Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (Scream VI) and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not), the film will see horror fans realise that something is a little different here from the get-go. The film begins like you have been placed among the villains in a ‘Taken’-style crime thriller.
As an audience you are placed alongside a team of kidnappers, made up of the vicious Frank (Dan Stevens – Beauty and the Beast), the caring Joey (Melissa Barrera – Scream), the gunman Rickles (William Catlett – A Thousand and One), the tech-savvy Sammy (Kathryn Newton – Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), the dumb muscle-bound Peter (Kevin Durand – Robin Hood) and the wheel-man Dean (Angus Cloud – Your Lucky Day) as they set about the task of kidnapping young ballerina Abigail (Alisha Weir – Wicked Little Letters).
Quick-witted audience members will soon notice that the villains all share the names of the infamous Rat Pack – this comes from the mastermind of the operation, Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito – The Jungle Book) who has promised US$7 million to each of them if they can hold onto Abigail for 24 hours.
At first the plan seems easy, but soon they realise they may have bitten off more than they can chew when they work out that Abigail’s father (Matthew Goode – Stoker) is a deadly crime boss that is believed to use vampires (and other supernatural beings) to do his dirty work.
Whether or not someone likes or dislikes Abigail is going to come down to one thing – how do they like their horror served up to them? If they want the serious and gory, then they may have some issues with the humour that is splattered throughout Abigail. But if they are looking for a popcorn horror with just enough blood and gore to make you look away from the screen every now and then, then they may have just found the perfect film.
To the credit of screenwriters Stephen Shields (The Hole in the Ground) and Guy Busick (Scream VI), the humour in Abigail does work and hits its mark. The idiotic comments and general dumbness of Peter serves as a great comedy tool while they expertly know how to write something as gory as a vampire exploding in such a way that it causes laughter rather than repulsion from the audience.
Likewise, the crime aspect of the film works remarkably well – so well in fact that I found myself wishing that perhaps somebody would make a television series or graphic novel about Abigail’s family’s supernatural crime dynasty.
When it comes to the suspense of the film, though, the jury is out. While there are times throughout the plot that has various characters wandering around the old-style mansion seeking out a vampire it did feel that vampire films like Blood Vessel and The Last Voyage of the Demeter did the whole ‘vampire-in-a-claustrophobic-setting-one-cannot-escape-from’ suspense a lot better.
However, there are still more than enough moments that will have the audience on the edge of their seats. Thankfully as well the screenwriters and directors didn’t take the lazy way out and throw in a few fake jump scares as well.
The other part of the screenplay that did need work was the whole plot of Joey’s motherly instincts kicking in around Abigail. Sure they were on show when she thought Abigail was an innocent ballerina, but they seemed to dissipate (until needed) once the true nature of Abigail was revealed. A pity because a sub-plot of a vampire seeking motherly love and a ‘victim’ wanting to provide it could have been a very interesting twist.
What does work for this film though are some of the acting performances. Alisha Weir is amazing as Abigail ‒ she nails every scene and also does a lot of her own stunts, the highlight being her dancing on the stair railings. Not only does she encapsulate the character so well, to the point of being extremely creepy, but once the creature effects are added to her she looks horrifying as well.
Melissa Barrera does what she needs to do to make Joey a likable character that the audience will warm to while Dan Stevens does the opposite making Frank a complete jerk that you hope meets a grisly death. The scene stealer here though is Kevin Durand who delivers in spades as a tough guy who is also able to deliver humour with perfect comedic timing.
Abigail is a film that will divide fans of the horror genre but for the most part this is an enjoyable ‘horror’ film that provides a few laughs along the way. While it may not go down as a classic, it certainly is the film that introduces us to a fascinating vampire played by an actress who is going to be a mega-star.
Abigail is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘15’
3.5/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film and music reviewer for over 20 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He is also an accredited reviewer for Rotten Tomatoes. You can follow him at www.facebook.com/subcultureentertainmentaus