Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		1.0
Audio		1.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.0

The Abomination Blu-ray Movie Review

The Abomination is a horror nightmare of the macabre order. Produced by Matt Devlen (Tabloid, Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants), Bret McCormick (Bio-Tech Warrior, Repligator), and Kim Davis (Soulmates, Underground), The Abomination is a cult-favorite with some VHS era horror fans. The Abomination gained a cult following during the classic video store era. Fans of monster-pictures featuring old-school shock and shlock effects will want to check it out.

The Abomination is no ordinary monster. In fact, the creepy, slimy, and vicious monster begins its life as a tumor attached to a religious worshipper. An evangelical television personality works to help exorcise away the demon known as the Abomination. Even so, the monstrous abomination squirms away and is soon attached to Cody (Scott Davis).

While Cody sleeps peacefully during the night, the Abomination is soon immersed as one with Cody. Now Cody must come to face the blood- soaked demon and keep it satisfied in order to avoid dying himself. If Cody doesn’t continue to provide a plethora of fresh bodies to eat and absorb neither Cody or the Abomination will be able to survive to see another day.

The supporting cast includes Sarah (Jude Johnson), Kelly (Blue Thompson), Ike (Brad McCormick), Shawn (Suzy Meyer), Brother Fogg (Rex Morton), Receptionist (Victoria Chaney), Girl in Cemetery (Gaye Bottoms), Dr. Russell (Van Connery), and Hiram (Bubba Moore). Outside of the main lead actor, everyone appears with small roles and little dialogue. The cast doesn’t have much to do when one compares the supporting roles to the lead actor – who is the one most involved with the menace of the Abomination.

Scott Davis has more weight on his shoulders as Cody and unfortunately the actor lacks the fine-acting chops to deliver something truly compelling. The performance is mundane, average, cookie-cutter, and uninspired. The acting feels unpolished, unprepared, and uninvolved. The actor doesn’t have true screen charisma or a fine-tuned acting ability and simply appears in the film with improvisational style.

The production is low-budget and one can tell the shoestring budget wasn’t enough to succeed on every level. The shot-on-video cinematography by Richard Strait looks particularly archaic and the visuals are often subdued, hazy, and low-rent looking. The colors are faded, the appearance often dull, and the cinematography average-at-best.

The score composed by Kim Davis (Tabloid, Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants), Richard Davis (Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants, Amazon Hot Box), and John Hudek (Tabloid, Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants) doesn’t make much of an impression, either. The score is average – underwhelming, uninspired, and ho-drum. The music doesn’t add much to the horror of the film or spectacle. While the score doesn’t detract much from the experience, it doesn’t add much, either.

Written and directed by Bret McCormick (Repligator, Time Tracers), with the screenplay eerily credited to the “alias” of Bando Glutz, likely due to the low-budget and home-made nature of the independent horror production, McCormick isn’t a first-rate filmmaker. The Abomination is an easy target and the obvious critical quote is to state is that “ The Abomination is the definition of an abomination” – but despite the obvious dig at the film, there’s still some homemade filmmaking charm for D.I.Y. film fanatics and horror hounds.  

The low-budget flavor of the shot-on-video film does it no favors, but despite the often-amateurish quality of McCormick’s directing skills, there are some good things to cheer – namely, the special effects, and McCormick’s obsession with showing them. If for no other reason, horror fans might wish to watch the cult VHS-era film for the slimy, oozy, and creepy abomination creature effects, an obvious highlight in a film that is otherwise eerily reminiscent of the walking dead.

The Abomination Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Visual Vengeance, The Abomination is presented in 1080i high-definition upconverted from the standard- definition footage. The release is presented in the original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio. The transfer of the independent Super 8 production features newly transferred SD master materials as taken from the original tape masters. The transfer is underwhelming with poor fidelity and definition. The transfer has sporadic print deficiencies, color reproduction woes, and a myriad of other VHS-era standard-definition source weaknesses that prevent it from looking good.

The Abomination Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0. The English Dolby Digital audio is presented in a lossy 192kbps bit-rate encoding. The audio is a far cry from a true lossless experience – indeed, the absence of lossless encoding isn't even felt on the release as the source material for the audio isn't great to begin with. The audio track is hissy, uneven, and low-fidelity in every arena. There is nothing "high- fidelity" about the audio in any capacity. Dialogue is often muffled sound and the score isn't crisp. An average sounding audio master – unfortunate, but perhaps unexpected given the home-made VHS production era budget.

The Abomination Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release comes with a limited-edition o-card slipcover. The slipcover features unique artwork different from the key artwork underneath the slipcover. The cover-art highlighted underneath the slipcover features alternative reversible-side artwork, so one can choose between two key pieces of artwork. With three key pieces of art altogether, the release looks great in hand (one can see the new commissioned artwork selections or the classic VHS style cover-art).

The release also comes with some pack-in collectables inside of the case. These collectable inserts include a six-page booklet with essay by Tony Strauss, a limited edition 12-page mini comic book, a folded mini-poster reproduction, and a "stick your own" VHS-style sticker sheet.

Audio Commentary with Director Bret McCormick, Rob Hauschild, and Matt Desiderio of Visual Vengeance

Audio Commentary with Tony Strauss of Weng's Chop Magazine

"Monster Kid Movie Maverick" – Bret McCormick Interview (HD, 1:13:37)

Actress Blue Thompson Interview (HD, 6:30)

Actress Victoria Chaney Interview (HD, 5:11)

Interview with Original VHS Distributor Michael Jack Shoel (Donna Michelle Productions) (HD, 14:47)

The Abomination – Original Locations Tour (HD, 13:10)

Outtakes and Raw Footage – Reel 1 (HD, 28:34)

Outtakes and Raw Footage – Reel 2 (HD, 17:47)

Behind the Scenes "The Stairway" (HD, 1:21)

Behind the Scenes "Tumor Test" (HD, 1:37)

Image Gallery (HD, 2:53)

Interview with "The Abomination" includes 7 click-through slides. The interview is conducted by Matt Desiderio.

Bret McCormick – Original Super 8 Films (HD, 5:55)

Visual Vengeance Trailer (HD, 1:05)

Bret McCormick Trailers –

Ozone: Attack of the Redneck Mutants (HD, 1:17)

Repligator (HD, 1:10)

Highway to Hell (HD, 1:05)

Reanimator Academy (HD, 1:11)

Children of Dracula (HD, 1:04)

Bio-Tech Warrior (HD, 1:17)

Time Tracers (HD, 1:18)

The Abomination Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Abomination is a cult-favorite of the VHS era and despite the uneven quality of the filmmaking itself, the creature effects are impressive and almost make up for the sometimes-abhorrent quality of acting, cinematography, and almost non-existent production values. If for no other reason, horror fans and specifically gore-hounds will want to see it for the oozy, gory, and slimy creature effects.

The Blu-ray release from Visual Vengeance includes an incredible assortment of in-depth bonus features, ranging from audio commentary with the filmmakers, several hours of interviews, an enormous array of outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage, and more. The release also has an impressive package design with a cool collectable slipcover, reversible cover-art (with both newly commissioned artwork and VHS era artwork), a replica fold-out poster, stickers, a booklet, and more. Everything under the sink with a jam-packed edition sure to please any horror aficionado – as long as one can accept the low-fi shot-on-video filmmaking itself. Recommended.