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| Images courtesy of Visual Vengeance |
There’s a new SOV (shot-on-video) boutique releasing blu-ray
label in town known as Visual Vengeance, in partnership with MVD and Wild Eye
Releasing, and second to Vinegar Syndrome have made themselves known as
dedicated curators of hard to find (let alone watch) lo-fi exploitation horror
films at the height of the VHS heyday. Among
their forthcoming releases is the long awaited, highly infamous directorial
debut of Bret McCormick’s video store era gorefest The Abomination, a
Super 8mm Lovecraftian horror bloodbath predated by the likes of The Deadly
Spawn and Xtro while paving the way for such bonkers prosthetic
rubber puppet horror fare as Brain Damage.
Shot on film before being transferred to VHS tape and
released in video stores, The Abomination for years was considered an
unfindable SOV flick whose legendary reputation as an off-the-wall cheap gross
out only grew with its rarity.
Thankfully now with the efforts of Visual Vengeance and the generous
participation of its producer who supplied and supervised the best available SD
tape master, modern moviegoers and home video fans keen on the resurgence of
interest in SOV films now have a chance to experience this seismic freakout for
themselves. Think of it as a backyard
mashup of The Evil Dead and Shivers, tightrope walking between
Cronenberg and Raimi at times.
In the Texas countryside isolated from townsfolk without traveling
great distances resides Cody (Scott Davis) who lives with his elderly mother
Sarah (Jude Johnson) who herself is addicted to local televangelist Brother
Fogg’s (Rex Morton) channel. Convinced
the money-grubbing scammer is actually performing miracles, Sarah with her
hands resting atop the television set is given an exorcism by Fogg and she
promptly regurgitates a pulsating tumor.
For those who haven’t abandoned ship quite yet, the tumor then crawls
into Cody’s mouth overnight causing him to spit up more tumors which grow into
tentacled monsters with sharp rows of teeth that feed on human flesh Little
Shop of Horrors style. Soon Cody is
driven beyond his meager will power by The Abomination to kill people
and feed the bodies to it, going down the list of everyone from his mother,
coworkers and even his girlfriend.
Made for $20,000 alongside another picture Ozone: The
Attack of the Redneck Mutants as part of a joint filmmaking deal between Bret
McCormick and producer Matt Devlen whose working relationship tragically soured
over the course of the film’s ten day shoot and post-production editing, The
Abomination is regarded as one of the earliest foots in the door of the
then-growing SOV horror era on VHS tape.
With studios reluctant to release their repertory titles on videotape
and a high demand for horror movies equal to the drive-in era of low budget slashers,
The Abomination immediately forged a cult following with tape renters during
the 1980s and 1990s. Loaded with tons of
innovative rubber puppet effects, some of which are stronger than others and
some real pig and cow entrails for certain scenes, the film for being
ostensibly a quasi-Biblical mashup of Lovecraft and overtones of the occult
supernatural or even demonic packs an insane little punch.
As previously mentioned, the film is shot on Super 8mm film
which was then transferred to and edited on videotape and the results are less
than desirable. With some high-definition
photographs of the set pieces available for comparison sake, one must wonder
what the film might’ve looked like in its native form which we’ll never know as
the print is long since lost to time. Despite the griminess of the look,
cinematographer Richard Strait occasionally does work in some beautiful vistas
of the Texas countryside and daylight blue skies. Then there’s the keyboard soundtrack by Kim
Davis who also served as associate producer, Richard Davis and John Hudek which
occasionally veers into library music before segueing back into very Casio
sounding notes, perfectly augmenting the already grungy, disgusting, sometimes
highly flatulent soundscape.
No one’s here to watch this for the acting though Jude
Johnson as the frail mother who gets an extended, agonizing death scene against
The Abomination intercut with her sickly son played rather hammily by
Scott Davis. No, we’re here for the
prosthetic puppets of multi fanged eyeless tentacled hissing monsters wreaking
unholy havoc and dismemberments including some rather goofy looking shots of
bleeding severed hands. What really stands
out here is the film’s willingness to dive into juvenile humor, somehow working
in farting and defecating gags with a flesh-eating monster whose hungry mouths
seem to pop out of cabinets, drawers, dryers and underneath the bed. In fairness to the creature design itself, the
obvious puppet looks like Audrey II by way of H.R. Giger except when the seams
are showing.
Visual Vengeance have given this wild standard definition
480i flick a most deluxe treatment.
Despite the poor quality of the only surviving videotape master that isn’t
hundreds of dollars on eBay, the disc release is chock full of extras including
a full booklet of the film’s production history, outtakes, behind-the-scenes
footage, interviews, a comic book adaptation, a reversible poster and reversible sleeve art underneath
the exterior slipcover. Hell they even
threw in collectible stickers for anyone who wants to decorate their slipcover
to look like a rentable videotape from back in the day. All in all, this is a fantastic release for a
most grody little blood, guts and sinew dripping SOV number. The very definition of a Lovecraftian
beer-and-pizza video.
--Andrew Kotwicki
