Following in the footsteps of cinematic classics like The Legend of Boggy Creek, Abominable follows a group of special forces soldiers as they search an abandoned research facility in pursuit of a series of beacons left by a team of scientists studying the yeti plant. The yeti plant is presented as the solution to any number of ailments with some vague promise of repairing cells. Brain tumor? Yeti plant. Cancer? Yeti plant. Crippling feelings of isolation and ennui? Put some yeti plant on it. This gives some basic pretense for why the team is going on this expedition, though why an elite military unit would be dispatched to conduct this investigation isn’t entirely clear. The guns end up coming in handy, however, as the rumors of the beast hidden among the snow end up being more than a myth as the fearsome yeti rises to defend its treasure.

Naturally, Abominable is at its best when the yeti is on screen. The suit isn’t the greatest and they show it a bit more than they probably should when a little tighter editing could have worked around many of its limitations but it’s practical and it has that low-budget monster movie appeal. The body count is on the low end and some of the early kills lack punch but when Abominable commits to a kill, it makes for a glorious display of torrential blood-letting and rending flesh. These moments alone almost justify sitting through the film’s just over an hour runtime.

But while they have fun with the yeti carnage, the rest of the film takes a much more serious tone with a dour cast of characters delivering generic action movie dialog, typically revolving around the planting, securing, and investigation into beacons. No one’s having any fun which isn’t entirely out of character for a squad of battle-hardened soldiers but they lack the coordination and overall competence to be believable in that role either. The up-tempo score with its pounding percussion helps to create an atmosphere of excitement but the lacking camera work and choreography keep the illusion from coming together fully.

Abominable is too often at odds with itself, a gloriously violent beacon of yetisploitation goodness wrapped in a bog-standard action thriller which doesn’t have much to offer as a whole but at least with a handful of quality kills and a length that barely qualifies for a feature, you don’t have to suffer through too much drudgery before something entertaining happens. There are better options, even for those just looking for some blood and guts so you might want to wait for a highlight reel to get posted to Youtube rather than investing in the rental.

MOVIE RATING 4 out of 10