Blu-ray Review – Abominable – MVD Rewind Collection

Abominable

Director: Ryan Schifrin 
Screenplay: James Morrison and Ryan Schifrin
Minutes: 94
Year: 2006
Score: 5.13
Release: MVD Rewind

If you were to have asked me 5 years ago if I would want to champion low budget monster movies I may have laughed at you. I am very glad that I was finally able to remember who I was and have found the leeway to return to that person. Abominable is the kind of movie that you should watch with friends when you just want to have a good time.

From MVD Rewind:

SOME THINGS ARE BETTER LEFT UNFOUND

It has been sighted 42,000 times in 68 countries, a vicious creature of myth and legend called Sasquatch, Yeti, and perhaps most infamously, Bigfoot. It’s been hunted it for years. But what happens when it decides to hunt us?

After recovering from a horrific accident, paraplegic Preston Rogers moves back into the remote cabin where he and his now-deceased wife once lived. When his new neighbor Karen, is attacked by a gigantic creature, Rogers contacts the local authorities. But after the police and those around him dismiss Rogers as a delusional widower, he sets out to stop the abominable creature himself.

Featuring an all-star cast that includes Matt McCoy (L.A. Confidential, HBO’s “Silicon Valley”) Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator, The Frighteners), Paul Gleason (The Breakfast Club, Die Hard), Rex Linn (Django Unchained, A Million Ways To Die in the West), Haley Joel (Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding), Phil Morris (“Seinfeld”, Black Dynamite), Dee Wallace (E.T., Cujo), Tiffany Shepis (Tales of Halloween, Victor Crowley) and Lance Henriksen (Aliens, Hard Target)in this wild and gruesome throwback horror shocker that Fangoria called “the best serious fright film ever made about Bigfoot!”

Originally shot on 35mm, Abominable makes it HD debut featuring a brand new high definition transfer from the original camera negative and an ALL-NEW cut of the film with improved CGI-effects overseen by Director Ryan Schifrin and Editor Chris Conlee with enhanced color timing and correction and in this fully loaded collector’s edition set!

I can imagine the pitch meeting for Abominable, Ryan Schifrin gets 10 seconds for an elevator pitch and he says, “Ready, Rear Window, but in the woods with a killer Abominable Snowman!” He says it with such enthusiasm and conviction that he was awarded a green-light. This probably isn’t what really happened, but it is what I wish had.

There are so many gems in this movie with horror mainstays Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henriksen, Paul Gleason, and Dee Wallace as well as a graduate of Police Academy, Matt McCoy as the films star. McCoy plays a wheelchair bound man who is out in the woods for some R&R. The cabin, curiously close to his, is soon filled with some college students who think McCoy is a creep when they catch him glaring through some binoculars.

Plot wise the movie is a bit formulaic. Open with violence, introduce flawed main character, introduce sexy women (one of which is lovelorn), unrelated violence, so on, and so forth. Where the film excels is that, even considering this, it flows well and is rather engrossing. That is the magic of this sort of monster movie. They are usually made well enough that you can just sit down and watch. Not everything has to leave you in a state of panicked wonder.

Does this deserve to be in your collection, maybe, it certainly isn’t for everyone. You can rent it for a couple of bucks, that may be the way to go, I will say that I am glad to have it on my shelf because I imagine, years from now, I am just going to want to watch a dude in a big foot costume committing shenanigans

Something great about MVD Rewind is that they take films of dubious quality and give them a Criterion Colletion style treatment. ABOMINABLE is no different, packed full of extra features including a new introduction with Schifrin talking about the transfer and the minor effects modification. It also includes a new short film, a different cut of the film, and tons of classic DVD extras. The special features should push someone with interest over the edge to pull the trigger on buying the physical disc.

Special Features:

• Brand-New 2K High-Definition transfer from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of the main feature
• 5.1 Surround Audio (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
• Audio Commentary with writer/director Ryan Schifrin, Actors Matt McCoy and Jeffrey Combs
• NEW – Introduction from Director Ryan Schifrin (HD)
• “Back to Genre: Making ABOMINABLE” featurette (SD)
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (SD)
• Outtakes and Bloopers (SD)
• “Shadows” Director Ryan Schifrin’s USC Student Film (SD)
• NEW – “Basil & Mobius: No Rest For The Wicked” (16:28, HD) Short film written and directed by Ryan Schifrin featuring a score by legendary
• composer Lalo Schifrin and starring Zachari Levi, Ray Park, Malcolm McDowell and Kane Hodder
• The original 2005 version of “Abominable” (Blu-ray only, 94 mins, SD)
• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Storyboard Gallery
• Collectible Poster

Director: 7 – Cinematography: 6 – Edit: 5 – Parity: 3 – Main performance: 8 – Else performance: 4 – Score: 6 – Sound: 8 – Story: 6 – Script: 5 – Effects: 8 – Design: 6 – Costumes: 7 – Keeps interest: 8 – Lasting: 5