Aberration (1997)

Like others here, I'm amazed how such material gets good reviews. Granted, this thing is low budget. And it was made in the late nineties, before the "perfection" of digital monsters. But there's really no excuse for a contemporary monster movie where the monsters look like they were purchased from a dollar store.Not that I'm trying to be overly critical. The acting is not bad. The camera work is okay. But this is another of those instances where the impoverished budget is readily apparent. Aside from the creature effects, the entire picture seems to take place in a cabin and nearby general store. Which means we're talking isolation, but not of the creative EVIL DEAD type, but of the "We won't have enough money to make this unless we shoot at my parents' cabin" type.Don't get me wrong. The last thing I want to do is discourage young filmmakers - especially ones working on a limited budget. But I would caution them to make sure the centerpiece of their films - the monsters themselves - are worth the ride.

The main problem with this movie isn't the plot. It's the fact that the director obviously thinks all men like to watch unrealistic movies showing model-looking females acting like buff men. The other problem is that the heroine never gets any of her hair out of place, while all the guys are either totally buffoons or wimps who are scared of looking under a bed. The plot is actually good. However, the director's insistence that a gun-wielding woman who is able to take on people in a fight who are twice her size, makes the plot bizarre. The viewer continually finds himself trying to explain the plausibility of all the unrealistic feats done by the heroine instead of concentrating on the plot. For those that want some realistic movies, avoid this turkey like the plague!

It can't be helped, the film is cool. Yeah it's low budget and there's bad acting, etc. but from the beginning this film grabs you. A young girl (Pamela Gidley) escaping her troubled life finds refuge in her families old house in the mountains. She gets stuck in her house, but luckily with a grad student (Simon Bossell) who specializes in animals. Very soon after they get stuck the showdown with the killer geckos begins. All parts with the geckos are entertaining, but by far the best bit is when the girl's boyfriend (Valeri Nikolayev) finds where she's hiding and tries to force 'his' money out of her. Must be seen to be understood, but he does a great job of being campy and unintentionally funny. 'Aberration' did not take itself too seriously, which paid off because the script was really cheesy. I would say it's good enough to rent, definitely worth a watch if it's ever on TV. Rating: 23/40

Don't waste your time on this one. It seemed like it wanted to be a Boogens clone, but it was too boring to watch. Awful movie. Stupid dialog, totally unknown cast, PLASTIC monsters! JoBob Briggs from MonsterVision can have this movie. Maybe he can make it interesting. This was such a waste of time. Trust me, you can make a better movie with a camcorder and your neighbors with no budget. This has to be one of the worst movies of all time and it wasn't even a good B film. Yuk!