THE ABOMINATION (1986) ** ½
The Abomination begins with a greatest hits mix tape of all of the film’s gory highlights (many of which are repeated several times). As it turns out, it was all a dream. (Or was it?)
You see, Cody (Scott Davis) has been going through a lot lately. He’s been worried about his mother who has lung cancer. When she literally coughs up a lung, it comes to life and worms its way into Cody’s mouth. Soon, it takes over his mind and sends him on a quest to feed the ever-growing mass of flesh and teeth more and more victims.
The Abomination was a low budget 8mm homegrown production. The dialogue is often horribly dubbed and the acting is amateurish at best. If you can make it through the slow-moving first half, you’ll be rewarded with a cool monster and ultra-gory kills. The Abomination itself looks a little like the monster in The Deadly Spawn. I liked the way it hid in cabinets, stoves, drawers, beer coolers, and even the toilet (!) before jumping out at its prey. The blood flows freely too as throats are slashed, hands are chopped off, and brains are chainsawed out.
I also liked how the movie freely borrowed from other horror films of the time. The way Cody finds food for The Abomination is not unlike Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. Our hero also keeps pieces of himself in the medicine cabinet, just like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. The monster-in-the-toilet scene is also a little reminiscent of Ghoulies.
The heavy padding in the early going really hurts the film’s overall momentum. I really wished they didn’t show us all the good stuff in the beginning because it ruins all of the gore scenes later in the movie. Then again, the first half is so sluggish the filmmakers probably felt they had to show the audience the goods early on to keep them in their seats during the slow parts. As it is; the flick just about (but not quite) skates by on the gore alone.