Is “Abigail” a bloody good time or a bloody mess? This horror flick from the team behind “Ready or Not” and the two “Scream” legacy sequels doesn’t hit either extreme, but instead stays in the range of slick entertainment. As in so slick you’ll be sliding around on the floor, trying to stay upright, such is the late-film blood and gore.
On the downside, “Abigail” represents a problem with marketing. We aren’t allowed to be surprised by movies anymore. Any description you’ll come across reveals that the title character is a vampire, just as most promos for “Trap” tell us who the killer is.
The problem with that is twofold. One, when the characters learn Abigail is a vampire, it’s shocking to them, but not to us, because we knew when we clicked “play” on our streaming service. Too bad, because the CGI morphing of young Alisha Weir’s face is great. (On the whole, the practical effects shine in “Abigail,” but it always knows what tool to grab to achieve movie magic.)
“Abigail” (2024)
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Writers: Stephen Shields, Guy Busick
Stars: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir
Secondly, when the surprising central premise isn’t a surprise, I assume the movie will offer one surprise after another within that premise. Writers Stephen Shields and Guy Busick don’t have those twists up their sleeves. Reading the screenplay of “Abigail” would be much duller than watching “Abigail,” except for the theoretical person who hasn’t read a vampire yarn.
Colorful cadre of criminals
That “Abigail” is so watchable is a credit to directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who showed a knack for light scares, cinematic tension and darkly comedic fun on “Scream V” and – to a lesser extent — “Scream VI,” which had more holes than the “Abigail” characters’ necks.
The writers effectively lock this group in an evocatively ancient house, but then they basically pay homage to indulgent horror-comedy-actioners like “From Dusk Till Dawn” and, well, Busick’s own “Ready or Not.” While it’s a shame the directors don’t have a more original screenplay to work with, it’s crisply paced and they love their colorful batch of criminals.
“Abigail” starts like a kidnapping potboiler, led by Melissa Barrera – ousted from the “Screams” by office politics but landing on her feet – as the one closest to an audience surrogate. She didn’t know the target was a child till it was too late, and she pinkie-swears with ballet prodigy Abigail that she won’t let any harm come to her. Barrera is fine within a certain range that she never strays from, like Kari Wuhrer from a couple decades back.
Throw Kevin Durand – who has experience against “munchers” from “The Strain” — into a group and he immediately makes it livelier; again he plays his typical good-hearted “muscle” role. Kathryn Newton (“Freaky”), styled in Eighties clothes, is a hacker who I wish had more depth simply because Newton has star quality, not background quality.
Glasses-wearing Dan Stevens looks like a milquetoast, but his confident voice gives him a different air. William Catlett is like a young Mr. T, clearly confident with any big gun. And Angus Cloud (who sadly died before the film’s release) plays a skilled wheelman who is a dimwit about everything else.
Chewing up the scenery
When given quippy lines, this ragtag bunch of “rats” (so labeled by the boss, Giancarlo Esposito) shines. When the events get generic and lackluster, there’s not much they can do. Both when it’s singing and when it’s lagging, “Abigail” makes sure to not overstay its welcome in any given scene – except at the end when it decides it’s going to go for a Guinness record and make the sets bloodier than last year’s “Evil Dead Rise.”
This is the type of film where when a vampire has an opportunity to bite someone, it does. When a hero has a chance to stake a vampire, they do. The crafters of “Abigail’s” action do not mess around. It’s like a video game, with little emotional or psychological hesitation before the actions.
Because the cast is so good in the getting-to-know-them stage (where we learn their personality types, not their backstories, as per the criminal code), “Abigail” seems like it will be more than it ends up being. Suspenseful, pivotal moments are fleeting, like when Abigail is caged and trying to manipulate someone into releasing her. In this scene, I marveled at how good Weir (15 effectively passing as 12) is at playing an ancient vampire, but never took the drama itself seriously.
As with this team’s three previous horror efforts, “Abigail” is a technically sound product but, at the end of the night, not memorable. If you’re really into practical-effects gore (with a touch of CGI), “Abigail” is a Halloween treat. Everyone else will wish the thematic and narrative stakes had points as sharp as the literal stakes.