The Abomination (1986) — Triskaidekafiles

THE ABOMINATION

WRITER: Screenplay by Bando Glutz

DIRECTOR: Max Raven

STARRING: Scott Davis as Cody

Jude Johnson as Sarah

Blue Thompson as Kelly

Brad McCormick as Ike

Suzy Meyer as Shawn

Gaye Bottoms as Girl in Cemetery

QUICK CUT: A young man is not looking forward to taking care of his newest sibling after his mother has another child.

THE MORGUE

Cody - A young man who lives with his mom and is just going through life when he gets infected with a demonic tumor.

Sarah Lee - Cody’s mom, who gets sucked into the world of televangelists, believes everything she is told, and somehow comes down with a case of demon tumor. I also hear nobody does it like her.

Brother Fogg - The preacher who has captivated Cody’s mom, and gasp surprise, he’s a bit of a shyster in it for the money.

The Abomination - An ancient creature that hungers. Worlds live, worlds die, the Abomination consumes all.

Another entry in the “Is this a title that will also describe my experience?” category.

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Triskelions, and happy April Fool's Day! This week's review is a movie I am once again breaking my increasingly loose rule of "I must own the DVD to review it" rule. A few weeks ago, I watched it online, and was just so taken by the WTFery I was experiencing, that I knew it had to be highlighted here. Since it's not out on DVD, and is ridiculously expensive on VHS, I decided to bend the rules, because The Abomination is...it sure is a thing.

The movie opens up with our lead character waking up suddenly after witnessing a nightmare death. And then it happens again. And again. AND AGAIN. IS THIS A SQUAWKING JOKE?? What, and I cannot stress this enough, the *fuck*??

I decided almost immediately with this alone that I had to make more people aware of this movie. What a way to start things off. On the upside, it's a lot of fun gore to catch your eye, but on the downside, it spoils almost all the good bits coming later.

And a bit of a tease is one thing, but this goes on for *three minutes!!* He wakes up 11 times!! It is unbelievable. Hollly shit

While the credits roll, we listen to Cody describing his nightmares to his doctor, and he tells us about a girl sitting by a grave as he passes by, and he feels compelled to stop.

Cody says he is being controlled by the Abomination, urging him to kill and bring it food. The doctor asks who this Abomination is, and Cody replies that it's a demon from the Bible, because y'know, that doesn't sound crazy.

As Cody tries to convince the doctor, he continues narrating the scene as the woman runs off, and Cody gives chase.

It's a pretty long chase, but it leads to her eventual death, and yes, it was one in that ridiculous montage. I would suspect they're all in order, because that's what I'd do, but it does loop back on itself a bit.

So, Cody drives into town, and stops at the car wash. He cleans the car off, which he says makes him feel his anxiety leave him, and he's no longer tense and afraid. Yes, that is typically how one feels after removing the damning evidence that would get the cops' attention.

The doctor notes that this is the middle of the story, and urges Cody to go back to the beginning. So we are now flashing back within the flashbacks.

He next tells us about his mom who had been diagnosed with a tumor on her lungs, and her newfound obsession with televangelist, Brother Fogg. And much like everyone who listens to these people, she believes everything he says is truth. Oh and it's worth noting that Fogg is the one who told mom about the tumor, and not a real doctor.

I can’t believe I have a tumor! What could have caused that??

After Cody leaves for a date with Kelly, mom starts violently coughing as she places her hands on the tv for Brother Fraud's healing powers.

She falls to the ground and hacks up the world's grossest hairball, and yeah, that's how I feel after listening to the bullshit of folks like Fogg.

Mom takes the glob of blood and gristle, tosses it in the trash, and collapses into bed. Eventually, Cody returns home and notices a foul stench, but doesn't think much of it.

Oh, that really ought to be in the compost.

It is then Cody's turn to collapse into bed, and while everyone is asleep, the tumor crawls out and into Cody's bed, eventually finding the boy's mouth. And this is why we take the garbage out before we sleep.

And that's when Cody wakes up, in the exact same moment we have seen 11 times before. But this time it's not a dream, and the two go about their morning routine, eventually Cody leaving to spend the day with his friends. When that clip replayed, I was this close to losing my shit.

Cody has already mused that his friends don't want to come around because of his mom's proselytizing. This is only driven home when he tries to invite them over, and Ike laughs that yeah, sure, come over and listen to one of mom's sermons.

He worries that his mom's behaviour is going to make her an outcast, and I dunno bud, sounds more like you're worried about this making YOU an outcast.

Following that lengthy diversion, Cody heads to work, and his mom is so excited for his recovery, she phones up the doctor to gloat about having a tumor AND curing it without his help. In fact, she'll bring it over to prove it to him!

Unfortunately, when she tries to retrieve it from the trash, she can't seem to find it.

Cody returns home to the rather astounding question of, "I can't find my tumor, have you seen it??"

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

But the doctor comes to examine Cody before mom can go see him, and Cody flashes back, within the flashback, within the flashback (!!!) and describes how he began feeling terrible at work, like something swimming in his stomach, and his boss eventually sending him home.

Doc has no idea what's wrong with Cody, but tells him to take it easy. So with that out of the way, they try and deal with mom's issues next. But she won't come out of her room, and the doctor leaves.

Cody spends the day in his room reading comics, and constantly coughing to try and clear his chest. Eventually he does too good of a job and hacks up his own worst hairball ever.

Ike stops by for a visit, and to apologise for what he said the other day. Cody quickly stashes the throat baby under his bed with the porn mags before making to leave.

Cody avoids talking with Ike by sneaking out the window and driving off. Eventually, he ends up at Shawn's place, and murders Ike's girlfriend. Geeze, a bit harsh because he wouldn't leave you alone, but okay fine.

Oh, and it's worth noting that the change in Cody's demeanor, aside from the murdering that is, is that they now have him wearing sunglasses. That's how you know he's eeeevil.

Cody returns home through the window, and yells at his mom like he's a sixteen year old boy, GOSH!!

He's also busily stashing Shawn's dead body under the bed to feed his throat baby.

Later, Cody wakes up without his sunglasses, and fortunately not in yet another repeat of the other wake ups.

Quick, hide under my bed before my mom sees you!

He doesn't remember his tantrum from the day before, grabs some breakfast, and heads back to his room. Once there, he discovers the creature has spat out the cleaned off skeleton of Shawn's corpse.

Cody drops the bowl of cereal, and lemme tell ya, there is something remarkably unsatisfying about a bowl crashing to the floor, and hitting only carpet with a dull thud, and not breaking.

He looks under the bed, sees the tumor has grown considerably, and everything he did comes rushing back.

Cody stumbles to the bathroom, throws up, and realises he has coughed up yet another tumor, so now his throat baby has throat babies.

Sarah heads to visit Brother Fogg to tell him the good news, and that now her son needs his healing hands.

While she waits, we have to suffer through Brother Fart on the toilet making the wettest, moist noises I've heard in a long time.

But he eventually finishes up, sits down at his desk, in a VERY VERY squeaky chair, that HAS to be an added noise. I cannot accept that the chair really made all that noise.

Meanwhile, Cody takes Shawn who is nothing but skin and bones, out to the backyard to bury her. Ike shows up to try and mend fences again, and gets a shovel to the face for his trouble.

Well, you know what they say. If you go looking for forgiveness, your friend will be digging two graves. I think that's right.

But at least Ike and Shawn will be laid to rest next to each other, like I'm sure they would have wanted.

While Cody sits on the porch and pets the cat, mom returns home and discovers the tumors have infested the cabinets, the washing machine, and pretty much every nook and cranny of her home.

This is why you gotta squash these infestations quick, otherwise they just take right over. Remember, if you see one tumor monster, you've got thousands.

Also, this reminds me, I really need to clean the kitchen...ahem.

But anyways, mom sees the monsters, starts screaming, and absolutely does not stop. The monsters could have finished her off quick, but noooo.

It wouldn't be so bad if they at least DID something, but mom just sits there and yells for four straight minutes. HOW LONG IS THIS MURDER??

You know what this movie reminds me of? Things. The tone, the style, the acting, the voiceovers, the weird feeling of unreality everything has. Even the creatures. It all feels very very similar, but is slightly more coherent, and better done. Which isn’t a particularly high bar to clear, but here we are.

Back to our story...Cody is fighting against the Abomination, buuut not very hard, since he's decided to bring one of the sucklings to him as a present. The downside is, the neck baby needs food to grow and keep it healthy while it waits.

So his solution is to grab the cat, shoving it in the preacher's toilet, and Oh, this is where I start to have problems with this movie. Very not good.

The tv preacher is either gonna get a bloody hungry tumor up his poop chute, or his ass will be shredded by a VERY angry kitty.

While I cannot express the depths to which I am not happy with offering up the cat as a snack, it is so very satisfying that Brother Fraud got it in the end.

So the preacher comes back to the office, and thankfully before he can make more sounds, he gets bitten in the ass like he's a Smurf being chased by a Gnap.

Cody's biggest problem is keeping his new family fed, so he stops at work to check in on Hiram. He offers his boss a beer, and he somehow doesn't notice the tumor baby in there. Say good bye to that hand, Hiram!

Hiram stumbles around screaming and collapses on a boat frame, while Cody grabs a chainsaw to cut up his children's food for them.

I do appreciate that the chainsaw gets stuck and stalls in the guy's skull. That's a nice little detail, probably wasn't planned, and I'm glad they kept it.

On top of all that, it's wonderfully gooey and bloody as the brains slop out.

Kill my boss?? Do I dare live out the American dream?

After murdering Hiram, Cody drives past the cemetery, where he sees a random girl leaving flowers for her father and noooooo, the movie has lapped itself!

I get that we've now caught up with the start of the movie, and despite still being 'flashbacks' he's telling his therapist, making this essentially in 'real time'...do we really need to sit through the ENTIRE THING all over again??

At least the narration is good, as Cody goes off about the thing in the closet, how it's timeless and always been among us, feeding, an eternal, evil demon that must be obeyed, we live to feed it, as it devours entire galaxies. We are getting deeply, cosmically weird, and I am so here for it.

And the rear of this baby is roomy enough for two whole bodies!

Kelly's been unable to reach anyone at Cody's for awhile, so she drives over, as Cody cleans off his car again for the first time.

I just wanna say before continuing, there is about 11 minutes left to this movie. That is including credits, and while not a lot happens, there is still a lot going on.

And one thing I will say in this movie's favour, is I never once had any idea where it was gonna go, even if it showed me half the film at the start.

In the meantime, Cody has dragged several buckets full of flesh and blood home, and is shoving them into the gaping maws of the Abomination family with a pitchfork, like he's tossing hay into the barn.

Kelly shows up at the worst possible time, interrupting the feedings, and is naturally surprised to see what's going on in there.

Cody closes the cabinet door, like that will hide...ANYTHING in this massive horror show of a kitchen covered in blood and entrails and skeletons.

The kitchen at our local children’s hospital.

Kelly comes inside, Cody naturally says she shouldn't be here, and she actually asks him why?? Gee, I dunno Kelly, maybe the fact he is in the middle of REDECORATING THE KITCHEN IN BLOOD??

Cody tries to feed her to the creatures, she fights back, and the two struggle in the kitchen. Which is gonna be like wrestling in a vat of Karo syrup at this point, I'm sure.

She grabs the pitchfork or whatever though, rushes Cody with it, and pins him to the wall. He dies, but not before another Abomination claws its way out of him like a wannabe chestburster.

There is a lot of blood, a lot of screaming, and eventually because she is so distracted, the Abomination eats Kelly too.

While this could easily be the end, the doctor shows up to check in on his patients, finds them all dead, and leaves with a sample of abomination, and a new pair of sunglasses. So you know he's eeeevil now.

As the credits roll, so too does the therapy session roll on, as the therapist asks Cody what he thinks this dream meant, and he just doesn't know. Well don't look to me for answers either, doc!

The doctor points out that in the dream Cody dies, but he's CLEARLY still alive, and AAAHHH the whole movie was an elaborate fantasy create by Cody's mind to explain away the people he murdered, in a psychotic break??

I don't know?? AAAHHHHH.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: Ripped frm a VHS, shot on video, and it looks like it. On those conditions, it looks pretty good.

Audio: It all sounds recorded after the fact, and like listening to it from another world, but that’s to be expected.

Sound Bite: All hail The Abomination, which makes all things desolate.

Body Count: Yeah, we are not counting that opening montage.

1 - Cody slashes cemetery woman's neck about 9:30 in.

2 - Ike’s girlfriend gets her neck slit in her kitchen

3 - Donks Ike over the head with a shovel

4 - The Abomination eventually eats mother.

5 - Brother Fogg gets eaten up the ass.

6 - Cody chainsaws his boss.

And this is where we catch up to the cemetery murder in real time and see that again.

7 - Cody dies with a pitchfork to the chest

8 - Kelly gets dragged into the Abomination's mouth

Best Corpse: My money is on whomever it is that has their skeleton just kinda passed out on the kitchen. Nice looking bones, and gooey to boot. More identifiable, Hiram’s head getting cut open and everything falling out is wonderful.

Sex Appeal: Nothing!

Drink Up! every time Cody wakes…nah, I can’t be that mean. Every time Cody is wearing sunglasses.

Movie Review: This movie, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this, gets a lot right. It actually has a solid core idea, and the story progresses. Kinda. Sorta. I mean, it is a complex labyrinth of time frames stapled together haphazardly into a crazy quilt of a movie. But you can cut through that and follow the plot fairly well. The gore and creatures are really good for this sort of thing, and make the movie feel like Little Shop of Horrors and Deadly Spawn had a demented little baby. The movie’s biggest flaw is the overdrawn padding. Those opening three minutes blow its load quickly, and fortunately there’s enough break between it and when the deaths start in earnest that you almost forget it, but still a shame to reveal all that so soon. It’s the one big mistake it makes from a narrative construction point. I give this one a three out of five buckets of guts.

Entertainment Value: I enjoyed the HELL out of this movie. This might just be my new favourite no budget movie, after Winterbeast. I said it earlier, but it takes that bleak, nihilistic, oppressively weird tone of Things, and I’d argue it does it right. And as much as that opening montage shows too much, when you see Cody wake up three times all in a row with nothing in between, you just stare at the screen going WHAT EVEN IS THIS and the credits haven’t even rolled yet. The acting is just weird, neither bad nor good. The direction is all right, and I absolutely love when it brushes against cosmic horror. It may be a mess, but it’s my kinda mess. Five out of five throat babies. This is everything Trisk looks for in an obscuriosity.