Abominável

Up until recently i was always disappointed in the lack of true monster movies, some of my best early memories were of staying up late to watch such films as "Snowbeast", "the abominable snowman", the hammer movies, abbot and Costello and a little more recently "the howling" and "Dog Soldiers".

Todays monster movies (i.e "cursed" and "the relic") are little more than a barrel of poor cgi effects and some throwaway supernatural plot, Long gone were the days of prosthetics and make up effects. Monsters that you could reach out and touch and not soon to be dated computer generated beasties.

But just a few weeks ago i discovered "Abominable" and was genuinely excited at the prospect of a yeti tearing around a mountain side resort.

The story taking on a more unconventional form of viewing, revolves around a crippled ex mountain climber "Preston" released from a mental institution and left in the care of orderly "Otis", Together they stay in Preston's mountain home not far from the mountain were he was crippled and his wife killed in a climbing accident.

Naturaly Preston unable to leave his accommodation due to his condition starts to witness the grisly acts of the local yeti, with Otis naturally believing him to be a nut job and trying to sedate him.

This is were the film works best, with our hero unable to leave his home he as to find resourceful ways of warning his neighbours ( a house full of nubile young ladies. Yummy.) and nearly all the action taking place from his perspective out of his window.

The film is enormous fun through-out and has great twist ending ( maybe a little predictable, but if you plan on taking a monster film seriously, you shouldn't be watching one) The film as some great cameos from the likes of Lance Henricksen, Jeffrey Combs and Dee Wallace Stone and is directed by Ryan Schifrin son of Lalo Schifrin (The man behind the Enter the Dragon theme) who also provides the excellent score to the film.

So if you miss the good old days of monster movies give "Abominable" a whirl and relive those classic monster memories!

I saw the end of this on the Sci-Fi channel when it first came out and figured it was crap. And while it is pretty much crap, when I watched it yesterday, I realized it's crap with style and some sweet effects. I usually hate everything that the Sci-Fi channel sponsors but this one got my attention for some reason.

The acting isn't great but it isn't terrible either. I thought Jeffrey Combs was awesome and Matt McCoy was pretty good. Everyone else was average or worse. The story is pretty good and it was very interesting watching the special and seeing that influence came from Rear Window which is an all time favorite of mine. The gore was pretty sweet and I thought the creature looked pretty cool. I also enjoyed the ending. CHeck this one out for some B-movie fun!

Preston Rogers (Matt McCoy) heads back to his cabin in the mountains for the first time since an accident left him paralyzed and took his wife's life. With his nurse in tow, Preston makes his way into the high wilderness. Sadly, Preston's nurse is a useless imbecile named Otis (Christien Tinsley), who thinks that Preston is just a big baby, as well as an unwanted burden.

While he's getting settled in, Preston sees that a group of fun-loving, young women have arrived at the cabin next door. As night falls, having been abandoned for the day by Otis, Preston realizes that something else has also arrived. While he watches, in helpless REAR WINDOW fashion, his new neighbors suffer the brutal attacks of the titular titan.

ABOMINABLE is a pretty good take on the Bigfoot phenomenon. This yeti is no joke! It's no lumbering giant, and is very quick. It also has quite the tendency toward savage mutilation! The monster is well-realized and menacing.

McCoy is convincing in his role, and the rest of the cast is serviceable as monster fodder, including the wonderful Tiffany Shepis, who has the second best death scene in the movie, literally going "head over heels"! The best such scene involves Otis' "big headache", which will make gorehounds giddy with glee!

Some fantastic cameo appearances add to the fun, including Dee Wallace-Stone, Lance Henriksen, Jeffrey Combs, and Paul Gleason!

Overall, not bad, although, the one question that kept coming up was, "Don't cabins have curtains?"...

Six months after a climbing accident in Suicide Rock in which his cable snapped and his wife died, the crippled Rogers (Matt McCoy) returns to Flatwoods on a wheel chair nursed by Otis Wilhelm (Christien Tinsley) as part of the treatment prescribed by Dr. Rainer. They lodge in Preston's cottage and sooner Preston sees a pair of huge red eyes in the woods. He tells Otis, but he believes Preston is paranoid. Later he sees his blonde next door neighbor Karen Herdberger (Ashley Hartman) vanishing in the woods and he tries to tell her friends, but the girls believe he is a pervert peeping them. Without phone lines, Preston uses his Internet through satellite to communicate with the police, but they do not give credit to his words. In despair, Preston tries to communicate with his neighbors. Meanwhile Ziegler Dane (Lance Henriksen), Billy Hoss (Rex Linn) and their friend (Jeffrey Comb) are hunting the animal that is killing the cattle in Hoss's farm. When Ziegler finds the wounded Karen in a cave, he realizes that his friends and he are in danger.

The B-movie "Abominable" is a funny entertainment that uses the idea of "Rear Window", i.e., a man confined to his home that witnesses that there is something out there but he is not able to move or to communicate with other people, associated to the legend of the Bigfoot a.k.a. Sasquatch. This is the type of a good "bad movie", with many flaws, silly situations, naked woman etc. that is enjoyable in the end. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Abominável" ("Abominable")

I have a category of movie I call a "Good, bad movie". You'll either get that statement or you won't. If you are a real movie buff, you'll appreciate the value of a good, bad movie. This is a really cool twist on the Big Foot mythology. I saw this on the Sci-Fi channel and I expected some of their usual crapola. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Certainly this isn't a masterpiece or anything. But for the obviously small budget, it was very well done. The FX were cheesy, but adequate. The script was average. But the basic plot and the cinematography set a mood that really sucks you in. It's gripping, suspenseful, and doesn't drag or bore you. Matt McCoy (Preston Rogers) was quite good, exceeding his B list status. And Haley Joel (Amanda) didn't settle for being the dumb bimbo that this part was probably written to be. She actually had a touch of depth to the character.

If you want to huddle under a blanket with your significant other and have an entertaining, suspenseful evening, I recommend Abominable.

Also, make sure you don't miss the final scene. No spoiler here, but I have to say that the final shot of the movie was B movie brilliance.

Tachyon