“Abigail” Review
Alisha Weir stars as the young titular vampire in “Abigail”, the latest horror comedy from the filmmaking collective Radio Silence.
Horror is one of the most versatile genres because, despite having the clear intention of frightening audiences, there are just so many ways to go about it. Comedy is one method that I sincerely love with many of my favorite horror films having their comedic leanings like “Scream”, “Bodies Bodies Bodies” and “Gremlins”. One of the best forces combining the talents of frights and laughs is Radio Silence, a filmmaking collective comprised of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and producer Chad Villella, which not only revitalized the “Scream” franchise with its fifth and sixth entries as well as “Ready Or Not”. Now, after multiple successful franchise films, the group has made an original film with “Abigail”. While not as fresh as their earlier films, this vampiric comedy has enough laughs, fun characters and comically large amounts of gore to warrant seeing in a theater.
Under the orders of a criminal mastermind (Giancarlo Esposito), a group of six criminals kidnap a young ballet dancer named Abigail (Alisha Weir), the daughter of a powerful mob boss, and remove her to an isolated countryside mansion. While a member of the crew, with the alias of Joey (Melissa Barrera), is the only one who has a soft spot for the kid, that mercy is short-lived when it’s revealed that Abigail is actually a vampire and that the group has been caught in a trap of her own design. With the crew being dispatched one by one, the surviving criminals must rally to survive Abigail’s bloodthirsty rage.
With an isolated setting for the majority of the film, the importance of the cast is even more apparent and these actors all bring their strong personalities to this film and use them well. Coming off of her excellent turn as Sam Carpenter in the last two “Scream” films, Melissa Barrera is wonderful as the only criminal who appears to have a conscience and raises her objections to kidnapping a kid. While Joey fulfills the comedic template of “the straight man”, she has her own humorous moments, mainly calling out her companion’s idiocy. It’s a fun leading role that I hope leads to more great roles for Barrera.
Alisha Weir is also fantastic as this monster and has a lot of fun in the role. I do think that it was a mistake by “Abigail’s” marketing team to reveal that Abigail was a vampire, since the film does take its time with this reveal, it is pretty funny to see Weir pretend to be scared knowing that she’s just waiting to strike. When she does transition into a bloodsucking maniac, her performance is endlessly entertaining with Weir clearly having the time of her life covered in colored corn syrup. While Weir isn’t exactly a newcomer, having played the leading role in “Matilda: The Musical”, this role is another excellent addition to an already stacked resumé for such a young actor.
The rest of the cast is full of excellent actors who add a good deal of life including Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand and the late Angus Cloud. Dan Stevens is a crazy addition with a psychotic trigger-finger and just as much criminal incompetence while Durand is a dense (mentally speaking) piece of muscle. The only one who seems competent is a young hacker played by Newton but even she has her own troubles since she keeps getting hit on by Cloud. The only one who doesn’t really stand out is a sniper played by Will Catlett. It’s implied that he has a close relationship with Barrera compared to the rest of the crew but that isn’t really delved into since the crew are all ordered to not reveal personal information. While the rest of the cast are enough to carry the film, it is a noticeable flaw since the amount of players is so small.
Rounding out the cast is a strong sense of fun. This is just an excellent film to see with friends and have a good time with Radio Silence combining jokes, violence, gore and plenty of homages to cartoons and classic monster movies. The very idea of this film no doubt came from the fact that a piece of music found in the ballet “Swan Lake” was the theme to 1931’s “Dracula” with Abigail even dancing to it at one point.
The film’s gothic imagery, including a massive mansion set, also adds to the film’s comedic leanings. While I wouldn’t classify this as a satire of vampire horror, there was great effort made to replicate the feel of classic vampire stories thus making the comedy stronger. The film’s atmosphere, violence and overall entertainment value all come together well and provide the audience with a fun horror comedy.
Throughout “Abigail”, there’s just this exciting feeling of seeing something new and original, especially when so much of modern horror (with the exception of independent films) is so focused on reviving classics through sequels, prequels and remakes. Radio Silence all have a solid reputation for audience-pleasing films and “Abigail” is no different. However, along with the slow reveal of Abigail’s true intentions, I feel that this ending went on for too long with numerous chances the film could have ended in a satisfying manner. I think that there’s a shorter version of this film that would have been more effective.
While I think films like “Ready or Not” and the two most recent “Scream” films are better, “Abigail” is an enjoyable watch, especially for fans of horror. If this film is any indication of Radio Silence’s return to original horror, I hope that this marks the next step towards something great.
