Aberration (1997) User Reviews

pamela gidley haha

[agamemnon3 · 6/10 · 20 October 2005]

pamela gidley shows that she really knows how to take control of mutated reptiles, although she can't do too much with the script. the actors are so forgettable that the creatures should get top billing. on-screen chemistry between gidley and simon bossell is perhaps the worst ever if not for the recent star wars trilogy.

the effects and props are outlandish but there's plenty of them - a guy's head explodes and you've gotta love that, another guy gets eaten by mutant lizards, and there's an absolutely great scene toward the end where gidley almost loses her leg to a hasty operation on (of all places) the counter in the general store. more lizard battles follow, lots of blood, puss, etc. it's a miracle that the characters' lack of anything resembling common sense didn't get them dusted in the first ten minutes.

if you're a fan of gore, crackerjack horror, B-anything, peter jackson's older work, or have a "thing" for pamela gidley, then you'll probably enjoy it. it succeeds where a lot of cheap movies fail, which is to say that while the plot is essentially brainless, it manages to stay consistently fun and entertaining. aberration's biggest drawback may be its 'TV movie' feel but given the subject it doesn't suffer much for it.

Silly but it kept my attention

[elevatormusicman · 5/10 · 5 November 2002]

As I was sitting with my wife watching "Aberration," I couldn't help but say "why the heck am I watching this? This is the dumbest movie I ever saw!" Then it dawned on me. If it was so dumb, why was I watching it? It seems this movie is so bad it's good and I actually recommend it if you're into that kind of movie.

Silly, but engaging monster nonsense.

[capkronos · 5/10 · 21 May 2003]

Pink-haired Pamela Gidley steals money from her Russian mobster boyfriend (Valery Nikolaev) and retreats to a small cabin in wintry Northern town. A blizzard traps her and a friendly local guy (Simon Bossell) there and fast-evolving, fanged mutant geckos (!?) attack. Her ex also eventually shows up to make things worse. A silly premise and occasional hokey creature FX detract from this ALIEN-type movie, but it's humorous, well acted, entertaining, action-packed and lots of fun, with plenty of blood and slime for gore fans. A bit better than expected. It was filmed on location in Wellington, New Zealand.

Score: 5 out of 10

So bad it's funny...

[Gislef · 4/10 · 19 May 1999]

Aberration starts promisingly enough, with some suspense-building scenes in the woods. Nothing spectacular, and standard POV monster-fare, but at least it's mildly hair-rising.

We're also introduced to Pamela Gidley as the "heroine." I use the term loosely, because besides having some kind of hidden agenda, she's generally obnoxious and nasty and seems to be doing her "Brigitte" character from "The Pretender."

Naturally, this leads to the local zoologist (looking suspiciously like Skippy from "Family Ties") taking a liking to her. They go back to her cabin for reasons I don't recall, and sure enough, mutant lizards come crawling out of the woodwork. They spit like a cobra, have teeth like a piranha, climb on walls like a gekko, grow gills as necessary, and lay Alien-ish eggs for their offspring. They've already killed Gidley's neighbor *gasp* but after his house gets blown up, they come over to her cabin for the heat, warmth, and extra servings of ham.

Some hilariously bad dialogue now ensues ("Why are you scientist guys always so smart?"), Skippy gets blinded by lizard spit (but heals suspiciously fast), and then Gidley's character's boyfriend shows up 60 minutes into the movie. He's played hilariously by Valeri Nikolayev, who seems to think he's wandered into Desperado by mistake and he's doing Banderas. Turns out he's after money Gidley stole. He sneers, threatens, does some two-fisted shooting of the lizards, and eventually gets a hole gnawed through his head.

That leaves it to our protagonists to blow up the house (Skippy sets himself on fire in the process - whoops), fight the lizards that have hidden in the engine block of Uri's car (??), indulge in some gratuitous bloodletting as one of the lizards eats its way into Gidley's leg (?!?), kill off another of the only five characters in the movie at her grocery store, and eventually kill the last lizard. We're left with our characters slowly bleeding to death in a town with an apparent population of three (and 2 of them are dead).

The lizards are the best part of this movie, although why there are heat-seeking lizards in Minnesota (much less ones that mutate) is never explained. The lizards can seemingly adapt to anything (even bullets!) but they never adapt to surviving in a cold climate, and keep coming after our warm-blooded heroes.

It's like the producers decided after the first half hour that they'd go for comedy, so despite some gory effects, most of it is Gidley and Skippy sniping at each other in your standard "hate you/love you" relationship. Nikolayev's appearance late in the movie is inexplicable, and only seems to provide a way to up the body count and explain the heroine's backstory, even though we never cared anyway.

Other fun things to watch for, besides the hokey lizard F/X, is the landscape of "Minnesota" (New Zealand, actually - where's Hercules and Xena when you need them?). Half the time the characters are marching through the woods, half the time the landscape disappears entirely and it looks like they're wandering through the Arctic.

There's a kinda roller-coaster "sweep you along" effect that keeps you going despite the unlikeable characters and goofy plot, so if you've got a spare 1-1/2 hour, plug this one into the VCR or tape it off Cinemax for a few laughs. Pity MST3K is going off the air: this would be perfect for them. On the other hand, a repeat viewing or two and you can probably MSTify it yourself.

Too good to be bad

[christophaskell · 4/10 · 22 August 2003]

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

Perhaps the worst movie I've seen in the last decade.

[malachiX2000 · 1/10 · 22 August 2006]

Seriously, why is it that every terrible horror film has a review on IMDb with some guy claiming that "it's pretty good?" Apparently you can have the worst movie every made but, as long as you have green things getting squished at some point, it somehow has merrit.

I caught this on the Sci Fi channel and was quite amazed at how bad it was. Badly acted, badly directed, badly written, with some of the worst special effects I've ever seen. Honestly, I was very shocked to find out this was made in 1997 as the special affects and cinematography looks like something from the mid 80s. The script is powerful bad filled with many awkward attempts at humor that just hurt thanks to the terrible dialogue and acting. In fact, its' really amazing HOW bad the script is, filled with plot holes that seem like they were making things up as they went along. For instance, the little lizard things (which rank as some of the most powerfuly un-scary creatures than the puppets in hobgoblins), decide to evolve (as they do often in the movie) and become bullet proof. Yet, immediately after taking several handgun blasts to the fact, the creature is killed by being hit by a wooden chair. Huh? Even odder is several scenes later when bullets suddenly start killing them again. The writing also seems to lack any sort of structure. For instance, at one point in the movie the main character warns that, if not stopped, these creatures could grow to be the size of komodo dragon. Based on a line like that, isn't it logical to assume that this genre flick we'd get to see one of these things the size of Komodo dragon by the end of the movie? Apparently not as the things never get bigger than a cat. The movie really drags as well. Every 10 minutes the characters relax and pronounce that they've exterminated the last of them only to find another batch, and another, and another. When the credits finally role, one can't help but ask, "really? It's over? I'm free?"

Highly entertaining little monster flick.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 26 October 2004]

"Aberration" is often trashed by horror fans,but this film is certainly well-made and fairly entertaining.Pamela Gidley plays a vacationing young girl who comes back to the cabin of her childhood.Unfortunately she begins to hear strange noises throughout the house and her cat is killed.A wandering research scientist working the area meets up with her and they both fight with mutant geckos."Aberration" is clearly not as bad as it's reputed to be.There is a lot of action and plenty of gore,so I wasn't disappointed.The monsters are cheesy looking,but generally they are convincing enough.So if you enjoy watching low-budget horror films,give this one a look.7 out of 10.

Caught it on SciFi - entertaining and not that bad

[mark_gossett · 3/10 · 25 January 2006]

First of all; the rating scale is difficult to use as I recommend the movie (who doesn't love campy, tongue-in-cheek low budget scifi/horror; if you're reading this you do!). I use the scale for the quality of scenes not the movie whole. The acting was OK and at times rather bad. There were some cool aspects and the gore was quite good even though scifi hacked it. Pamela Gidley i've always loved! The lizards looked like a cross between older godzilla movies with a hint of digital animation at times. I loved the setting (cabin in the woods) and the snow. A hot snow bunny always helps. All in all it's definitely worth a rent.

Was there a sale at the 99 cents store? These lizards look like they came from there...

[Theshapeshifter · 7/10 · 6 February 2006]

This movie is about as scary as a Disney movie. With plenty of gore and a weak story line, it is little wonder that it was overlooked by many, but in the end, the cheesiness of the film is what makes it worth watching for many. The effects aren't as good as hoped and the characters are not very believable. The story is that of a pair of people whom (too my knowledge) are stuck in a cabin where there are insidious lizard-like animals which feast on flesh. The monstrous and quite murderous creatures seem to appear as little more than garden-variety newts, but they seem to creep a viewer out in a pinch. The setting is also fairly weak, but it does the trick well for the story. All in all, if you are in the mood for a simple story and moderately simple effects, cast aside "Troy" and watch this.

Nice creature feature

[pkzeewiz · 5/10 · 21 April 2010]

A woman goes to her families cabin in the woods to get some free time, and hide away from her dangerous boyfriend with thousands of dollars she's stolen from him. She gets there only to find the old cabin is infested with a new breed of killer lizards. She and her new scientist friend must try to get out alive.

I watched this for the second time and rather enjoyed it. It was set in the woods and also had moments set in the snow and that's two angles I always like seeing in horror films. It did have many of the clichés, that made it cute, like the old man telling her to get out of those woods and also the nice cozy little general store.

Direction was OK and the little creatures were just pretty normal looking lizards, but they were mean and caused a lot of bloody messes, which is good. The music was all from a group called PLAN 9 and they did an OK job too. I really liked the acting in this movie especially from Tim Boswell.

I recommend this to anyone who likes the creepy movies set in the woods or enjoys movies about strange little monstrous animals.

5/10

Aberration, aberration, aberration... why?

[Evil Al · 14 March 1999]

Ok, let me start off by saying; IT'S NOT THAT BAD, DAMMIT! Ok, that might be a stretch, it is pretty bad. But I liked it... and I feel extremely guilty for it, so there! Was it the cheesy plot? Super-Evolved killer geckos in what seems to be Alaska (but in reality is New Zealand (What the fuzzy monkeys you ask? So do I). Was it the lack of meaningful nudity when it SO COULD HAVE BEEN THERE (down boy)... or was it the fact that the scientist guy somehow reminded me of Bruce Cambell from Evil Dead II... at least in the convenience store at the end.... with the flaming broom... and he also kinda looked like Brandon Lee from the crow at one point.... don't ask, I was heavily sedated at the time of writing this. What it fails to deliver in actual thrills or scares, it seems to make up for in campy, schlocky, tongue in cheek goodness. While it's not that bad, it's not that good.

But if you've got nothing better to do on a dark and stormy night when the pillars of heaven are shaking and the earth is opening up ready to swallow you whole, and you see this in the video rental place, and you're not sure about it, you just kick back and ask yourself what old Jack Burton might say...

y'know what he'd say?

What the hell?

Cult Classic Horror Flick

[vonohain · 9/10 · 16 July 2006]

This movie is a cult classic with a unique idea for a horror flick --namely fast evolving animals that spit venom and become increasingly difficult to kill. The monsters are obviously low budget, but the acting was entertaining and I couldn't turn the channel once I started watching.

The attractive, tainted hero, Pam Gidley, is hiding out at her mom's cabin in the woods. She is joined by a grad student biologist studying animals in the area. Later her menacing ex shows up and falls victim to the little monsters.

I hadn't seen Pam Gidley before, and wasn't too surprised to find that she's done a fair amount of other work on TV (CSI) and other movies.

Remember, it's a TV Movie

[Reyak · 7/10 · 10 September 2006]

I had mixed thoughts about this movie, but remembering that it was a SciFi Channel made for TV movie, the few things I didn't care for can be overlooked.

I love the whole idea behind the lizards. Spontanious molecular regeneration, combined with spontanious evolution made these things quite frightening had I been in the same situation.

There were a few ideas they should have thought of in the basis of these lizards however, like having at least one develop rather large. Normally I wouldn't care, but Marshall did recognize the possibility of a Komodo type lizard right in the beginning,...and Marshall,...they have grown to 13.5 feet, ten was not the largest. Also if they were going to go with the whole evolution thing, taking on traits of all reptiles, as well as amphibians, they could have tried making a few of the creatures warm blooded, so the snow outside would not even be safe.

As far as acting goes, I thought Pamela Gidley was quite good, and made up for poor Simon Bossell, who over played his character very badly. Valeri Nikolayev from The Saint was quite overplayed as well, however, this was forgivable since his character was quite entertaining, playing something of a Russian prince turned wild west gunslinger.

All in all, I was quite amused with this film, and will buy it. No, I didn't find this to be the scariest movie I've ever seen, still, it was quite entertaining. I might even look forward to a sequel, assuming some of the reptiles found a safe haven in Mrs. Miller's car.

By the way, I loved Pamela Gidley's hair.

The "Aberration" is that I couldn't sit through a killer-reptile movie

[Phillemos · 3/10 · 29 August 2006]

The horror movie comes to the table with a promising idea -- a new species of lizard runs amok in a small, snowbound Minnesota town (though, inexplicably, this movie was supposedly filmed in New Zealand). Every time one of the dies, the species develops a cockroach-like immunity to that form of death. Therein lies the problem. They only seem to develop that immunity for one scene, then you can kill them any way you want again. Had they stayed consistent with that immunity theme, this could have been a pretty creative, entertaining horror movie. But the producers seemed instead to opt for the "handful of people trying to avoid being killed by monsters while trapped in a storm" direction for this flick, which has been done to death. I also kept expecting the lizards to grow to Komodo-dragon sizes by movie's end, which never happened and was kind of disappointing. And the scene where Uri bursts in to get his cut of the stolen money was absolutely asinine. You could have left that 20 minutes on the cutting room floor and it probably would have improved the overall content. I give this movie a 3, largely because it could have been a uniquely entertaining horror film but they completely dropped the ball.

A horror-free horror film that moves at a glacial pace.

[Troll-9 · 1/10 · 12 July 1999]

This is essentially a two character movie, starring the extremely attractive Pamela Gidley, and a dork. The "aberrations" are awful rubber lizards, there is NO STORY AT ALL, and for no reason an Antonio Banderas-wannabe shows up halfway through and shoots a bunch of rubber monsters in a direct rip-off of "Desperado". This is dire sludge that only appears on late-night cable, and should stay there.

Possibly The Worst Monster Movie Ever Made!

[Carrigon · 1/10 · 6 September 1999]

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!

Dreadful is putting it gently

[Markus-40 · 1/10 · 21 August 1999]

This is in my all time top ten of the worst movies ever inflicted on an unsuspecting public. Aberration is exactly what its title suggests. The plot concerns an extremely unscarey lizard thing that eats someones cat. All the action takes place in a log cabin to try to create that claustrophobic Alien-esque atmosphere, but fails. Then after an hour some mad man in a designer suit turns up with two handguns looking like a reject from a Robert Rodriguez movie. What was supposed to be going on is something only the cast and director's knew. I actually didn't watch the end. Decided to watch Children of The Corn II instead, which was actually ten-times better - that should show how bad Aberration is.

Held My Interest

[Jimbo-96 · 7/10 · 12 May 1999]

I often get distracted watching films. Aberration held my interest throughout the film. It helps that the plot was simple and the cast totaled only five, excluding the cat. I also like my films to feature an attractive woman in some sort of distress. If one enjoys low budget horror films, this film will be a nice surprise. Critics will probably point out the lizards are not compatible with the arctic like cold and snow depicted in this movie. Oh well, this isn't art.

Could be worse

[shellsy · 2/10 · 10 April 1999]

You have to be lenient on the makers of this film, as obviously they don't have much experience making movies. It is also extremely difficult to relate to the main female character who apparently finds some perverse pleasure in snubbing her brand new neighbors, and greeting their attempts at neighborly cordiality only with curt remarks. I actually found extreme pleasure as the grotesque lizard-things tore at her flesh. However, I must grant kudos to the filmmakers for casting a cute boy in the lead, and a gory demolition of a perfectly good easter basket.

Lizard stomp: the little movie that could

[jcain1635 · 7/10 · 26 October 2019]

I found this on VHS at my local thrift store. I expected I night in with laughable nonsense. This is laughable, don't get me wrong, but this is a genuinely good creature feature.

What "Aberration" lacks in plot originality or cliche it more than makes up for in characters, performances, and fun. Lots of zany over the top acting with a sense of self awareness. The characters feel genuine and fun.

What makes Aberration "work" is knowing how to give the viewer what they want: blood, violence, and creature effects. New and creative kills are constantly in motion, though I suspect the film maker and I share a favorite: the lizard stomp.

Check it out with some friends. Bring some snacks and drinks.

Not So Bad? No, Not So Good!

[john.schneider · 2/10 · 17 December 2005]

It is a silly little movie, obviously a really low budget film. The only thing that kept me watching this on the SciFi channel was the lovely Pamela Gidley. Fortunately she was in virtually every scene after I turned to that channel. I imagine her thinking to herself while filming this, "why the heck did I sign up for this film?!?!?! I'd better do the best job I can or I'll never get better roles!!!!" And she turned in a wonderful performance, all things considered. It was a treat just to watch her.

So the best thing by far about this was Pamela Gidley. The most retarded thing about it was the "monsters" themselves, and how the characters could survive time after time their attacks and bites, and how they could almost instantaneously adapt to being attached.

But even all that was worth being subjected to just to watch Pamela Gidley.

One of the better entries in the genre

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 20 November 2015]

Going out for a vacation, a woman returns to a family-owned at a cabin in the woods and runs across a scientist chasing an aberrant form of gecko species with a taste for human flesh and try to survive against the creatures.

This was a pretty pleasant and enjoyable creature feature. One of the best features is that there's a really interesting and imposing creature, which is presented a form of aberrant gecko species only to have been inundated with a voracious set of teeth that produce venom which is able to spit at victims as well. The creature's size, which is much bigger than a normal lizard is mixed with plenty of action that showcase this which makes for a really dangerous and unique creature. There's some more greatness from the film itself, as the location is the secluded cabin-in-the-woods which adds a great dimension to the film because of the raging thunderstorm. There's some great atmospheric scenes of them trying to walk around in the dark, as well as the dead trees instead of the usual vegetation give it a wonderfully eerie feel here. There's plenty of action in here as there's a huge amount of interactions here that are plain fun as nearly all of them feature the creature's chases around the cabin forcing them into some fun tactics against the creatures which are pretty chilling and quite fun. There's also the really great finale in the general store, which has plenty of action trying to keep the rapidly approaching creatures contained featuring some fun battle tactics in the aisles which gets some nice suspense as well into a fun, extended sequence that really works. Along with some nice gore and the really nice pacing here, these here manage to make it enjoyable enough to make up for really only one flaw to this one. This one is really only hurt by its really cheesy, rubber-looking creatures that aren't realistic, while other times they're obviously little puppets that move even less like a real creature and ruins the mystique of the creature. It's pretty much the only thing wrong with this one as the positives here are far more appealing and worthwhile.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, Brief Nudity and violence against animals.

Lifetime Meets Syfy

[Peppered_Productions · 6/10 · 2 January 2014]

The film opens with Amy (Pamela Gidley - "Brigitte" from the Pretender series) driving to her new home with cat and fish. A couple of minutes into her journey, she removes sunglasses and wig. Uh-oh. Either she just committed a crime, or is escaping an abusive boyfriend. Her paranoia upon entering the house indicates the latter.

As she turns into the driveway, she's observed by a scientist (Aussie cutie Simon Bossell) collecting mysterious, goopy samples near the property. Hmm... young, good-looking woman, young good-looking man? What are the chances they'll get together?

As Amy settles in, we meet a couple of the locals. The typical crazy & his dog and the kind general store manager. But, wait - this is a horror film! Let's leave this Little House on the Prairie nonsense & see some gore!

Finally, we glimpse our monster - well, its viewpoint, as it goes after the crazy recluse's dog. Buh-bye Rover. Amy's cat is similarly bothered in the house - could the beast be in her home? Could there be more than one?!?

Ayup.

We finally see the creatures. Lizards of some bastardized origin - they're able to evolve from generation to generation. Thanks, Monsanto! Within hours, the newly born spawn has nifty defense mechanisms against what thwarted their parents.

So, basically it's multigenerational mutant annihilation for our two heroes. A lot of blowing things up, really.

Oh - and that abusive boyfriend? Yes, he makes an appearance. He's an a-hole who enjoys his battle with the so-called "Aberrations" just a little too much. In a combo Lifetime/Syfy flick - he really doesn't stand a chance. A totally hammy performance by Valeriy Nikolaev, but a fun stretch.

The movie is slow-paced, and could've been 15-20 minutes shorter. It also uses some cliché tactics (including the 'thrown cat' trick and asinine, punny lines). The puppets used for the creatures had some good detail, and the 'enhancements' were clever. But, this movie didn't know whether it wanted to be a drama, sci-fi, or horror. It was a little too muddled to fit neatly into any of those categories

Overall, a decent flick with flaws and some major predictability. Editing could have been tighter, but the casting choices were good, and there were some clever shots to impress cinematographers. And the cat? A total PROFESSIONAL! The scenes with the critters seemed a bit campy - like "Gremlins" meets "Munchies". But, still a watchable, if dramatic, romp.

Average creature feature.

[loomis78-815-989034 · 5/10 · 20 April 2013]

After stealing money from her gangster boyfriend, Amy (Gidley), is on the run. She decides to hide out at an isolated cabin in the Minnesota woods until she figures out her next move. Her cat turns up dead and Amy begins to see glimpses of tails that look like they are from large lizards slip around corners and behind furniture. She seeks help from Marshall (Bossell), a biologist working in the area, to help her exterminate the critters. Soon they find out that they have a lot more on their hands than some pesky lizards. These mutations have grown large with sharp teeth and the ability to spit poison. This movie is a basic set up as a mini monster movie. It features two people in an isolated cabin doing battle with the deadly over-sized lizards. There is some fun to be had with some gooey gore that ranges from cheesy to decent. Director Tim Boxell's pace is very leisurely. This leaves long stretches of boredom in between the action with the monsters. With her short blond hair, Pam Gidley looks a lot like Sharon Stone and fortunately her acting is respectable. The film is decent, but would have benefited greatly with some jump scares and more attention to suspense.

Avoid this feministic nonsense

[Abusimble1 · 1/10 · 12 June 2007]

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!