Abigail - Movie Review

The Movie: Abigail

The Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

The Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Giancarlo Esposito

The Story: After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they're locked inside with no normal little girl.

The Rating: 8 / 10

The Review:

Horror movies are, of course always going to be scary and there are so many ways to bring that to life which is why I believe horror is the most diverse genre out there. Horror can be anything really, drama, action, science fiction, you name it. There's a horror movie that will fit whatever category you can come up with. The main thing I think of after watching Abigail is fun. From the very beginning all the way through to seeing the credits roll, I was having fun.

The movie pretty much has everything I would want a bloody, action packed horror movie to be. Did I mention blood? There are moments where bodies literally explode all over the place, so yeah, that's the type of movie this is. And yes, to me, that's fun. There's a certain feel to the story that reminds me of movies like You're Next and especially the directing duo's previous efforts Ready or Not and the two most recent Scream movies, they all have that same vibrant energy that gives them a bit of an intangible quality that I find very appealing.

Now, the story isn't anything super wild or innovative but it really doesn't need to be and there's nothing wrong with the story that we get. The premise is a group of people fall into a vampire trap and craziness ensues. What more do you want? The idea of a young female vampire will be a bit familiar if you follow Anne Rice's vampire books and how Kirsten Dunst nailed her role as Claudia in the Interview with A Vampire movie adaptation. Alisha Weir's Abigail doesn't explore the idea of an ages old vampire in a kid's body the way Rice did in her novel but you get the idea that the character has been around for quite a long time.

I also really like the mythology that's hinted at as the story progresses and how each character fits into a much larger world than what we see in this film. It would be very interesting to see this turned into a franchise that could explore the ideas that we are only really introduced to as the story goes from one crazy moment to the next. Anything involving vampires is going to have a very rich history that could easily date back centuries so I feel like there's a ton of room to explore if the creators really wanted to go there.

I mentioned how action packed and bloody this movie is and holy crap there's a lot of blood. I don't know how much if any of the effects were done digitally but, if I didn't know any better, most if not everything, seemed to be created practically with maybe a few enhancements here and there. With most of the movie confined to maybe five or six rooms of a big mansion sized home, the filmmakers really had to get creative to keep things interesting and for me, it's the character interactions that make this such a fun movie.

Speaking of the cast, this was such an amazing ensemble that was put together with Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, and Kathryn Newton leading the way. All three are major players in the horror movie scene and they all seem to be totally comfortable taking on the unique challenges these types of movies can present. If you've never seen Stevens in The Guest, please check it out as soon as possible. Kevin Durand, who has well over 20 years of film and TV roles under his belt, is also really fun as the dim witted muscle of the group.

The one gripe I have about the entire movie, and I kind of hate to say this, is how Angus Cloud, who unfortunataly passed away last year, basically imports his character from HBO's Euphoria right directly over into this movie. Not a major issue but he was either very specifically typecast by the filmmakers or that performance is really all he had to offer, although please correct me if I'm wrong, I only know him from that show and this movie.

This is definitely going to be a banner year for horror movies and Abigail should be considered a must see within the genre even alongside such a stacked roster of other films like Immaculate, A Quiet Place: Day One, I Saw the TV Glow, and The Watchers just to name a few of the ones I'm looking forward to.