I am a sucker for a good creature feature. I would take a movie that features the Abominable Snowman over an entry in the Saw franchise any day. Horror to me has always been the ultimate form of escapism. It is fun to be scared and in a good monster movie, you get to turn your imagination on and be immersed in what is usually a completely unbelievable situation. While I had a few issues with the monster itself in this flick, it was a fun 90 minutes that featured all the staples of a good late night horror flick: silly dialogue, gore, cameo appearances from a few genre vets, a dash of nudity, and yes, a guy in a suit.

Matt McCoy stars as Preston Rogers, a crippled man who is confined to a wheelchair. He has returned to his former home in the wilderness for the first time since a terrible accident that took both his wife and his ability to walk. On the night of his arrival, Preston is left alone and spends his time looking out the window at the cabin next door where a group of girls has arrived for the weekend. Soon, one of the girls is alone outside and is attacked by a giant monster. Preston spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out how to warn the remaining girls and also get himself out of the situation. The use of paralysis as a plot device amps up the suspense as the character needs to come up with inventive ways of getting the attention of the girls while also planning an escape. The includes the use of the internet and his old climbing gear among other things. Along the way, we also meet a trio of hunters who are out to find the monster including Lance Henriksen (Near Dark) who spouts some entertaining dialogue and Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) who sports a hilarious redneck makeover.

The Abominable Snowman himself was pretty cool other than his fact that he looked like he was conceived after Chewbacca mated with one of the creatures from Critters. The mug on this thing was a little hard to take seriously as I kept thinking of Harry and the Hendersons but when it started biting people and, at one point, chomped off someone's entire face, it became somewhat more threatening. Still, it always amazes me that people don't see how silly some creatures look when they are on set. Aside from the aforementioned face-off, there was a nifty gag involving a girl being folded in half as she is pulled through a window as well as a few throat-rippings thrown in for good measure. The make-up effects we supervised by Christian Tinsley who did a lot of the gore in The Passion of the Christ and previously worked with Steve Johnson. Tinsley pulled double-duty by also taking on the acting role of Preston's caregiver.

Overall, this movie was a clever mix of Rear Window with the Sasquatch/Yeti/Bigfoot mythos and should please fans of old-fashioned horror and cryptozoology. Director Ryan Schifrin is obviously a horror fan and it shows. He knows how to deliver a fun ending that doesn't suck (something many directors fail to do these days) and he throws in a nude scene when necessary to keep with b-movie tradition. I also like how he employed his father (composer Lalo Schifrin) to create the score in between Rush Hour 2 and 3.

Look for Dee Wallace Stone in the opening scene as the farmer's wife. You may also recognize Rex Linn from "CSI: Miami" as the farmer. The sheriff is played by Paul Gleason from The Breakfast Club in one of his final roles. The lead female is plated by Haley Joel, and no, the kid from The Sixth Sense did not have a sex change. Matt McCoy has been in a number of b-movies but I mostly remember him from a short-lived sitcom in the early 80's called "We Got It Made" with Teri Copley and Tom Villard. Abominable is dedicated to the memory of director of photography Neil Fredericks. Fredericks worked on a number of other genre pictures throughout his career (namely The Blair Witch Project) and was tragically killed in plane accident when filming the movie Cross Bones in 2004. He was only 35. (Josh Pasnak, 12/10/08)

Directed By: Ryan Schifrin.
Written By: Ryan Schifrin.

Starring: Matt McCoy, Haley Joel, Christien Tinsley, Tiffany Shepis.