Blu-ray Review: Abominable (2006)

Preston Rogers (Matt McCoy), a wheelchair bound man recovering from a severe mountain climbing accident that took the life of his wife, takes his doctor’s advice and heads to a remote cabin in the wilderness near where the tragedy occurred to face his fears and heal in the peace and quite with his prize winning dick of a nurse, Otis (Christien Tinsley) in tow. Of course in exactly one p.h. after he arrives, a group of garrulous beauties takes up residence in the cabin next door…one of which our hero believes was abducted by a Bigfoot-like creature (a rational assumption) after spying on them with binoculars, though of course Otis thinks he’s insane. Well turns out P-man was correct-a-mundo as ‘Squatch is indeed on a kill-crazy rampage, and soon everyone within those wicked woods is fodder for the beast’s deadly desires…and surviving the night will become a near insurmountable challenge!
Filled with absolutely tons of effective suspense, a gorgeous monster suit, gobs of grizzly gore, and some fun roles for fright flick legends (Lance Henriksen, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, and Tiffany Shepis are all on hand), Abominable is one hell of a fun and effective creature feature! Preston’s inability to leave the house, coupled with his bird’s eye view of the horror’s happening just outside his door lead to some serious edge of your seat thrills, and the creature attacks, especially in he film’s third act, are outrageously impressive and brutal. Also the score by composer Lalo Schifrin (wonder how he came to be involved) gives this small picture a rather epic feel…a boon most fright flicks of this budget range do not get the luxury of featuring.
As for extras on this Blu-ray release from MVD Rewind, we get quite the monster-sized mother-load! First up is an introduction to the film by writer/director Ryan Schifrin where he details the restoration process utilized to get the film ready for it’s reissue. Following that we get an audio commentary by Schifrin, McCoy and Combs (with interjections from editor Chris Conlee)…the conversation is absolutely jam packed with information on the film’s production, and the talk is non-stop (none of those dreaded dead spots where the participants seem to just be watching the movie)…a lively listen indeed! Next comes a behind-the-scenes documentary, deleted and extended scenes, outtakes and bloopers, and two short films from Schifrin (one of which, Basil & Mobius: No Rest For The Wicked, is one of the coolest things I have ever seen and is a pulp lovers dream come true). Also included are the original 2005 version of Abominable (which features the film sans the very minor upgrades it was given for this new release…especially in regards to the opening credits, color grading, and the digital effects used for the creature’s eyes), and poster, stills, and storyboards galleries, and two trailers for the film (along with a handful for other MVD Rewind releases).
If you ever wanted to see what Rear Window would be like with 100% more unreasonably violent Sasquatch added in, well this is the picture for you…it’s also the picture for you if you love incredible awesome creature feature action with a fantastic monster design and buckets of gore!