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Overall Rating : 6.5/10
Directed By : Ryan Schifrin
Matt McCoy (The Apocalypse)
Haley Joel
Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator)
Ashley Hartman (The OC (TV) )
Lance Henriksen (Pumpkinhead)
Dee Wallace-Stone (Cujo)
Tiffany Shepis (The Hazing)
Supplied By : Director, Ryan Schifrin
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Apr. 25, 2006
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| PLOT It has been sighted 42,000 times in 68 countries. A creature of myth and legend known by several names; Yeti, Sasquatch and the infamous Bigfoot! We've hunted it for years, but what happens when it decides to hunt us? "Abominable" centers on a man recovering from a mountain climbing accident, trapped in a remote cabin in the woods, who sees the legendary beast, and must convince someone to believe him, before the monster goes on a bloody rampage. |
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| THE REVIEW Ryan Schifrin's ABOMINABLE, centers around a middle aged man by the name of Preston Rogers. We join Preston 6 months after a freak accident that occurred while rock climbing, an accident that left him paraplegic and one that took the life of his beloved wife. Struggling to cope with her untimely and unexpected death, Preston is now at comfort enough to return to his cabin home in the mountains, escorted by his male nurse Otis Wilhelm. Everything seems fine at the richly furnished cabin to Preston besides the memories of his wife fresh in mind....but when Otis leaves him unattended to go back into town, Preston begins seeing things he does not quite believe! When a group of five beautiful women arrive to party at the neighboring house adjacent to his own - Rogers seemingly spots an unknown brute of a creature with piercing red eyes. Fearing for the women's' lives as well as his own he does everything to warn them, even drugging Otis, but before he knows it this 'abominable' creature is on a terror and all Preston has a choice to do is watch it all(mostly by way of binoculars) not able to lend a hand but desperately wanting to. When attempts at contacting the police render useless, mainly because they don't believe him, Preston finds that in order to save the likely hood of everyone he must be the enforcer, and on his mission he gains the help of one of the young girls...Amanda. When I popped this disc in for this review...I kind of had a feel good moment. The opening scenes as well as the names of the credible cast made me feel as his I were in for something great and those instincts were right on! The great photography by the late Neal Fredericks (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT), gave the film a certain look. and if you love 70's and 80's films you should feel right at home - to me, the look kind of reminded me of POLTERGEIST a little. To the story is ala the film REAR WINDOW, as a big part of it sees Preston Rogers looking at the happenings through a back window via binoculars, this was a great premise, but I couldn't help but to hope for a second of up close action.... it's not that we don't get it, just not quite enough(at least for me). Also I thought the film started on the slow side, but it was only a matter of waiting because in time, it entertained my ass all the way off! The approach in ABOMINABLE is old fashion, all the cheese and all the scares of an 80's drive-n spectacular.... almost a rebirth of the good 'Ol days! With all of the high polished new generation of Horror films around these days that are being made as if they came off an assembly line for money's sake, it is a joy to see a film that was handled with such care in order to be presented in a way fans deserve it and how Horror should be made. Just because most Horror films often have half or even less of a budget of a blockbuster film, doesn't mean they shouldn't be intelligent and bright....and while a good deal of Horror fans aren't so much, you'd be surprised at how many of us are. The creature in the film looks quite a amazing at this budget.... some of it's actions appear hokey at some points, but I add that to the many reasons that ABOMINABLE is such a fun film...and besides if you were thinking this were a serious film then you are mistaken, as the film seems to take it's seriousness with a grain of salt. One of the things I found a bit far-fetched though was all of the things that Preston could do while being seated and just for the fact that he's handicapped. I say this, because I know, I am also wheelchair bound and there is always a degree of difficulty in doing certain things. But at least the film didn't portray him as a helpless human being(as most films do), and that's a plus. The acting is above average for this kind of a film, I feel that Matt McCoy does a great job here in making his character of Preston Rogers, believable, heroic and sometimes even sympathetic. Haley Joel was also great here and definately has the looks that would keep audiences interested, a relative newcomer, her greatest performances are yet to come though. We also have some brief appearances by Ashley Hartman and B-Movie Queen Tiffany Shepis, whom leave sooner than you'd want them to....especially Shepis...and with good reason! It was also very great to see 'Mr. Pumpkinhead' himself Lance Henriksen making a well needed cameo in the film. I am so glad that they decided to go back and add scenes involving Henriksen, as I am a big fan of his.... it is one of the best moments in the film and he also brings some funny dialogue with him! Other cameos include the likes of Dee Wallace Stone, whose appearance is all too brief and a cameo from the always hilarious Paul Gleason from THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Ryan Schifrin is definitely a director i'd put one my 'One's to Watch' list, he might have a few more things to learn, but boy does he have the dedication that every successful filmmaker needs to have! If the rest of the film world would follow this film's lead we'd all be in a better place..... this is one you should be able to just sit back and enjoy without having to worry about every detail. |
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| GORE
METER 5.5/10 At times ABOMINABLE has some great gore....I preferably enjoyed the devouring of one's face......talk about a face lift! |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 7/10 One of the best scores in an indie in a very long time from award winning composer Lalo Schifrin(Amityville Horror '74 and Cool Hand Luke). This score brought a new level of excitement to the film, definately set the right mood and tone for the different paces of the movie. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Overall ABOMINABLE sets out to just entertain the true Horror fan....and that it does! I am thoroughly impressed by this film and could probably watch it multiple times. It will air on The Sci-Fi Channel in May... Sci-Fi is usually a pit for a lot of sub par Horrors, and in my opinion I am not sure the channel deserves ABOMINABLE... |
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