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Abominable
(2006)
Plot
Preston Rogers lost his wife in a
mountain climbing accident six months ago and has been confined to a wheelchair
since. He and his nurse, Otis, head to a mountain cabin for some peace, quiet
and relaxation. What they don't know is that the surrounding woods are home to a
giant sasquatch, intent on murdering anything that stands in it's path. Will
they make it out alive or will the monster target the quintet of nubile co-eds
who have just moved into a neighbouring cabin?
Review
There are a few horror sub-genres that I'd
love to see a bit more of an effort made with. Things like Nazi zombies are just
too good to throw away on a trickle of films. You can add the Abominable
Snowman/Bigfoot/Sasquatch to that list. There have been too few horror films
devoted to one of the greatest unexplained mysteries of our time and it's an
idea that is just begging to be done right. Yes there've been a few efforts over
the years. The lame Snowbeast or more recent efforts like Sasquatch
just fail to deliver the goods. So with Bigfoot being as popular as ever (I
count around four or five horror films devoted to the big hairy guys since
2002), it was about time that someone finally got it right. And that man is Ryan
Schifrin. The film? Well it's Abominable!
Basically running like a slasher film with a big hairy killer as opposed to a
masked killer, Abominable sets out it's stall early on with a great
opening sequence. Atmospheric, pretty scary and containing just a small taste of
the gore to come, the creature stalks a couple on their remote farm. Crunching
footsteps break the snow in the darkness and a large, hulking shadow emerges
towards the couple. It's pretty tense stuff and the film continues to deliver
the chills later on too. The creature is confined to fleeting glimpses or
growling noises in the distance for a lot of the film and, like Jaws,
this works brilliantly. You get the impression that the characters are always
being watched from the woods and to prove it, there are a red pair of eyes
peering through the trees in a couple of scenes! When it is revealed in the
third act, it's just a very big man in a hairy suit with an animatronic head.
Good old fashioned costumes are a way better match for films like this than CGI
effects. His face looks a little bit silly but he's got a nasty pair of teeth
and his strength is second to none, as felt first and (or should that be foot)
by a co-ed unlucky to get stomped on. I'll get to the gore in a moment but let's
just say that this beast is a pretty dab hand at offing teenagers. Jason Vorhees
would be proud. He snaps people in two by dragging them through windows, breaks
through floors to drag people to their doom and, in the best gore moment of the
film, he bites people's faces' off! All of these are shown in pretty gruesome
ways, particularly the face-biting which had me jumping up and down like the
horror fan boy I am.
Getting back to the overall film though, it's not just an exercise in gore and
mayhem. It's actually a very engaging piece. The film revolves around the
character of Preston. Confined to the wheelchair, we see everything that he sees
and very little else. Just like Mimic 3: Sentinel, which I recently had
the displeasure of watching, the film is slightly voyeuristic and uses the
Rear Window mode of storytelling as best as it can. However this one knows
when it needs to break free of Preston's watchful eye and gives us plenty of
other scenes to which he has no sight or knowledge of. It's a good way of
building tension. He knows there's something out there stalking the girls. We
know there's something there too because we see what he sees. But because the
film grounds itself in his viewpoint and confines itself to his cabin, there's
no way of communicating this with anyone else - until it's too late. Perhaps the
film gets bogged down too much with his character but it does what it needs to
do. Matt McCoy plays the role well and comes off as a sympathetic and likeable
guy. Haley Joel has little to do other than be the "final girl" who looks hot
and screams a lot. There's also a slew of cameos in here from horror vets like
Jeffrey Combs and Dee Wallace-Stone and.....Lance Henriksen no less! I always
hammer the guy for starring in bad horror films but this is a decent effort and
he looks like he's actually enjoying himself in a brief role as a hunter who
doesn't believe the stories in Bigfoot until it's too late. This is Henriksen's
second Bigfoot film in the last couple of years and he's also got another one
coming out soon called Sasquatch Mountain. Does this guy have a monopoly
on Bigfoot films or something?
Verdict
Abominable
is the greatest
Bigfoot film ever and, although it's a weak field of competition, it still sits
firmly on the top of the pedestal. In fact it's still way better than 90% of the
other horror output I've seen recently. It pushes all of the right buttons for a
low budget effort - solid writing, great direction, atmospheric, gory and above
all entertaining. It seems like everyone was having fun making it and it
shows in the end product - a fun horror film about Bigfoot! |
