The legend of Big Foot is one of the most enduring myths of our time, possibly even surpassing the Loch Ness Monster in its ability to capture people’s imaginations. This is quite something in today’s age of constant surveillance, satellite pictures and laser guided precision missiles. People desperately want to believe in the unknown but it’s becoming more and more difficult because there’s just so much that is known. It is testament to the power of the Yeti therefore that its existence still remains a plausible (if remote) possibility. With this in mind it seems mildly surprising then that more films aren’t made about old sasquatch and if Abominable is anything to go by that’s a real shame.

Despite its critic-baiting title, obviously modest budget and rather silly premise this film is a real crowd pleaser. It’s got no pretensions to be anything other than it is and what it is boils down to basically a big dumb monster movie. Having said this however it does borrow from some fairly weighty sources in its basic set up, namely, Hitchcock’s Rear Window. In this case, rather than a wheelchair-bound man witnessing a murder, we have a wheelchair-bound man witnessing a massive snow monster. Though it may lack the master of suspense’s uuumm… mastery of suspense, it does have a big bloody snow beast stomping around doing all the usual monstery things like watching people from shadows and breathing heavily and killing attractive young women just when they happen to be taking a shower. A fair trade.

The plot is simplicity itself, a man confined to a wheelchair due to a recent mountain climbing accident returns to the mountain to stay in a cabin there and hopefully come to terms with his trauma. Of course it isn’t long before he is developing all new traumas courtesy of the big hairy fella who he notices whilst spying on the convenient cabin full of hot women next door. Despite the obvious similarities to Hitchcock’s film this central conceit works very well for the film investing a real sense of vulnerability in the protagonist (ably played by Matt McCoy). This vulnerability is further cranked up when his bullying carer (Christien Tinsley) dismisses his claims that there is something amiss up this mountain and tries to sedate him.

One of the most pleasing things about Abominable is its back to basics mentaility. The storyline is slim but tight, the characters are few and best of all, the star of the show is an actor in a big furry suit rather than the splodge of shiny CG silliness which dominates so many movies. Big Foot’s face is an animatronic creation which snarls and roars in a not very convincing but entirely satisfying manner. Though he doesn’t get an awful lot of screen time for most of the first half of the movie by the end he is walking around in clear view and he looks great. He really exudes an aura of power and menace, essential for any self-respecting yeti. After all, an abominable snowman without these traits is just a snowman and you don’t have to watch Jack Frost to work out that just plain don’t work.

The stripped-down approach is perhaps taken too far with regards to the cabin full of female corpses in waiting who are given absolutely zero character, story or background. They are just there as meat for the beast and this damages the film as it is very hard to feel anything other than mild curiousity for these cardboard cut-outs. Still, as cardboard cut-outs go they are very pleasing to look at and there is of course the obligatory gratuitous nude scene by genre favourite Tiffany Shepis which in a movie like this is completely fitting and appropriate.

Of course there’s no point having a cool monster and fine women showing off their best bits if the gore is no good and thankfully this film does not disappoint on that front. There are some very memorable kills with a particular stand out being a character getting his entire face bitten off. It’s all a bit tongue in cheek and schlocky but then again so is the whole film so there is hardly any cause for complaint. There’s plenty to have with fun with in Abominable not least of which are some cool cameos by Lance Henriksen, Paul Gleason and Jeffrey Combs. This film, much like its lead villain is big, dumb and messy though unlike our large footed friend it hides a very knowing wit behind its big silly face.

Rating: 7/10