The Abomination — The Abomination(Blu Ray)
From the mid-1980s, The Abomination is gooey ‘n’ gory, at points downright ridiculous micro-budget/ Super 8 filmed creature feature. It regards an elderly woman who one night coughs up what she thinks is a tumour- that grows into a rubbery tentacle and razor-tooth monster, which likes to munch on folks. Here from Visual Vengeance- those resurrectors of trashy low-budget fare, wacky ‘n’ deranged SOV, and similar fare. With this recent region, free Blu Ray been stacked with extras & bonus goodies with the set like a comic book, mini posters, etc.
The Abomination is from the year 1986. It was written & directed by Brett McCormick (as Max Raven)- this was his first feature film, and it most certainly shows (largely in a good/ entertaining way). In all, he has eleven other credits to his name. These go from a crazed killer on the run thriller Highway To Hell (1990), a documentary about those who think they are real bloodsuckers Children Of Dracula (1994), and action sci-fi Bio-Tech Warrior (1996).
The film opens in a rather bizarre manner- as we get an almost trailer-like reel of all of gore & kills in the picture- this runs around the five-minute mark. Shortly after it finishes, we see our lead twentysomething sometimes shade-wearing Cody (Scott Davis) sitting up in bed screaming- with voice-over dialogue between him & a very southern-sounding older man discussing what has gone on. We next see a woman graveside, and Cody detailing that he has to feed it. He chases her and deeply slashes her throat- before throwing the body into the back of his pick-up, to be brutally munched up by something. The older southern man asks Cody to go back to the start of it all- which he does.
He lives with his rather twitchy mother who has become obsessed with tubby, bespeckled, and dressed in brown dress-suit TV preacher Brother Fogg (Rex Morton). She believes she has a tumour on her lung- so one night while watching the brother she puts her hands on the TV, as he says he’s ready to heal people. She coughs & splutters bringing up a lump of gore on the kitchen floor- she then goes to bed. Later on, Cody comes back home- hits the sack, and while sleeping the now larger lump snakes its way to the slumbering Cody- dropping into his mouth.
As the film unfolds Cody coughs up his lump of gore- this starts to grow into several tentacle-flaying & teeth-snapping monsters that inhabit the house’s kitchen, and in the back of his pickup truck. There are cheap-looking hands looped off effects, more than a few bloody throat slashes, and later tops of heads being chainsawed off & similar gory/ gooey fare. Along with all manner of twitching rubber limbs and snapping teethed mouths.
The film runs at just over the one hour & a half mark, and it’s (more) than fair to say there is a lot of padding/ repeated footage- I’m guessing if this was cut maybe we’d have a just under the hour film. So, this does make the whole thing rather trying at times but do hang in there as it’s an entertaining extremely low-budget horror ride. And if you enjoy gory, bad-taste-lined, creature features give this a go.
Moving onto this region-free Blu-ray, we get an SD master from the original tape- this is fairly clean/balanced in its scan. But of course, it’s a Super 8/ very low-budget film- so don’t expect miracles, but for what it is it’s not bad.
Moving onto the extras side, and oh boy you get a very nice selection of stuff. First off, we have a commentary track from director Bret McCormick, Rob Hauschild and Matt Desiderio of Visual Vengeance- this is a nicely chatty/ largely laid-back affair with some great insights. They begin by talking about the opening dream sequence- debating whether or not it works. We get friends & family pointed out in the supporting cast and talk about the cemetery scene. They talk about the film's leadman, and how he & a few other lead roles were auditioned. We get to chat about the directors Baptist church youth, and the film's influences. We find out that the preacher in the film was played by the director's stepdad. Later on, they talk about the film's ten-day shoot, and we find out they rented equipment to make the film from fellow low-budget Texas filmmaker S.F. Brownrigg (Don’t Look In The Basement). They discuss key gore scenes, and how some of the props came from a joke shop. They talk about how most of the crew credits were made up, and McCormick did most of the work on the film. So, it’s well worth a play track. We also get a second commentary track from Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop Magazine.
Otherwise, we have Monster & Movie Maverick (1 hour 13 minutes) which is an in-depth on-film interview with the director. There’s an interview with actress Blue Thompson Interview (6.36), one with actress Victoria Chaney (5.11). There is an interview with the film's original VHS distributor: Michael Jack Shoel (Donna Michelle Productions) (14.47). A Location tour (13.10).
On the archive side, we have outtakes 1(28.34) & outtakes 2(17.47). behind-the-scene footage for key scenes, a text interview, a collection of Super 8 films from the director (5.58), director trailers, and an image gallery.
The release comes with a card slip featuring a close-up illustration of the monster's teethed mouth & tentacles. Inside we get a twelve-page comic book, a six-page booklet with a new essay, a mini film poster, and a sheet of stickers.
It certainly is wonderful to see The Abomination getting this extra stacked release from Visual Vengeance. And if you enjoy low-budget, very gory & deranged creature features- then this release will be something you’ll need to get your hands (or tentacles) on.