BOB'S BURN PIT #2

“THE ABOMINATION” (1988)

Before digging into “The Abomination” a small disclaimer must be told.  Many people turn their noses up on super low budget horror movies, and sometimes for good reason.  With these types of movies one needs to watch with a different mindset and lots of imagination to really get into the film and how the director was really trying to make something unique even though there was little money to tell their story.  These types of movies look cheap, have poor acting and even worse effects, but if you look past that there are some real gems out there to discover that will blow away some of the famous studio movies... even ones that are loved by the masses.  One of these films is “The Abomination”, a film so different and so deep that you forget you are watching what many would call a “monster movie.”  So read on to learn more on what makes this super low budget 80’s movie so special.

The story which seems simple at first, goes way deeper once you think about it and it makes you wonder what could have been if this crew had the budget it needed to make what they set out to do.  There are a few levels to the story, the movie oddly starts out showing literally all the cool stuff from the whole movie in the first few minutes in a montage.  From the monster eating people to people getting stabbed and killed all while you hear a voice over which seems to be a psychologist talking to the main character about what all happened over the past week.  It is an odd way to start out the movie but this is not a normal movie per se.  

The movie then starts out with the main character who lives with his crazed religious mother who is obsessed with a local TV evangelist who keeps on quoting bible verses and the end of times.  The mother seems to give this preacher any penny she can to be saved.  She claims to have a tumor and thinks this preacher can save her.  The son thinks she is nuts and one day she coughs up the said tumor which then makes its way into the son’s room and enters his body, kicking off the nightmare to come.  While all of this is happening ,the son starts to wonder if this preacher is causing and spreading these tumors to his flock for his own diabolical schemes.   

 The son’s tumor takes on a life of its own and lives in the kitchen cabinet and it makes him want to kill others to feed it.  So the son now possessed by this evil abomination sets out randomly killing off poorly introduced characters to feed his now fleshy master of sorts.  This is where the film kind of pads things out to give it a feature length run time.  While typical horror fans go for this stuff, I wish the film went deeper into the psychological aspects and more of the connection between the creature and the main star.  The last part of the film is the kind of showdown with the creature who is now taking over most of the house and even with a cheap budget the creature still looks great.  It reminds me of a lower budget mix between the alien from “Terrorvision” and “The Deadly Spawn” but on a shoestring budget.  While the final battle is not over the top or flashy in any way it leads to a cool kind of twist in the voice over before the end credits roll making you rethink what you just saw.  This is what makes this movie really something special and not just your standard low budget fare.   You have to go back and see if this was all in his head or did it really happen.  This is not your standard monster type of movie.

Made in a time where everyone was shooing out cheapie direct to video movies to cash in on the rental business, this one really stands out as a gem.  There are a lot of questions to be asked ,like what is the full intentions of the preacher and was he giving his flock the seeds which grow into the flesh eating tumors?  If so ,why?  What is the endgame for these abominations?  Is there a cure for the insanity they cause the host?  Was this all in the main characters head?  This is why I really enjoyed this highly recommended movie.  As a warning to the masses, it may be a tough one to get through since it is cheaply made and not an action packed movie but one that will really make you think afterwards on all the different things presented in it.  There are a lot of layers to this cheapie but this is what makes it special, afterwards you dwell and think on it and it does not go away.    This is one Abomination that is welcome into my library of movies.  So if you love creature features and a movie that makes you think and love seeing monsters eat people, this one is for you.

"THE MUTILATOR" ( aka "FALL BREAK" ) 1984

In the height of the video rental days, slasher movies were all the rage for filmmakers and companies looking to make a quick buck.  There was one made for almost every holiday from Halloween to Christmas to New Year’s Eve.  They were quick to make and all you had to do is put in some killing and sex and you were all set.  A lot of these movies all followed the same storyline with a mystery killer seeking revenge on sex starved teens.  By the end of these movies there was normally one or two people left alive to stop the killer and find out their true intentions.  While normally I am not a fan of the slasher genre since it is very limited with storytelling and execution ( no pun intended ),  there are a few that stand out and the movie “The Mutilator” is one such movie.

 While “The Mutilator” follows a lot of the same pitfalls of the slasher genre, there are a few things that make this movie different and in a good way.  The plot is very simple.  The movie starts out with a kid cleaning out his father’s rifle for his birthday gift surprise, because that is always what kids should do.  The mom is in the kitchen in the other room and the gun goes off by accident and it blasts a hole through the wall and through the mom as well killing her.  The father comes home to a real birthday surprise with his wife dead at the hands of his son.  The father has a break down and this is all of the set up given.  The movie then time jumps to when the son is now in college. He gets a call from his father to come up and close up the family beach house over the weekend.  The son and a bunch of his wild friends all go up to spend a wild party weekend while closing up the family of two’s beach house, not knowing they are walking into a trap.  

 What makes this movie different than the rest of the slasher era dreck is that early on we see that the father is laying low in the house planning on seeking revenge on his son for what he did decades ago.  We are not sure why he waited so long and did not do this when it happened but then I guess we would not have a movie to watch.  This was a huge shift in the basic storytelling with a slasher movie.  There was no mystery on who the killer was.  So over the next hour of the movie we get some really nice brutal killings and gore.  This is another thing that makes this movie stand out above the rest of the slasher movies, there was some really over the top killings and some great gore and not just quick stabbings and such.  We get to see the college kids killed with a motorboat engine, pitchfork to the neck, a fishing gaff and a car splitting someone in two.   There are a lot of creative kills and focus on the demise of the college kids.

Without spoiling what little plot there is by the end you got a few things from this movie, some good laughs and a lot of great make up effects and gore.  While not an amazing film it is one worth seeking out since the filmmakers really tried their best to make something different at the time and not just your quick standard slasher movie.  I do wish there was a bit more focus on the dad and son to help build more of a story and give some depth to things.  Overall the film is a lot of fun and I bet a blast to watch with a group of friends if you have some.  I didn’t.  So if you are looking for a great fun way to spend 90 minutes or so and see some great inventive kills this movie is for you, but check the basement first to make sure a murderous parent is not waiting to seek revenge on you for a past wrong doing!

“BLOOD SALVAGE” ( aka “MAD JAKE”) 1990

There are a few rare gems in the horror genre where there is more than meets the eye.  Movies that seem like one thing but then go deeper and become something else.  “Blood Salvage” is one of those movies.  From the video cover art to the title, one would assume that this is a standard backwoods slasher movie filled with bland soulless characters and a killer using various tools to take down his victims, but it is not.  This movie is a great example of what can be done with an interesting script and flushed out characters.  There is also a very ethical subplot going on which makes you wonder if the villain is really a villain?  There is also an odd cameo and some name actors in this movie as well which make this a really fun watch.  So if you have not heard or seen this movie let us get to the meat of it and really dissect it.

The basic plot of the movie is about a backwoods mechanic named Jake who has his son cause car accidents late in the evening on non-busy roads.  Then Jake will arrive with his tow truck to help but he is really only there to collect more organs for a side thing he has going on.  The movie shifts over to legendary actor John Saxon and his family who is en route for a State Fair to have his wheelchair bound daughter enter a beauty pageant.  Jake happens to be there and she captures his eye and he has his son mess with the family RV but first enters a contest to box Evander Holyfield...yes, you read that correctly.  Evander has a cameo in this odd movie.  So the RV breaks down on the side of the road and ole Jake just happens to drive by to help.  The family fall for his scheme and get towed to Jake’s house where he has some devious plans for them all.

The property Jake has is filled with old cars, a huge metal crushing machine and a pet alligator who wanders around the yard.  Jake has one thing in his mind and it is the daughter who is wheel chair bound, but for what purpose?  The family is captured one by one leaving the daughter alone to fight back but she is captured and locked upstairs in a nice bedroom.  We then learn that Jake is harvesting organs and selling them to a local doctor played by Ray Walston who played Mr. Hand in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. (He was also in “My Favorite Martian” and was Capt. Picard’s mentor in “Star Trek”--Encyclopedia Mality) Jake also reveals that he wants to fix the daughter and making it so she will be able to walk again.  This is where the question of ethics kicks in.  While he is doing horrible things to others, he sees this as also a way to help others in need since he is doing things doctors can’t legally do.  This is a nice little twist with the story since you have a bad guy who in his eyes is doing a good thing but bad things to others to make that all happen.

The movie is not a gore fest like one would assume with the title or filled with mass killings.  There are a lot of colorful and crazy characters as well in the movie which make it a lot of fun.  The two sons are your standard hillbilly types but they add a lot of laughs to the movie.  The last half of the movie is the back and forth with Jake and the daughter and her struggle to escape this backwoods hell.  There is a lot of great scenes with seeing her play and fool the dimwitted son trying to gain his help in her escape.  This is a rare movie where the characters are more than just plot points and it really flushes out this movie to make it something special.

The one thing I wish we got to see is more of the medical atrocity side of things.  We get glimpses and quick shots of various people with mechanical things inserted into them keeping them alive but never a focus on that horror aspect.  I am sure the budget would not allow this but it makes the mind wander into dark places thinking about all the awful painful things that have gone on in that garage.  There is a lot of payoff and hints at what is to come that one wished there was a part two made to see where the story would go next.

So if you love backwoods horror, medical deviants, alligators, and interesting stories I highly recommend this gem of a movie.  While it is not much talked about in the horror community it is one worth checking out for a good time.  One could say it is what the doctor ordered!