Abigail: Campy but flawed horror oozes with fun and passion

Rob Ryan

⭐⭐⭐

Abigail is a flawed effort especially in its first and final act where it over compensates its lack of characterisation by establishing more backstory then necessary or in it's last act when it tries to go for extra world building and additional plot points when you would ideally hope for a film that would simply deliver on it's simplistic but juicy premise. Otherwise the film is the product of a flawed script that non the less is executed with precision and confidence by both the cast and the filmmakers.

The fun and juicy idea: A group of 6 criminals are assigned for one reason or another to kidnap the titular character (Alisha Weir) a ballet dancer and the daughter of a wealthy billionaire, they take her to an old but big hideout house where the ring leader/organiser, a man named "Lambert" (Giancarlo Eesposito) gives the criminals specific codenames after to help identify each other but to also cover their tracks, there's the carer "Joey" (Melissa Barrera) who is the only one allowed to speak to the girl just to obscure the other criminals as much as possible. There's hard man "Frank" (Dan Stevens, looking like if Wes Bentley and Topher Grace had a kid together) who's trigger happy and angry attitude proves something of a loose cannon to the group, hacker girl "Sammy" (Kathryn Newton) who's intelligence seems to go right out the window as soon as she's not typing on a keyboard. Big but childlike brute Peter (Kevin Durand looking like if Elon Musk had let himself go even more) sniper "Rickles" (William Catlett) and last but not least getaway driver "Dean" (Angus Cloud who the film pays respect to at very end) Who like Sammy throws what little intelligence he has away when he's not doing what he does best.

All goes according to plan but things soon start to go south, The group learns that the girl they kidnapped is not only the daughter of the most terrifying megalomaniac the world has ever scene, not only do members start dying out in horrific ways but all of these may be connected to the fact that the girl in question is in fact a creature of the night, AKA a 300 year old Vampire. Needless to say, these guys have got more then they bargained for. Even worse, the house goes into extreme lockdown mode and all the doors and windows are completely sealed, basically they're stuffed.

If this sounds like a fun idea to you (and it certainly does for me) then the movie certainly delivers once you get past the first 30-40 minutes where the writers feel the need to give as much backstory to every individual as possible, this isn't a bad thing per say, the problem is that some of the exposition does not happen naturally and stops the films pace in its tracks as opposed to it complementing the movie's well established setting and atmosphere, even more frustrating is that these set up's for every character proves to be incredibly redundant when it is later revealed that most of what we established about every character isn't exactly the full story, this would have been just fine if they where allowed just occupy their personalities by themselves without any sort of exposition giving more then we should know considering that the movie's reliable and confident cast do more with every interaction then what the mediocre to average script can allow.

While the movie does get too bogged down in its exposition storytelling and giving more detail then anyone going into this movie would be interested in, once it finally kicks into gear, it lives up to that fun and gory thrill fest that has the most amount of gore and blood splatter in a mainstream release since Thanksgiving. Directors Matt Bettienlli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett who helmed the 2019 camp/horror thriller Ready or Not and the latest Scream instalments utlize the films simplistic but gothic setting for practical chills, spills and kills in the same way they did for their 2019 sophomore feature, but it's the cast namely Alisha Weir who remain on top form in an otherwise unremarkable script. Weir who previously starred in the previously reviewed Matilda: The Musical proves that she is more than capable to play off her more adult cast members in often edgy and cold ways, Her ballet moves, as well as her supposed involvement in almost every stunt in the set pieces speaks to how fearless and committed she really is. As for the rest of the cast, Barrera is a confident and attractive lead, Stevens is a convincing slime without ever taking the role too seriously and Newton and Cloud provide the films funniest moments. There are also a horror movie throwbacks that I very much admired, namely a iconic scene from Dario Argento's Phenomena (if you seen the movie you know what scene I'm referencing)

The directions this movie takes, while admirable in exploring the different ways people are driven, whether by power, greed, or to hopefully turn themselves a new leaf when all other options have failed, ultimately lead to an almost overwrought and almost overlong climax that features our lead getting thrown into shelves, glass, and walls to the point that your amazed that she hasn't managed to break her spine, it's a contrived climax that isn't as fleshed out as the writers think it is and it only dilutes the simplicity of the films perfect and inspired horror premise even more.

This isn't to say that Abigail over all a bad movie. The film is ultimately the product of some very talented people both in front and behind the camera working with a 5/10 screenplay at best. I enjoyed it overall, for its energy, its campy tone complimented by the films overt horror presentation and violent imagery, its uncompromising approach to blood and guts, and its ruthless and malevolent villain. I think it could have been way better had the writers applied the same level of confidence of their material as the filmmakers they had shooting it. For example, let the characters just simply be instead of having to over explain their backstory before sh*t hits the fan, maybe tone down some of the films self aware dialogue as some of it comes across more smarmy then funny, and maybe just fully commit to having a seemingly adorable little girl just be the villain throughout without having to over complicate things even further.

On the whole I had fun. Yes a part of me wished the film had simply just been a movie about some criminals who are out of their depth and find themselves face to face with a vampire, yes I do think this script really needed one or two rewrites in order to not have every bit of back story for our characters feel like unwanted and off the cuff exposition, Yes I do think the movie could have remained focused on it's core premise but the passion from the screen really shows and some times especially if we are talking a horror movie viewing on a Friday night, that is often enough.