For the past several years, I've been working with the U.S.-based MVD Entertainment Group. Starting out as Music Video Distributors, the Pennsylvania-based company's growth into other areas of entertainment has been a joy to watch, mostly because the company itself is just a joy to work with as they are consistently at the top of their game. 

In addition to providing production for a wide variety of labels, MVD has been found lately to be venturing into creating their own indie label projects not too far removed from the work of U.K. - based Arrow Films. The MVD Rewind project is an example, a repackaging of older indie films that are repackaged with special features. 

Matt McCoy starrer Abominable is an example of the MVD Rewind packaging, a high quality effort that takes a mid-range indie horror title and gives it a solid Blu-ray/DVD treatment with a few new special features that should please pretty much any fan of the film, its stars or these wonderful repackaging efforts that are bringing the light to older titles. 

Abominable stars McCoy as Preston Rogers, a man injured in a mountain-climbing accident who returns to a remote cabin where he and his now deceased wife once lived. Rogers, now a paraplegic, ends up seeing the ever elusive beast known by a variety of names - Yet, Sasquatch, Bigfoot - who subsequently attacks a new neighbor (Ashley Hartman) even while Preston's reports continue to be dismissed by local authorities as the delusional thoughts of a recent widower. Determined to unfold the truth, Preston sets out to stop the creature himself. 

Having grown up with a weird, guilty pleasure appreciation for these sort of "beast" flicks, and being a bit of a devotee of the Loch Ness Monster myself, it was hard for me to not smile throughout Abominable even while recognizing the film's complete and utter mediocrity. McCoy, an under-appreciated character actor who first really entered the public eye with his appearances in the Police Academy films, gives an under-appreciated performance here in a film that never went beyond a limited theatrical release that gathered an abysmal $1800 opening weekend before pretty much being relegated to a tour through most of the indie distributors. 

Now, it gets new life once again with MVD Rewind. 

The film features some delightful cameos - watch especially for one by Paul Gleason that will make those with an observant eye chuckle quite a bit. 

Abominable is a low-budget indie horror, the first feature film from writer/director Ryan Schifrin (Rush Hour 2, Rush Hour 3), whose father Lalo Schifrin contributes the film's original score. It's a decent enough effort, a film aware of its low-budget that never tries to accomplish more than it can but accomplishes as much as it can with limited resources. 

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic