Aberration

Pink-haired Pamela Gidley steals money from her Russian mobster boyfriend (Valery Nikolaev) and retreats to a small cabin in wintry Northern town. A blizzard traps her and a friendly local guy (Simon Bossell) there and fast-evolving, fanged mutant geckos (!?) attack. Her ex also eventually shows up to make things worse. A silly premise and occasional hokey creature FX detract from this ALIEN-type movie, but it's humorous, well acted, entertaining, action-packed and lots of fun, with plenty of blood and slime for gore fans. A bit better than expected. It was filmed on location in Wellington, New Zealand.

Score: 5 out of 10

This movie is about as scary as a Disney movie. With plenty of gore and a weak story line, it is little wonder that it was overlooked by many, but in the end, the cheesiness of the film is what makes it worth watching for many. The effects aren't as good as hoped and the characters are not very believable. The story is that of a pair of people whom (too my knowledge) are stuck in a cabin where there are insidious lizard-like animals which feast on flesh. The monstrous and quite murderous creatures seem to appear as little more than garden-variety newts, but they seem to creep a viewer out in a pinch. The setting is also fairly weak, but it does the trick well for the story. All in all, if you are in the mood for a simple story and moderately simple effects, cast aside "Troy" and watch this.

Ok, let me start off by saying; IT'S NOT THAT BAD, DAMMIT! Ok, that might be a stretch, it is pretty bad. But I liked it... and I feel extremely guilty for it, so there! Was it the cheesy plot? Super-Evolved killer geckos in what seems to be Alaska (but in reality is New Zealand (What the fuzzy monkeys you ask? So do I). Was it the lack of meaningful nudity when it SO COULD HAVE BEEN THERE (down boy)... or was it the fact that the scientist guy somehow reminded me of Bruce Cambell from Evil Dead II... at least in the convenience store at the end.... with the flaming broom... and he also kinda looked like Brandon Lee from the crow at one point.... don't ask, I was heavily sedated at the time of writing this. What it fails to deliver in actual thrills or scares, it seems to make up for in campy, schlocky, tongue in cheek goodness. While it's not that bad, it's not that good.

But if you've got nothing better to do on a dark and stormy night when the pillars of heaven are shaking and the earth is opening up ready to swallow you whole, and you see this in the video rental place, and you're not sure about it, you just kick back and ask yourself what old Jack Burton might say...

y'know what he'd say?

What the hell?

First of all; the rating scale is difficult to use as I recommend the movie (who doesn't love campy, tongue-in-cheek low budget scifi/horror; if you're reading this you do!). I use the scale for the quality of scenes not the movie whole. The acting was OK and at times rather bad. There were some cool aspects and the gore was quite good even though scifi hacked it. Pamela Gidley i've always loved! The lizards looked like a cross between older godzilla movies with a hint of digital animation at times. I loved the setting (cabin in the woods) and the snow. A hot snow bunny always helps. All in all it's definitely worth a rent.

pamela gidley shows that she really knows how to take control of mutated reptiles, although she can't do too much with the script. the actors are so forgettable that the creatures should get top billing. on-screen chemistry between gidley and simon bossell is perhaps the worst ever if not for the recent star wars trilogy.

the effects and props are outlandish but there's plenty of them - a guy's head explodes and you've gotta love that, another guy gets eaten by mutant lizards, and there's an absolutely great scene toward the end where gidley almost loses her leg to a hasty operation on (of all places) the counter in the general store. more lizard battles follow, lots of blood, puss, etc. it's a miracle that the characters' lack of anything resembling common sense didn't get them dusted in the first ten minutes.

if you're a fan of gore, crackerjack horror, B-anything, peter jackson's older work, or have a "thing" for pamela gidley, then you'll probably enjoy it. it succeeds where a lot of cheap movies fail, which is to say that while the plot is essentially brainless, it manages to stay consistently fun and entertaining. aberration's biggest drawback may be its 'TV movie' feel but given the subject it doesn't suffer much for it.