"Abominable" review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter)
Your enjoyment level of the new cryptid creature feature Abominable will depend largely on how much you like low-budget monster movies, how forgiving you are of rubber monster suits that show their seams, and how willing you are to suspend disbelief in such matters as flat forest land doubling for Himalayan mountains. Some folks might find these to be instant turn-offs, but for many connoisseurs of man-in-a-suit monster romps, they are fun reasons to spend 72 minutes with this new fright flick.
This sophomore outing from director Jamaal Burden (Elves, 2018), working from a screenplay by Robert Berlin, sees Dr. Smith (Amy Gordon) head up an armed team that includes assistant Sarah (Katrina Mattson), computer whiz Pete (Justin Prince Moy), and gun-toting muscle Bob (screenwriter Berlin) and Victor (Brandon Grimes). They search in the Himalayas for both an expedition team that went missing trying to locate the fabled Yeti Plant and the plant itself, which is rumored to have incredible healing properties.
Astute readers might guess from the film’s title and the name of the plant exactly what caused the first team to go missing, and also what will lay waste to at least some hapless members of the second team. And lay waste this yeti does, including some gory practical effects sequences involving the separation of body parts. The attack scenes provide many of Abominable’s highlights.
The creature design is well intended, though a little flawed. In one sequence, viewers can see straight up the sleeve of the monster suit, and in another, the materials bend and fold in a way that shows nothing is up against it in that particular area. The mask is cool, though, and the overall design is effective when not shown long enough at one time to show its shortcomings. Timothy Shultz does a solid job inside the suit.
Abominable doesn’t offer anything new in the creature feature department, but it does offer enough kills and thrills to warrant a watch. The action starts off right away with a Yeti stalking, and Burden does a nice job maintaining suspense. The cast members acquit themselves well, even when some have decidedly corny lines to deliver. Yeti and Sasquatch movie completists should find this film to be a fun addition to the subgenre.
Abominable, from Uncork’d Entertainment, is available on DVD and digital from April 14.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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