Abominable (DVD)

Abominable (DVD)
Bigfoot smashes through Rear Window.
By:stacilayne
Updated: 09-30-2006

When you call your movie Abominable, you'd better know that you have a property that's critic-proof. In the case of this creature feature, first time writer-director Ryan Schifrin has dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's — he knows movies, horror films in particular, and it shows in this low-budget labor of love. Unlike so many directors who seem to have disdain for the genre, or hacks who think it's a good way to break in and make a quick direct-to-DVD buck, it's obvious that Schifrin wanted to make this movie. Thorough thought went into making what he describes as "Bigfoot meets Rear Window".

 

First we meet our handicapped hero, Preston Rogers (Matt McCoy, a dead ringer for Gabriel Byrne, and who's actually starred in some "Bigfoot" movies previously), a widower who lost his wife while they were scaling the ominously-dubbed Suicide Rock. He was injured, paralyzed from the waist down, and is just returning home to the rustic-chic mountain cabin they once shared — with him is a live-in nurse, the ill-tempered Otis Wilhelm (Christien Tinsley, who also created the film's creature effects). If Preston is the Jimmy Stewart character, then Otis is Nurse Ratchet from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. And come to think of it, maybe the gaggle of girls who rent the cabin next door to Preston's that weekend are from Slumber Party. Sprinkle in some bumbling small town sheriffs and a trio of gung-ho, blast-happy hunters, and you've got the standard recipe for a feel-good monster-mayhem movie.

 

Now we have our players, and soon enough we get a glimpse of our brutal Bigfoot (all suit, no CGI), who is either really hungry or very angry. Which, we never really know, and it doesn't matter. No matter you slice it, dice it and cook it up, you are in for rip-roaring good time. The killings are, as one would hope and expect, violent and gruesome, but what might surprise you is the caliber of suspense, cinematography, music (Schifrin's dad, Lalo, is a lauded film composer), and acting. McCoy is excellent, playing a wide range of emotions, and it's hard to believe that Otis is Tinsley's first role. Our main girl, Haley Joel, nicely straddles the line between bouncing bimbo and hands-on hero. Longtime horror fans will surely enjoy the cameos from Lance Henriksen, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace-Stone, Tiffany Shepis, and many more.

 

As for the monster himself, these things are always tricky. First let me say it's the best monster-suit I recall having seen for years, especially in a modestly-budgeted slasher, but I do wish the creature's hair had been hanging over its eyes rather than back-combed. Seeing him full-face makes him more cartoony than menacing… but his acts of violence are plenty menacing, so those more than make up for his grinning, wide-eyed countenance.

 

I won't spoil any of them, but take my word for it when I say there are some truly awesome and totally memorable kills in Abominable!

 

The DVD has a lot of great bonus material. There is a spirited commentary with Schifrin, McCoy and Combs; deleted and extended scenes; and outtakes and bloopers. The making-of documentary is better than average (wonder of wonders, the actors don't seem to be regurgitating text from the press kit), and Schifrin's USC student film, Shadows, is a fun, if predictable, black and white chiller.

 

Trivia Tidbit: The movie was filmed on location in Idyllwild, CA., where I spent some of my teen years… we used to get excited when the 1962 Elvis movie, Kid Galahad, also shot there, came on TV (if only we'd had something like Abominable to watch instead! We were cable-deprived). Anyway, past and present hill people will recognize "town" and the mile-high Tahquitz Peak.

 

Trivia Tidbit 2: The movie's poster and DVD box art is by Drew Struzan, one of the best artists in Hollywood. He did the poster art for John Carpenter's version of The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and many more.

 

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson

 

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