Abducted

Despite the best efforts of Collins to make this film bad, he accidentally made an interesting movie. Renee (Roberta Weiss) is out in the forest jogging and within the first minute of the movie finds herself captured by Vern (Lawrence King-Phillips). Vern appears insane at first, with his crazy sunglasses and aggressive nature. Events unfold and we come to realize that Vern has a dad (in a very convincing performance by Dan Haggerty) who is exactly the opposite of Vern, calm and level-headed. Above all this movie explores some interesting ideas, like what happens to the abductee after the initial shock of being abducted. Vern and his dad (Joe) are only in the forest because Joe loves his son and society wants to lock him up. Unfortunately, it seems that not much thought went into the last fifteen minutes, but the rest of the movie is definitely worth a watch. Rating: 25/40

Well, this was … good, but certainly not what I expected! According to the cover of the ex-rental VHS I picked up, "Abducted" is based on a true story and it even has bits and pieces of authentic Canadian newspaper clippings illustrated on the back. However, I can't find any information regarding this allegedly "true story" on the whole internet. I'm still somewhat tempted to believe the film is at least loosely inspired by true events, though, because the plot and the story twists are just too weird be fictional. "Abducted" is quite unique, actually. It's a prototypic exploitation movie, only it doesn't feature any exploitation trademarks. This movie basically deals with the kidnapping of a young and beautiful girl by a bewildered and socially alienated mountain man, but strangely enough it doesn't feature any sleaze, nudity or rape. Instead, this is a slow-moving and (wannabe) harrowing drama that makes some very unusual twists around halfway and mainly focuses on the breathtaking filming locations and environmental scenery. During her morning jog in the woods, Renee Aldrich is surprise-attacked by a madman. He scares and provokes her and then literally drags the poor girl deeper into the woods – by a rope around her neck – to his cabin. His attempts to rape her might be unsuccessful, but still his behavior towards her grows increasingly hostile. Then the film makes a weird twist when suddenly the freak's father shows up and turns out to be a "one-with-nature" Good Samaritan type of guy. Joe Evans, played by Grizzly guy Dan Haggerty, heavily disapproves his son's acts and even confesses to Renee that the came to live in the remote woods to keep Vern away from people. Grizzly guy also swears to guide her back home, but Vern is not willing to let her go that easy. On their way back to civilization, "Abducted" changes into some sort of educational nature & wildlife documentary, with Dan Haggerty vividly trying to pass on the message of preserving our forests. Undeniably the filming locations are staggering, but if I wanted to see deer or birds, I could always watch National Geographic. The bizarre triangular situation and the continuously present tension between Renee and her aggressor Vern provide a handful of noteworthy atmospheric sequences, but overall "Abducted" is a dull film and a missed opportunity for sure.

I just noticed there also exists a sequel to this film, entitled "Abducted II: the Reunion", which features Vern's resurrection from the dead and three scarcely dressed women on a camping trip. Now, that's all the more proof this film can't possibly be based on a true story, because that would be the ultimate in shamelessly exploiting a human drama. But with a director named Boon Collins, you never know, of course

This is an uneven film that is definitely worth seeing. In expressing women's secret fears and fantasies it goes farther than others and is quite frank about the villain's (King-Phillips) sexual frustration. Any woman watching this film is going to ask herself, as I did, what she would do in the same situation, and perhaps imagine differing scenarios. The irony is that the physically adorable but repulsively abusive Vern picks an insipid snob, one he constantly criticizes ("You wouldn't last out here alone," "City people are soft," etc.) despite seething with passion for her.

As Renee, Weiss is perfectly cast and gives an understated performance that may not seem like acting, since she is playing a an ordinary college student, incurious about the wilderness and unskilled at both survival and ingratiating herself to her captor. Being tone-deaf in her dealings with him ("My family has money,") her character is not very sympathetic either. Her attitude toward the lifestyle of both Vern and his father (Haggerty) literally wrenched a gasp from my throat. Her character reminded me of girls I had gone to college with - knowing only society's straight line, not interested in true freedom or the discovery of being desperately wanted by a man, even if he is not her dreamboat.

Unfortunately, the film shies away from the natural consequences of the intriguing situation it has set up, and veers into cliché and sensation. The ending is simultaneously absurd and hilarious, due to a bravura performance by King-Phillips, while Weiss and Haggerty fall into their steps as stock characters. The depth built up in the male characters is lost in the film's rush to its ending, and feels like a betrayal.

King-Phillip's portrayal of Vern apparently has a cult following, and it is justified. It's just too bad that some of the scenarios that I imagined between Vern and Renee (or me) were not expressed for me in this film.

I saw this movie late one night on a movie channel here in Canada. It has received some medicore reviews here, but I think the movie is slightly above average, all things considered.

Yes, it was a low budget movie and that's quite obvious. The beautiful scenery of the Canadian wilderness is breathtaking. The characters played by Haggerty, and his son were quite well-developed and believable. Haggerty and Weiss also have some great dialog on their trip back to civilization. Roberta Weiss looks great too, and that doesn't hurt.

You won't be able to find this one DVD yet, your only hope is to catch on TV one night, or find a used copy of the VHS.

I will be damned if Dan Haggerty, TV's own "Grizzly Adams", does not actually take his role in this no-budget, cheap exploitation flick seriously and truly do his best to act in this film. You are in the middle of watching what has got to be one of the most amateurishly acted and atrociously bad crazy-mountain-man-abducts-sweet-young-thing movies, and all of a sudden, the big burly blonde Haggerty shows up and seems to actually think he is in something by Strindberg.

This movie apparently had something of a following, although I can't imagine why, so repugnantly does it violate the natural order, even of exploitation films, and it even generated a sequel, which I have thankfully been spared having to watch.

I am all for chicks-in-distress films, and I was hoping to see a lot of torn clothing, bared breasts, some good rolling around in the dirt and some real rope bondage in lush outdoor settings. This movie sadly disappoints on all counts, even in the bondage area, and I never saw a mountain guy with more rope than Vern, our psychotic kidnapper. Renee, the hapless victim, played by a young woman who seems to be somewhere between unconscious and dead, is so laughably inept at doing anything but standing still that part of me was hoping she would end up as Mrs. Vern, despite her whining that she was unhappy being kidnapped and wanted to go home. The character of Vern, played with twisted fiendish glee, still basically makes no sense and the actor's performance falls flat, despite his enthusiasm. Only Haggerty's genuine attempts at delivering a performance of some substance save this from being a complete catastrophe from start to finish.

In the genre of kidnapped-girl-in-the-hands-of-a-madman movies, this is about as lame as you can get. Nice Canadian landscape, though.