Abomination: The Evilmaker II

Welcome back gentle readers. Well you got a dose of Indie Horror and to be honest, it wasn't bad. I am intrigued enough to delve further into John Bowker (Platoon of the Dead, Dreamwalkers, Beyond the Lost World: The Alien Conspiracy III, Housebound, The Seekers and Werewolf Tales) and as promised, there is a sequel. This is Abomination: The Evilmaker II a.k.a. Abomination.

They were merely Freshmen...oh wait.

I know, I know, there wasn't enough alternative titles this time around. This time around we catch up from the aftermath of the previous. Rachel (Felicia Pandolfi of The Evilmaker, Dreamwalkers, The Seekers and Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires) reached out with a psychic message (That old chestnut) to her sister Kathy (Kylene Wetherell of Dreamwalkers, Abomination: The Evilmaker II and Housebound), that it took her three days to get there? Were you crossing state lines or time zones, psi-sister? With a few flashbacks in sepia, we know this is images of the past.

Kathy seems to be picking up psychic resonance (vibrations or psychic energy residue of a paranormal activity) in and around the cabin. She is also exhibiting psychometry (The ability to discover facts about events and people by touching objects that were associated with them) as she makes her way into the cabin itself.

Remember, the girls were all here because Rachel thought Serena (Stephanie Beaton of Wicthcraft IX: Bitter Flesh, Zombie Gang Bangers, Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft, Monster in My Car, Eyes of the Werewolf, Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood and A Passion) had to get out after her divorce, so clearly girls' night or weekend in this case; the mini-van broke down and this was their only port of call.

Mmm, don't like this lip balm.

Over 4 minutes of wandering around the cabin but there seems to be a lack of anything aside from flashbacks. No gore in sight. Kathy heads out to the culvert... of DooOoOOoOm!!

Rachel appears to axe Kathy a question and it was all just a horrible dream. Cue opening credits after 15 minutes in the film. Trying to make sense of her visions, Kathy confronts Mrs. Parker(Betty Griffith of The Evilmaker and Abomination: The Evilmaker II) who will have none of it and blames Rachel for everything. Goth girls: Bringers of Doom as you know.

Ex-Cop Charlie no longer pursuing the case that is months old, he still cannot believe what happened, let alone Kathy's visions. With a bit of Johnny on the Spot exposition we learn that Serena may have gone crackers and is shacked up in the local whacko basket.

Silent Bob's cousin, Sleepy Charles.

Kathy will not be deterred and must find out what truly went on at that house.  Psychic Madam Vladmeria (Shannon Barksdale of Monster in the Garage, Dreamwalkers, Housebound, The Seekers and Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires) and friend Rebecca (Kelly Loux of Abomination: The Evilmaker II) thinks it's a bright idea to break into the cabin house and commune with the spirits. Yeah so you know this is going to go well.  Protection circle looks a little uneven, girls. Just an observation.

Kathy and Charles doing separate investigations as a body count starts building up as Rachel appears to be at the center of it all. Trapped between two realms as well as the paths of light and dark, perhaps Kathy is the only one that can save Rachel.

Upside to having full rights to your own material? Flashback candy, baybee!! Yes, this is handy for when you need to bring story, characters or simply move two stories closer together. Plus Bowker doesn't have to worry about greedy execs demanding more than what is due.

My final thoughts on this? While I really wanted to explore more with Stephanie Beaton's Serena, Kylene Wetherell's performance is sound, the story spirals into more supernatural happenings, the music is well-placed and the body count is as always with sequels higher. We have a decent ghost story in play and plenty to work with in spite of the budget.

Rather than rely heavily on gore gags, we have more camera angles, slight of hand and misdirection which builds better tension in my thinking.

That being said, I am almost wanting to own a copy of this just to re-render it but the pixels are just set too low. Methinks if they had a couple of 4K cameras it wouldn't be so bad. Again nothing wrong with the performances, story or continuation but this camera at such a low digital quality is killing my eyes.

Still my verdict stands, a follow-up to the previous and not too shabby at that. While it is a sequel, it really tries to explore beyond the previous and make its own way.

You kids get out of my yard!!