Starring: Gwendolyn Garver, Kristian Capalik, Peter James, Cal Thomas, Bobbi Jean Basche, Austin Kieler, Annie Hughes, Max Hauser, Chris Muntel
Directed by: Douglas Elford-Argent
Written by: Gwendolyn Garver
Running time: 85 minutes
Rated: None (with mild language and violence)
The supernatural thriller is getting a lot of play lately in films and television; they seem to be coming out of the 
woodwork. Aberration is one of these films that play on supernatural elements. I’m not sure what happened with this film, from what it looks like, it was made way back in 2006 under the alternate title AfterThought and is just now being released to DVD. It must have been sitting on a shelf for the past seven years and is now finally seeing the light of day with a new name. I’m not familiar with whatever struggles this film has gone through to get released but I’m sure the makers are glad to finally get it out there. Whether the film is good or not, isn’t relevant. I too am glad that after such a long period of time, the public will get to see this film. Every film, especially the independent ones go through so much to get their films made and it would be a tragic event for it not to be released at all, in that aspect, the filmmakers get my respect and admiration. With Aberration, I have a suspicion as to why it took so long to be released.
In the film, we’re introduced to mousy high school student Christy, played by Gwendolyn Garver (The Brazen Bull). On the outside, Christy is a shy, normal teenager with all the ordinary high school struggles, but in reality, she’s hiding a terrifying secret passed down from her father. She’s a dreamer: she can see visions of the dead in her dreams and is a connection between our world and the world of the dead. Christy is being visited by a ghostly boy and she doesn’t know why, then her friends begin to be killed. She has disturbing visions of the future that she cannot explain and her world begins to break down. Her friends begin dying around her and her only hope of survival is to uncover the truth behind this mystery before it’s too late for the entire town.
I find this film to be poorly titled. I’m assuming the aberration of the title is referring to Christy and her supernatural ability to communicate with the dead and see into their world. The title is a little misleading to make viewers believe the film is more of a horror film than it really is. Sure Aberration has some horror elements to it, but it turns out to be more of a mystery thriller than anything else.
I found the majority of the film to be dull and somewhat boring as a horror film. The supernatural elements should’ve factored more into the film than they did and the twist ending is decent enough to keep some people guessing until the end. Now as a mystery thriller, it’s not a terrible film and most of that genre’s audience might find it enjoyable.
The film is solidly written by leading actress Gwendolyn Garver, it just falls flat as a horror feature. Garver also does a fine job in her role as Christy; she is the most believable of the bunch. The rest of the cast does an average job with their roles, aside from some overacting; they try to do their best with the material given to them. Besides Garver, the other standout in the film for me was Mindy played by Bobbi Jean Basche (Shooting April); I would like to see her given a chance in more roles. One complaint I have is that most of the cast are playing high school students and they all look to
be in their mid-twenties or older, it just doesn’t jive with me.
As I said earlier, as a horror film, Aberration falls flat. There are some murders but they’re pretty bloodless and tame. The supernatural elements of the film needed to be explored more and implemented further into the film. I’m a little angry by the DVD cover with a ghostly boy that led me to believe this was going to be a horror film, but in reality it is not. I don’t recommend Aberration to the horror crowd, but mainstream watchers may find it fun.
2 out of 5 pentagrams
Aberration is available on DVD September 17th, 2013
Watch the trailer for Aberration here:
