Abduction Of The Innocent — Abduction Of The Innocent ( DVD)
Abduction Of The Innocent (aka Stockholm Syndrome) is a blend of grim thriller and torture-bound horror focusing on human slave trafficking. The early 2000s film is a low-budget affair- with decidedly mixed gore effects and acting- moving between fairly distributing/ troubling, to badly amateurish & somewhat muddled in its plot/ focus. Here from Wild Eye Releasing is a bare-bones DVD release of the film.
Abduction Of The Innocent is a 2008 film directed and written by Ryan Cavalline. Between 2002 and 2024 he has an impressive twenty credits to his name. These move between horror author getting tangled up with a murderer horror/ thriller Serial Killer (2002). Onto cannibalistic clan-bound horror House Of Carnage(2006), through to The Legend of David Lewis( 2019) a documentary regarding the " Robin Hood of Pennsylvania.", and dark comedy regarding two small-town drunks/ drug addicts Inherited Scars (2024).
The seventy-seven film starts off with a grimly effective tone- as we get monochrome footage of mutilated human bodies hanging in woodland playing over the credits. As we get into the film we see a twentysomething couple pulling up to a rundown motel- we find out she is pregnant, but there has been some sort of issue so they are on the road to see doctors some distance away- and they've booked a room in the motel.
He goes to book in, and as she sits in the car she gets approached by a shifty man trying to talk to her- she rolls up the window, turning away from the man. We find out the man has a buddy waiting in a nearby car, and they are planning to kidnap the pair- to sell on for human slavery.
As things unfold the pair get taken back to a lock-up, and we meet the bald/ goatee Mr. Pollino (Michael A. Migliore)- a rather nasty piece of work who is in charge of the slavery operation. We see him forcing a tied at the neck woman to pee on the floor, lick it up, then put a sack on her head with a loaded gun pressed against her temples.
While at the two-floor lock-up, we get a coat-hanger abortion, and a demented flush-faced priest with a razor blade-covered pole slicing and forcing inside a screaming woman, etc. As the film moves on we travel out into a woodland-based building- with gory shooting, gutting’s, limbs sawn off, etc.
The film clearly is trying to be as shocking/disturbing as possible- the problem is that both the acting and effects are very mixed. I've watched a lot of low-budget horror- so I'm used to both issues, but I’m afraid here it is often detrimental to the film's impact. At its worst, the actors are totally unconvincing/ showing badly hammed-up fear, with unrealistic skin cuts/ violence. Yes at points it is effective, and you do become relatively distributed- but not enough to make it a wholly harrowing/ nasty ride it should be.
As mentioned earlier this region-free DVD is a barebones affair- with just a trailer reel. The film looks like it might have been shot on video, or debility warped/ worn. Sadly this doesn’t add much to the proceedings- as it just feels badly amateurish/ uneven in its shot quality- and no it’s not found footage.
The idea of a present-day human slavery-focused film is good/ full of disturbing promise, but sadly much of Abduction Of The Innocent doesn’t hold up to that promise. I’d say if you're into extreme film maybe give it a try, as it may work better with you. Drop by here to watch the trailer