Abruptio (2024)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Shock Puppets

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

One of the most jarring movies to come along in a while, Evan Marlowe's gory sci-fi horror movie Abruptio is performed by deliberately grotesque, lifelike puppets, providing a uniquely disquieting, disorienting effect.

Les Hackel (James Marsters) works in a soul-sucking job, lives at home with his mother (Carole Ruggier), and his girlfriend has just dumped him. The monotony is disrupted when his best friend Danny (Jordan Peele) informs him that has a bomb implanted in his neck, and Danny has one too; Les confirms that he has an unusual scar. He learns that if he doesn't follow instructions, the bomb will be detonated.

He's sent a command to commit a specific murder, and he's paired with a terrible comedian called Sal (Sid Haig). He completes the job, and finds himself rewarded with a huge house, nice car, and money. He does another job with the dangerous Clive (Darren Darnborough), and is left tied up in a warehouse, where he's discovered by Chelsea (Hana Mae Lee). She needs help and a place to stay, and Les complies. As Les and Chelsea begin to grow closer, neither can imagine what horrors really lie behind this sinister plot.

Written and directed by Marlowe, Abruptio is, without much hyperbole, unlike any other movie. This is both a positive and a negative. The puppets are the selling point. They are realistic enough that they might remind you of people you know, but in a bad way. They're also just a little bit off, making them a tad bit ghastly. They conjure a constantly shifting, uneasy effect throughout the entire movie, keeping us forever off-balance.

The movie itself is a bit more troublesome. Marlowe is clearly a fan of classic horror; the cast includes James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Sid Haig, Jordan Peele, and Robert Englund (as the fastidious germophobe Mr. Salk), and the movie is riddled with references to older movies. But under the puppets, the movie is a rather joyless gore-fest, without much of the charm or appeal of a classic horror.

And yet, it does have an allure, a tugging weirdness that compels you to keep going, to see where this bizarro adventure is going, and it does go somewhere. It leaves off with a satisfying blow. Perhaps the best that can be said for Abruptio is that, if you're looking for something different, it doesn't get more different than this.

Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release offers a nice transfer of this rough-looking film. Optional English subtitles are offered. Bonuses include a five-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, "Abruptio: A New Kind of Horror," with Marsters, Englund, and Peele, and two audio commentary tracks, one with director Marlowe and producer Kerry Marlowe, and one with puppeteer Danny Montooth. Watch at your own risk.