Abominable

Abominable is about a group of people who are attacked by a snowman minus the snow. Big Foot , sasquatch, whatever. A group of young girls trying to have some fun away from home, a group of hunters that turn into the hunted, a paraplegic and his psychopathic attendant, all get in on the act. Nothing really new as far as plot or dialog here, but nothing really bad either. Some reasonably good special effects with the monster, some anthropological realism, and some nice scenery are all part of the show. The seasoned cast has something to contribute to this and they strengthen the delivery. Pretty good entertainment if you don't have much else to do.

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!

Kudos to writer / director Ryan Schifrin for doing his part in keeping monster movies alive: this is actually a pretty good horror film in general, and one of the better efforts in the "Bigfoot / Sasquatch / Yeti" sub genre. It benefits from some good shocks *and* suspense, solid atmosphere, a real sense of isolation, and a formidable monster.

Schifrin is able to put a spin on his film by crossing it with "Rear Window", in which the protagonist is a paraplegic (ever-likeable Matt McCoy as Preston Rogers), who's able to tell early on that something scary is going on. He's returned home to his mountain cabin, in the company of a jerk caregiver named Otis (Christien Tinsley, also the films' creature and makeup effects designer), and notices that some attractive young women have taken up temporary residence in the cabin across from him. However, he realizes that a monster is in the area, and has to rely on his own wits since any attempt to contact authorities is met with disdain.

Veteran monster actor Mike Deak plays the creature, who's given an appropriately ugly visage by Tinsley. This particular Bigfoot is VERY nasty, and very stealthy. One of the best moments occurs when Preston looks out his window, and the creature is looking in at him. Another unqualified highlight is a characters' demise around the 77/78 minute mark. Gore hounds will laugh in appreciation.

The film isn't free from flaws, or the usual quota of truly dumb characters, but overall it's definitely enjoyable. One of its main assets is a spooky score by veteran composer Lalo Schifrin (the directors' father), and it DOES have a sense of humor to go with the chills. (Lance Henriksen, playing a hunter, tells a story of a Darwin Award winner, and then proceeds to make the classic dumb horror film mistake of wandering off on his own.)

McCoy gives a creditable, low-key performance in the lead role, and Schifrin populates his story with guest appearances by a variety of familiar faces: Jeffrey Combs, Paul Gleason, Rex Linn, Phil Morris, Tiffany Shepis, Dee Wallace. Schifrin himself can be glimpsed as a gas station attendant. For a guy who's usually not an actor, Tinsley is quite amusing in his portrayal.

Good fun from start to finish, with a priceless final shot.

Seven out of 10.

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?"...

Many people are saying how bad and horrible this movie is. I would have to disagree. This may not be an academy award winner, but compared to other SciFi channel movies (such as King Kobra Vs Komodo, released the week after), it is much better. It is probably the bets SciFi original I've ever seen, with the exception of Dog Soldiers. This movie was also not filled to the top with hundreds of C.G.I monsters and effects. Anyone you ask will say, a guy in a monster suit, looks better than some C.G.I monster. The story is about 5 young girls, who go to a cabin, for a relaxing vacation. In the cabin next to them is Preston Rogers, a crippled man, and his assistant Otis. During the movie, many people are killed by this enormous Yeti, as Preston basically watches from his window, the whole movie. Of course the police won't believe that the monster is real. The acting isn't great, but it isn't horrible. Some notable people are in this movie such as Lance Henriksen, Dee Wallace-Stone, and Ashley Hartman or "The O.C". Overall this movie is a good and entertaining watch, with a lot of gore. Abominable is rated R, and stars Haley Joel, Karin Anna Cheung, Lance Henrikson, Paul Gleason, Matt McCoy, and Ashely Hartman