Abominable (2006) User Reviews

A great way to spend an evening...

[tachyon_1 · 6/10 · 20 May 2006]

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

There Is Something out There

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 14 October 2008]

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")

Abominable

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 1 March 2008]

"I'm gonna need a bigger knife."

The Flatwoods Sasquatch terrorizes victims within the vicinity of his cavernous dwelling.

Wheel-chair bound cripple, Preston Rogers(Matt McCoy), still recovering psychologically from a tragic fall from nearby Suicide Rock which took the life of his wife, finds himself in quite the dilemma. Despite his wishes against returning to the cabin he shared with his wife, both rock-climbing experts who scaled Suicide Rock often, Preston is forced, thanks to his doctor who has assigned a smart-ass orderly Otis(Christien Tinsley, who imbues his character with a smarmy attitude)over his care, to confront what ails him. Instead, Preston helplessly watches as the rotund furry beast attacks a female group gathering together, across the way in another cabin, for a bachelorette party. Attempts at getting the police(..and Otis) to help fails because no one believes such a wild story as a Sasquatch on a violent rampage. Somehow, Preston will have to take matters into his own hands..but, how can he? And, what if the Sasquatch comes after him? How will he defend himself when he's limited by his disability? And, how can a wheel-chair bound cripple ever help others in need?

REAR WINDOW is mined yet again for inspiration, but I felt the story-line was effective..I thought there were some suspenseful moments thanks to the benefits of having a crippled hero, limited in ways he can help those in trouble due to his lack of mobility. Through Preston, we're helpless on-lookers towards those who are assaulted by the Sasquatch. The unrealistic Sasquatch, which looks like a costumed beast, can either be a liability or a gas depending on your mood. There's a sense of fun at work here if you can look past the limited resources director Ryan Schifrin has..he delivers an entertaining little creature feature with plenty of gory carnage to satisfy gore-hounds. One victim's body is pulled through a small window, from the waste snapping her frame in two. One female victim is crushed under-foot by the Sasquatch. Another's face is completely eaten off. You get to see Tiffany Shepis completely nude, taking a shower. Recognizable faces, in small roles, populate the film such as the late Paul Gleason(THE BREAKFAST CLUB)as an ornery sheriff, Jeffrey Combs as a chain-smoking gas station employee with tubes feeding him oxygen from a can(..quite scraggly under frizzled hair, dirty cap and grubby beard), Dee Wallace Stone as a terrified wife who accompanies her husband outside finding their horses ripped apart, and Lance Henriksen as a cynical hunter who "just wants to kill something"(..he supplies a very funny "Darwin's awards" monologue).

big foot, big mouth

[wrlang · 5/10 · 10 October 2006]

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.

"So Much For Peace And Quiet!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 19 June 2019]

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?"...

It was.

[gundognc · 1/10 · 13 October 2006]

This was about as much fun as sticking pins in your eyes.

This transcends the "so bad it's good" genre so completely that it has created a new "so bad I'd rather be tortured by the Stasi" categorisation. The real monster in this film is the director/writer.

Script: 0 Terrible. No redeeming features whatsoever.

Acting: 0 Appalling. I kept shouting "Quick! Use acting." in the vain hope that someone would.

Plot: 0 Dreadful. More holes than swiss cheese. Trying to set them out wastes valuable time that could be enjoyed NOT watching this film.

Special effects: -58 Rule one of low budget monster movies is "don't show the monster". This film bravely ignores this and instead parades its terrible monster for about half the film. You laugh the first time and then it is an exercise in cringing as you realise you are supposed to be frightened of this thing.

This is the first film that has made me wish IMDb allowed negative ratings. If you never watch this, it will be too soon.

Less cameos, more face-gulping!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 30 July 2013]

It seems like writer/director Ryan Shifrin put a lot of time and energy into lobbying and trying to convince famous B-movie icons to make guest appearances in his long-feature debut film. And with great success, I must add, since "Abominable" features no less than 4 relatively big and popular names of the horror/cult movie business. It must be quite impressive to sit in a bar with your friends and be able to say that you managed to recruit Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henriksen, Paul Gleason and Dee Wallace Stone for your first film! But does it honestly matter that much, really? The roles of these four hardly qualify as cameo appearances and their added value to the plot is zilch. Instead of focusing so much on these guest appearances, Shifrin perhaps should have put even a bit more thought in the script and main character drawings. The story definitely shows potential and more depth than your average Bigfoot/Sasquatch flick (traditionally a sub genre full of hideous stinkers…), but eventually it still lacks something. The story centers on a man returning to his cabin in the Flatwoods, severely traumatized and condemned to life in a wheelchair following a terrible mountain climbing accident in which he lost his beloved wife. Quite a shame, because according to Jeffrey Combs' sleazy character she was a fox! He rapidly spots a giant hairy monster with spooky eyes amidst the trees, but his cynical male nurse doesn't believe him and the four sexy babes next door assume he's just a sick pervert when he's waving around his binoculars and trying to get their attention. Yes, "Abominable" is actually a bit of a mixture between Hitchcock's classic "Read Window" and low-budget budget backwoods horror. Three of the four babes (including Tiffany Shepis, so nudity guaranteed!) are butchered rather fast, but our crippled whiny hero teams up with the – cutest- remaining girl and makes a run for it. The plot is silly and predictable, but at least it's never boring and there even are a few notable moments of suspense if you keep your expectations low. The Bigfoot creature looks like a sleazier and trashier version of Harry (from "Harry and the Hendersons") and has the ability to swallow someone's entire face in one single gulp! Speaking as an avid blood & gore fanatic, I think "Abominable" should have shown a lot more beastly massacres and grotesque make-up effects. Maybe next time Shifrin could try to spend less of his budget on cameo appearances and more in the gore department.

B-Movie Goodness

[Scars_Remain · 7/10 · 16 June 2008]

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!

Cheesy, but considering the low budget, it has its moments

[da_klaw · 4/10 · 22 January 2007]

First off, do not go into the movie with any positive expectations. You will then be decently impressed or just neutral about the film.

Ultimately, the revealing of the bigfoot (a guy in a costume) is what makes this otherwise decent movie suffer in the ratings. I will have to add, though, that you don't see much of the creature until half way through the movie.

The first half of the movie was pretty good. Nice, chilling music that complements the dark, scary atmosphere (which, of course is some deserted mountain cabin). The second half is pretty dumb, once you get a full view of the monster. It just isn't as scary anymore. Horror movies have to make you believe in the terror and the monster, but this movie shoots itself in the foot by showing the entire bigfoot. If the yeti had stayed more or less in the shadows, and if they limited the stupid roaring, then I'd have rated it at least a 7.

The acting was par. For B list actors, they performed averagely.

The ending sort of redeems the movie. But then again, please don't have any high expectations before watching the flick. It doesn't deserve any expectation.

However, if you are a crypto movie fan, then you might just enjoy this anyway. There aren't that many bigfoot, nessie, etc flicks out there, so you guys might like this.

"I'm gonna need a bigger knife."

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 3 September 2021]

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.

Did we see the same movie?

[imdb-3646 · 4/10 · 5 October 2006]

After seeing a lot of positive reviews here I was looking forward to a nice uncomplicated horror movie.

The opening scene was promising, creepy atmosphere, good sound effects, some gore. The first half of the movie was able to live up to expectation. Even though the sound effects where overdone and sometimes inappropriate, the movie kept a grip.

This tension was however totally lost when we get to see the full monster at about half way. No creepy sounds or gory murders during the rest of the movie could make up for this abominable cheap Halloween costume.

This creature simply should have stayed in the dark...

Lo and behold, a good Sci Fi Channel premiere

[bruceleroy · 8/10 · 21 May 2006]

The movies that the Sci Fi Channel premieres on Saturday nights are a decidedly mixed bag -- "mixed" meaning "bad, but watchable enough because it's free on TV". That said, Abominable is probably the best one yet and one of the few that I wouldn't have minded paying for as a rental or even in a theater (well, matinée price). Basically, it's a monster movie spliced with Rear Window, with an "abominable" man-beast as the menacing killer -- a simple story wonderfully executed with quick pacing, a strong cast of character actors, and gloriously gruesome effects. You'll appreciate it all the more next week when Boa vs. Python vs. Komodo vs. Gerbil comes on.

Good for a SciFi channel movie!

[kensdal · 6/10 · 24 May 2006]

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

bad script

[trashgang · 4/10 · 3 May 2011]

Ryan Schifrin, the director of this flick wasn't well known until he appeared in Hatchet 2 as a featured hunter, uncredited but still he could say he was in Hatchet 2. I guess due that reason that suddenly Abominable came available here 5 years after its release. Still you could pick it up here immediately on the sale shelves. So that means a lot. For us Europeans Bigfoot doesn't mean a thing. Okay, you had the comedy Harry and the Hendersons concerning Bigfoot. Nevertheless, this one here also had some appearances of well known horror actors. For instance, Jeffrey Combs is in it for his faces he can make, and Lance Henriksen is in it to play the tough guy. But be aware, both are only a few moments in it. Tiffany Shepis, also one of those well known actresses in the genre is in it and guess what, you can see her again in full nudity. And there are more names, too many to mention. And that's the problem, names doesn't make a movie. Scripts do and here it fails a bit. I must say that a few killings are indeed gory but when Tiffany dies watch the blood sputtering on the wall above the window, next shot, blood is gone and those mistakes tear a flick down for me. One attack by the Sasquatch is worth mentioning, won't spoil it but you will surely recognise it. But really, nothing happens for a lot here, a few attacks and that is it. You can see the end coming once it appears, you really know what's going to happen. No suspense although the effects used and make up for the Yeti were well done. If he had made it like Hatchet well, a classic it would be but for know it is what the title says, abominable.

A - movie

[muddydog78 · 22 May 2006]

I would say that this an a- movie . Not a standard sci-fi b movie and not an a list movie . The actors really stepped up and gave a journeyman performance . Matt McCoy was really on as Preston who was fighting his demons and fighting a real life demon of sorts . Jeffery Combs ( Formerly Wehyoun and Shran from Star Trek) was brilliant in a change of pace role for him as the manic clerk with an odd sense of humor and Haley Joel was on as Amanda . And the ending was old school sweet , Leaving no sense of conclusion and total anxiety seeing the army of ..... Well if you have not seen it watch it and you'll know soon enough .

I am offended at the average rating for this ridiculousness

[johng-90893 · 1/10 · 15 December 2020]

5.1???????

This steaming pile of utter nonsense is an embarrassment to all involved no matter how bad things have turned for them in their lives. If I were them, I don't care what contract was signed, I would sue to prevent my name being in the credits.

I admit I did laugh a couple of times. Zero credit, however, is given to this absurdly bad offering; I might have laughed randomly at that moment if I were staring at the wall, pondering every bad decision I've made in my life, like watching this.

My wife saw three seconds of it and you could see her opinion of me drop like my dignity had gone over Niagara Falls.

It's hard to come back from these kinds of embarrassments, so if you insist on watching this, make sure you can deny it ever happened.

P.S. You'll notice I never called it a film

Absolutely awful

[hybrid1 · 1/10 · 6 October 2006]

This has got to be one of the worst piles of crap I've ever had the misfortune of witnessing!!! I actually feel dumber after watching this rubbish.

I don't know what was worse... the script, the acting, or the "effects". There's an hour and a half of my life that I'll never , ever get back... I love B movies but this was not even funny! Total pants! I was actually praying for death by the end of the movie. The fact that any of the pitiful characters actually made it out alive was a disappointment in itself. I actually wanted the Bigfoot (some guy in a crappy suit)to kill all of them just for the bad acting alone! watch it if you want... but be warned!

Rear Bigfoot

[petra_ste · 2/10 · 26 May 2007]

If you've ever said "I'd like to watch a version of Rear Window which is not the Hitchcock classic but some horrible schlock where the killer is a Bigfoot", well, I've got great news for you.

Abominable - which has at the moment an astonishingly generous IMDb rating of 5/10 - is bad. No, scratch that: it's *awful*. There are fleeting moments of "so bad it's good" amusement, but they are few and far between.

In this atrocious horror flick, wheelchair-bound Preston (Matt McCoy) spies from his cabin in the woods a group of teens hunted down by a Bigfoot, played by a man in a ludicrously cheesy costume (I spent most of his screen time looking for the zipper).

Apart for a few unintentionally hilarious scenes, Abominable is the worst kind of bad film: the flaccid one. Action is no fun, everything is cheap and lazy. It's the sloppy kind of stuff which makes every viewer think he has a shot at becoming director or writer (" Hey, I couldn't do worse!").

Just because its premise is dumb, a movie doesn't HAVE to be incompetent - see Marshall's Dog Soldiers, another horror flick set in a forest with men-eating monsters. It's not Crime and Punishment, obviously, but it shows how even this kind of silly plot can be entertaining when made with craft and care.

2/10

Classic Monster Fare

[moosemania82 · 7/10 · 18 September 2006]

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!

The title says it all!

[raypdaley182 · 1/10 · 15 March 2007]

This is truly Abominable!

I did an independent test asking a few non sci-fi nerds "What is the 1st word you tend to associate with Abominable?" and almost all of them said Yeti.

Where as this film is more about Sasquatch and he is nothing even close to the Abominable Snowman or Yeti.

Having seen the cast list as the opening credits rolled, I wondered why Jeffery Combs And Lance Henrikson were so low on the billing. Jeff gets about 10 or so minutes screen time, Lance gets even less and both get killed.

Basically this is the old "There's something nasty in the forest" plot. The ending is quite a fun twist and possibly the only surprise the whole movie has to offer.

Watch it if you must, it's fairly harmless.

Not that bad actually

[dcipledude · 7/10 · 5 December 2011]

I bought this one for the dvdcover which shows a scarier monster than is actually in the film and that is my only negative comment : the monster's face. It was almost laughable and thats a shame because this low-budget movie is well-made, it makes me wonder what the director could do with a bigger budget. Protagonist Matt McCoy is one of those actors you've seen before but you can't seem the recall from what movie, anyway he's good in this one, putting him in a wheelchair was a good move as it restricts his movements and creates a tension when the monster comes into view. I won't go into much detail, the other characters aren't worth mentioning (the male nurse is annoying), there is some nudity, a big monster, not too much gore and some cliché characters. All in all, 90 minutes well spend but Harry & the Hendersons is still my favorite Sasquatch movie.

Dumb

[draftdubya · 1/10 · 8 January 2020]

The worst movie with okay actors I have ever seen. This turd needs to be burned. The people in this mess are beyond stupid. You have the world's dumbest group of girls ever in a movie.

The Much Needed, Return of the Creature Feature

[Alienator · 10/10 · 22 May 2006]

The whole mythos surrounding "Bigfoot", "The Abominable Snowman", or "Sasquatch" is an enthralling one, captivating the general public since the first alleged Bigfoot sightings in the early 1950s. A number of Bigfoot films have been made, capitalizing on the general population's interest in these anomalies. Needless to say, many of these films have gone relatively unnoticed or dismissed as the campiest of B-Movies (excluding Hammer Studios' 1957 classic 'The Abominable Snowman'). This brings us to Ryan Schifrin's feature-length directorial debut 'Abominable'. Not since 1957 has such an enthralling, riveting, yet original picture hit the screens pertaining to this subject matter - a true creature feature with a Hitchcockian twist.

'Abominable' begins with the paraplegic Preston Rogers (Matt McCoy) traveling up to his mountain-home for the first time in six months after recovering from a mountain-climbing accident. Preston is accompanied by Otis (Christien Tinsley), an impatient and condescending physical therapist (The viewer soon learns from a local newspaper that the town has received an alleged "Bigfoot" report from a local resident). Preston soon reaches his cabin. As the evening progresses, he resides on his deck (overlooking the forest and a neighboring house) gazing off into the woods through a pair of binoculars. When Otis steps out to get a carton of soy milk for Preston at the nearest store, a group of girls arrive at the neighboring house. At the same time Preston soon begins to notice strange happenings in the woods surrounding the neighboring house and watches helplessly as the tragic events of the night unfold.

Standing drastically alone from the pseudo-horror produced by major (and minor) studios of this day and age, 'Abominable' is an excellent, extremely original, and extremely unrelenting film. The film accomplishes an atmosphere and storyline unachieved and untouched since the heydays of drive-in horror that were the 1950s through the 1980s. 'Abominable' possesses a certain quality which has been vacant within the horror genre (especially the monster-movie sub-genre) for years and years: it is devoid of CGI. The Monster (Michael Deak) is, in fact, a man in a suit! To some, this conjures up a question; does the suit look excessively "cheesy" and unrealistic? Fortunately it does not; the effects used are executed quite well and The Monster doesn't generate a phony-vibe in the least. Many of the facial movements of The Monster seem to be achieved through robotics (ala 'An American Werewolf in London') and the result looks extremely realistic and life-like. The film's plot is the result of a winning combination; it features the classic creature-feature storyline, coupled with a very Hitchcock-styled, 'Rear Window'-esquire, premise. The screenplay is excellent; practically all of the events within the film are experienced from Preston's helpless perspective. Whether it is at his window or on his balcony, Preston overlooks almost the entire series of events, giving the film an extremely claustrophobic and helpless atmosphere. The cinematography and lighting are also ingenious; the shadowy woods seen from the balcony add depth and an eerie uneasiness to the film. Matt McCoy proves himself to be an excellent actor, as does Christien Tinsley, but the character interactions between McCoy and Haley Joel prove to be the true acting highpoint within the film. A broad range of emotions are showcased between the two, all of which are executed with precision.

'Abominable' achieves a certain charm lacking in practically all horror films of this day and age. It showcases a style of film-making that has been lost, a style of film-making that is the horror genre: the classic monster movie. No, it doesn't have "breathtaking CGI", no the plot is not Steven King-worthy, but it manages to entertain and it manages to illustrate that which is the embodiment of American horror. Schifrin's film stands firmly as an instant cult-classic, on par with great titles and counterparts (dare I say) of the 1980s such as 'Pumpkinhead', 'An American Werewolf in London', and 'Prophecy'. 'Abominable' stands alone in a time when horror has gone to the dogs; it breaks the trend of spineless PG-13 horror films and shatters the standards of pointless special effects showcases such as 'Cursed'. The creature feature is back ladies and gentlemen, and in full force. The way horror should be – "Abominable".

Monster of a movie

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 8 July 2021]

Overall I would have rated this a 5 or a 6 if I am honest. You can tell it is low budget and it is quite flawed ... yet you can also tell it has a lot of heart. The monster is not seen in the beginning, something Jaws established (by accident) - and makes the movie more terrifying.

You also have the all star cast if you think about it. Not sure how all those talented and well known people (mostly in the horror community) got cast ... but they are here and they make it a better movie by just appearing. But what gave this the push to make me go "7" is the ending ... while it seems quite cliche, it packs a punch that really has quite the power behind it.

Hairy

[dark_sarcasm1767 · 5/10 · 12 July 2007]

I had initially watched this movie on the Sci-Fi channel, and when I found it for sale, I discovered that I actually had a soft spot for it, as I am an avid follower of the 'Bigfoot Phenomanon.' So, I bought it. On the up side, the film does a decent job of creating a feeling of isolation. (The wheel-chair bound protagonist -played by Matt McCoy -has seen the beast kill some co-eds and has great difficulty in convincing those around him to run for their lives until it is, of course, too late.)The gore is, for the most part, convincing, and some of the acting is quite decent. The movie also features Lance Henriksen (Aliens), who is no stranger to the sci-fi/horror genre. That having been said, most of you probably will not like this movie unless you begin your viewing experience with low expectations, and can look past the bickering of the group of stereotypical 'girlfriends out for one last hurrah'. The creature in question, as far as special effects are concerned, is not at all impressive. I cannot say there are any 'Bigfoot' horror movies I can recommend to you. Any other movies like this that could be considered a part of the horror genre would be the outdated 'Legend of Boggy Creek' (1972) or 2002's 'Sasquatch' (also called 'The Untold') which also stars Lance Henriksen. I would not recommend either. The best Bigfoot I've ever seen portrayed is in the 1987 family movie 'Harry and the Hendersons'.(There was actually an urban legend saying that a real Sasquatch was used in the movie!) 'Abominable' entertained me, but left much to be desired.