it felt like watching a soap opera. A really bad one. And I won't start ranting about the cops abominable American fake accent. All this is hard to abide, but beware, it's getting worse.

The main actress is a pain in the ass from the second she appears on screen. The trend to cast actresses for looks over talent ruined the little that was given to the role.. She was plain horrible (I really tell it true - I really enjoy beautiful and talented actresses on screen, but this is simply not the case here) and to my deepest distress, the rest of the cast was as nasty to watch. And all is oh so very boring and predictable!

This movie tries hard to look different,but really, it's pathetic. They try to gloss over the horrible writing, but it is all in vain. And worst of it all: even the jump scares weren't scary. The overall feel is that some douche gave an even bigger douche a budget with one option: mess it up as bad as you can. Forget about a plot, just throw random stuff together for the sake of it and release the beast.

I give the filmmakers one credit, they really tried to make the movie look nice. The production designer is the only one who deserves some praise. The rest go be ashamed of yourself for wasting my money and my time.

-1/10

Only if you are desperate

[thomasj-hall · 3/10 · 24 April 2017]

The good:

Some gorgeous set design and interesting photography. Dayton Callie is splendid as the "villain." Some of the special effects are quite entertaining. Jessica Lowndes is very striking.

The bad:

Jessica Lowndes' acting is rather wooden, but Meryl Streep couldn't save this script.

If there was a script. The plot is utterly incomprehensible.

Heed the advice given regarding the haunted forest: Stay very far away!

I'm The Man Who Killed Your Sister...

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 5/10 · 16 May 2020]

+1 Star for the hook at the very beginning. They made it sound like it was going to be cool.

+1 Star For Dayton Callie and Lin Shaye 's contributions to the film

-1 Star For the Pointless Convoluted Mess the movie became the last 1/3 of the movie.

I didn't hate this movie but I certainly didn't love it either. The plot really degenerated into not much of anything at the end. It just had so little to make you feel any concern for the plight of the main characters. I think that just really made it feel like...an empty 'House' at the end.

-1 Star for that dissatisfied feeling at the end.

Odd Movie Based On Comics.

[lizhalexander · 6/10 · 18 April 2017]

This wasn't the worst horror flick I've ever seen, but much like other reviewers, I felt that the end lacked a great deal of explanation.

It had a lot of great ideas, but the way they were presented were confusing, and would likely require a re-watch to fully understand. For a lot of the movie, I was completely confused as to what time period it was supposed to be set in. It was addressed (sort of) in the beginning that the main character's flare for the "old timey" was endearing for the paper(?) she worked at, but this didn't help when they showed the boyfriend dressed in a similar era style. It wasn't until she was using a cell phone that I was more certain what time period it was supposed to be, and that she was meant to have unique tastes.

Fast-forward to the last half hour. The house was super-interesting and very well done! However, the reasons for the main character to enter the house was a little unclear. It's pretty obvious by that point what the house is, and what waits for her inside. (It's painfully obvious why the boyfriend went in.)

After they are both killed, the explanation for why all this was going on is confusing and somewhat unrealistic. Are we meant to think that the whole town got together and said, "Yeah! Let's get this mysterious bad guy's family back from Hell by killing our own kids!"? Or...was it just for random stuff that the various town citizens wanted? And why, after all that, didn't it show the villain's family being reunited...or Hell taking over earth...or...whatever was supposed to happen?

At one point the main character keeps asking "Why?!", and the explanation is unsatisfactory. It seems to be little more than "Just 'cause."

The villain's entire deal is what? He was a bad guy in his life, and that caused his family to get killed, and I guess him too? Is...is that what happened? What kind of bad guy was he? Gangster? Gun-runner? Drug-dealer? Underhanded canasta dealer? It's never said, which bugs me for some reason. He's just "generic evil, creepy old man bad guy". Not the devil or a demon, but...acts like one? I guess?

After doing a little research, it seems that this movie is loosely based off of a comic series of the same name. This explains a LOT, as those who have read the comic may get a great deal more out of this movie than someone who just found it on Netflix randomly like me.

One good thing, I guess: I'm now interested in the comic so I can fill in the holes!

Style over substance

[Saiph90 · 4/10 · 13 August 2017]

Some interesting concepts, make the female character dress in 50's style drive a 50's car but have a smartphone on her dashboard, make the dialogue clipped 50's detective in delivery. The story should be good a demonic man collecting the rooms where horrific murders took place and assemble them in the town of New English as a portal to hell. We have a lot of ingredients to make a great film, unfortunately it fails, the plot is overly confusing, the dialogue is awful, there is absolutely no chemistry between the two lead characters and the end is depressingly predictable. I have given a 4 for the concept and at times the cinematography is excellent, shame this is really style over substance.

Original and Curious!

[darkwaterpilot · 10/10 · 15 November 2016]

Abattoir is a good film. Period. Though it's stock with inherent problems most movies have this movie left me with a ton of questions, in a good way. It inspired my creativity and curiosity into the universe created by the filmmakers. I felt some of the characters were a little flat at times but I cared about the main girl and I was committed to her journey which is paramount to the enjoyment of a film. If I were to say anything negative it would be that we didn't get to spend enough time in the Abattoir. I kept wanting the movie to get there and it took a bit long IMO. Other than that I really liked to tone and character dynamic as well as the delivery from the villain: Jebediah Crone. The casting in this movie is spot on. From the way we're introduced to Julia and Grady to the final arch of the bad guy the characters are enticing throughout. I enjoyed the cross genre concept as it gave an unsettling tone while I watched and wondered where I would end up. The film feels like it spans decades and in the end DOES NOT DISAPPOINT! 8/10

Stylistically Excellent But Deeply Flawed

[marmalade-sunrise · 7/10 · 18 February 2017]

Atmospheric,beautiful, disturbing and creepy...I really wanted to love this film, because it has great elements. All of the people who say the dialogue was bad have clearly never read a Sam Spade novel or watched a lot of classic film noir. Abattoir could have been a cult classic, because of the way it marries a couple of different genres of detective fiction and horror, and pays homage to films typically beloved by people around the ages of the lead characters. The sound effects and music are truly unsettling, and who doesn't love the log lady?

HOWEVER...why? Why do they do the things for the man? This is a hideous flaw in the structure of the film, and makes the end a complete mess. Why is the mother more concerned about the happiness of this monster, than about herself or her children? Why did the entire town give their lives to him? What did he promise them? The payoff wasn't apparent. I know they wanted to avoid being trapped, but what was the initial reward, or the promise that he made them? There wasn't even the suggestion that he was especially alluring as a younger man, when he first came to the town. It really messed up the film for me, that the audience is insulted this way, that we are left without an explanation WHY...we know why he did it, but why did they?

Unexplained...

[teodoramonika · 3/10 · 27 July 2021]

2.5 / 10.

The acting of the main actress was totally unimpressive to me. The plot of the film had potential, but it was very slow and became more and more uninteresting. Also the story has a lot of holes and it all ends without the explanation I have been waiting for throughout the film. I am definitely disappointed.

Horrible! Sucked so bad

[Njinked · 1/10 · 28 December 2016]

I seriously wish there was a way to give negative numbers.

This movie was awful. Nothing made sense.

No consistency, and dragged on and on. You see the older woman from the Insidious movies and get excited thinking wow, this looks pretty good!!//NOPE! The main character although pretty to look at, was annoying. She dressed like a 50s pin up girl, drove an old car, making you wonder what year was this movie supposed to take place / yet had a smartphone on her car dashboard. The "villain" of the movie and the connections to her and the story made no sense and had no consistency. Save yourself some time and don't even think about watching this horrible excuse of a movie.

The positive reviews make as much sense as this train wreck of a movie

[bender151_2000 · 1/10 · 3 February 2017]

Stylistically, it's all over the place. The female lead is the from the 50's? The male cop who was her boyfriend/fling, still is, who ever cares? There's literally no reason why they should even be in the same universe together. Their acting is one 2-hour class above The Room, and sounds more like someone learning English via a script than it does anything else. The premise is interesting. Someone is buying houses where murders happened, taking out the rooms for some reason, and... you leave the theater knowing that much. The woman's sister is killed by someone (who? some guy). She returns to the scene of the crime (why? no reason)to find out the room is gone. So, she does the next logical thing and finds a bunch of homes where murders happened, and goes to find out if there rooms were stolen too! Shocking to no one, they have been. So, she heads home (why? who cares)to a small town the town folk have been convinced into following a man who has apparently died before and been to hell (why? who knows), has seen many bad things (what thing? who knows), and he wants the town members to help him building this Frankenstein of a haunted house. Why a house? Not explained. Why do the people help him? Also, not really explained. In the end she kills her boyfriend/fling/whatever for pretty much no reason, and then she also dies for pretty much no reason. The bad guy is told to return to his family, who is supposedly in hell for an unknown reason, and he walks down the stairs... presumably to where hell is. That's it. Just be happy you only wasted the time necessary to read this.

A great idea, a good attempt, a not so great execution

[patricklyndenactor · 5/10 · 16 October 2016]

This film is not bad at all, I have to state that. I'm not going to rant and say this was a waste of time because it certainly was not.

I loved the opening of the movie - the whole tragedy that strikes and the way that it unfolds did shock me as i wasn't particularly expecting it. The concept of somebody buying houses that have seen tragedies happen inside them and then removing sections of the houses was a very intriguing idea.

The noir vibe that the film had going was interesting and some shots were beautiful, such as the one outside of Allie's house during the night. The film was well shot.

So why do I feel it wasn't well executed? Well, the second half just became a tangled mess of ideas that in my opinion, didn't lead to any sort of interesting climax. I couldn't even write down and fully explain what the main villain was even doing building the house or his reasons for it. The film hinted that he has seen horrific things but I just think they didn't fully develop the idea of the film enough. I think a stronger tying up of his motivations and what exactly the structure is would have been far more interesting.

I also didn't particularly like any of the characters. This is essential for me in a film, but the lead character, Julia, started off quite feisty but soon became a little bit cardboard cut out. There wasn't, in my opinion, much development beyond "you killed my family and now I want to know why". Her boyfriend/friend/fling/lover was slightly more interesting as a character because of his desire to follow her to the very end but again, there wasn't much development for him beyond that. I have to say though that I enjoyed the performances. Whilst there wasn't amazing chemistry between the two leads, they were very capable and Lin Shaye was fascinating as Allie.

A decent stab at something original, which i am grateful for,and even though i think its worth a watch, i don't think i will feel the need to watch this again.

Style over substance

[kosmasp · 3/10 · 27 April 2017]

And this is true in almost every regard. You can start with the costume design (very classy, very noir) throughout to the set design. If I were to rate those things, the movie would receive a much higher vote from me. Beautifully shot (though it'd be tough to catch a bad side in regards of Jessica Lowndes) and edited, the technical aspect is in place so to speak.

But when it comes to the story and the characters, the movie has quite a few flaws. And while you will notice many at the beginning (it actually has a strong start), it will get apparent later on. Especially during the final set piece, it's one of those cases where you want to kill the characters yourself. For one, so it will be over quick and also to make sure they won't survive this (because ... you know they don't deserve to). It's just such a shame and a lot of talent going to waste ...

Too. Many. Words.

[payasoingenioso · 2/10 · 27 December 2020]

The plot is decent.

The lead characters are idiots. That made the movie almost unbearable.

Lin Shaye made this film palpable.

The mystery portion of this film would have been more powerful if it were NOT science fiction.

and then there's me, who liked it

[digdog-785-717538 · 7/10 · 17 September 2016]

i liked this film very much, my fellow IMDb reviewers, for what it is.

Let me start with the things i liked; fantastic photography. excellent casting - an amazing collection of interesting characters, simply looking at them is interesting. the acting, i thought it was pretty solid on all counts, including the supporting actors(yeah, i did like the lead too). the pacing, the writing .. i pretty much liked everything about this film, from a production point of view.

(you can see from my review history that i do not, in fact, work for the production company)

the story ... is bad.

i second the fact that having a film half 50s noir and half modern is unsettling, but with a little suspension of disbelief you can get past that rather easily. the only real fault here is the weak story, and the miserable ending. i like the various situations that develop, and yet there isn't really a main theme to keep me interested.

but, i've seen better films fail much worse than Abbattoir.

ignore the weak point, and focus on how well this film is made, visually, and you will enjoy it, IF you enjoy classic cinema.

honest vote, 7/10. I'm looking forward to the next work by the director.

Interesting Ideas and Images Falls Short

[parsonm2 · 4/10 · 14 February 2017]

This subject of this movie peaked my interest. A diabolic old man that collects murder scenes from houses, a cult of followers, a small dark nameless town. There are a lot of ideas and themes here to like. The acting is decent and the film looks good but seems to fall short for me. Somehow we just don't get a solid delivery. This should have been the type of movie that was just up my avenue but it came off too far-fetched even for my supernatural horror movie tastes. It's far above much of the sub-standard horror out there and has good production values but it's not a keeper. I'd recommend it for those interested and who enjoy something different but keep your expectations on the low end.

Loved this movie: Wonderful Mythology, Story and Acting

[radicalstudios · 9/10 · 12 November 2016]

I got to see this film at several film festivals and highly recommend it! Abattoir is a very unique and special movie that I am so happy was made. Its not your run of the mill slasher horror and its not your average, generic studio film. You can tell the director wanted to make a film that gives audiences more to chew on and a real mystery to follow. The script is nearly written in prose, with passages of dialogue that hark back to the noir detective movies of the 1940s and 1950s, which I love.

The cinematography is also very special, by one of my favorite DPs who shot "Oculus," bringing forth saturated yet contrasted colors and a gorgeous color palette (it is Darren's best filmed movie).

However, its the performances that really sell it for me. Dayton Callie in the role of Jebediah Crone is masterful. His persona on screen is mesmerizing and his dialogue in this film is rich with metaphor and color. I absolutely love where he goes with his character and what we see from his character is not expected!

Jessica Lowndes playing Julia is fantastic. She brings both strength and real emotion to her character and that jumps off the screen. I love that she embraced her role not as a damsel in distress, but rather blends determination and vulnerability in her work.

Joe Anderson plays the perfect detective, with dashes of Bogart and Sinatra at the core. He has the perfect swagger, and I really enjoyed buying into his relationship with Julia.

But my favorite role is Allie, played by the amazing Lin Shaye. She always brings depth and dimension to her characters (have you seen her in "The Signal"), and in Abattoir, Lin plays Allie perfectly. Quirky, yet stern and veiled so you cant believe the twists and turns.

The movie does have a long second act, as there is lots of story and character. I can also see why if your not paying attention or are watching this film with people who are not paying attention, a lot of the nuance can be missed. But the payoff is huge and once your inside the Abattoir, the film stands apart from anything else out there in the horror, thriller, mystery genre or otherwise.

This film is also such a cool premise with an amazing ending that was even more enjoyable the second time I saw it. There were bits and pieces I caught on the second viewing, that missed the first time around. I hope you love it as much as me.

Abattoir my review for 2020.

[jeffreyc-32567 · 7/10 · 1 January 2020]

Right 👉 on happy 😊 new year. Watched abattoir, and found that it was a very good horror movie 🎦. A lot of people gave it low ratings, but for two pounds fifty pence, I enjoyed it.

appreciate the attempt but fails at a basic level

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 29 July 2017]

Newspaper reporter Julia Talben (Jessica Lowndes) is tired of doing stale real estate stories. Her sister Amanda's entire family is massacred. Julia and police detective Declan Grady find a blood-drenched Richard Renshaw inside the house. Renshaw surrenders but Julia finds no easy answers. Somebody quickly buys the house and the crime scene is mysteriously ripped out. It's one of many murder rooms collected over the years by Jebediah Crone (Dayton Callie).

This is trying very hard to be a brutal noir. Any bright joy is stripped out of the frame. Even daylight looks bleak. While I appreciate the attempt, it is not all together successful. It struggles visually with the lower budget and weak directing. The intentional lifelessness leaves the movie lifeless. It looks more cheap than stylized. As a horror, there is nothing to be had until the last part with the rooms. Simple jump scares are beyond this movie. Crone doesn't even appear for the first half. This fails on a very basic level.

Awful Mess

[claudio_carvalho · 1/10 · 10 July 2017]

"Abattoir" is a film with a promising supernatural story and good cinematography that is wasted by a disconnected screenplay that do not develop the characters and situations well. The original idea of an evil man that buys houses to take the rooms where tragedies happened is an unintelligible mess and hard to be understood by the viewer. The motivation of the snoopy Julia Talben is also confused after learning the truth about Jebediah Crone. She knew her family was murdered and in hell (why?) and she insists in entering the house. There is many lack of explanation along the story and in the end, watching "Abattoir" is a complete waste of time. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "O Matadouro" ("The Slaughterhouse")

Creepy Collectors

[shawnblackman · 5/10 · 3 October 2016]

A bigger budget horror flick that changes up the haunted house plot a little bit. A journalist visits her sisters house some time after she is murdered to find the room she was killed in has been taken. Literally. Things get weird when she finds out someone has been buying up homes where tragic deaths occur and stripping the house of the room where they died. Who is doing this and where are they taking it? This is what she intends to find out as she sets out to her hometown.

The film does kick out a fair share of intense scenes. It is a very slow builder as you learn more and more taking its time for the climax for sure. It sort of had a feel of Rose Red with some twists. I think you'll enjoy this one.