Abigail is a gory, darkly funny and utterly entertaining movie. It brings new life to the vampire genre and stars Alisha Weir in a remarkable performance. The young Irish actress might look sweet but she’s a bloodthirsty terror! Her tiny physical presence is enough to keep this movie from being a stale rehash.
Plot Summary
Abigail is a vampire-horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The film was written by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick. It stars Alisha Weir as the eponymous character. It was released in 2024.
The film follows a young girl who is kidnapped and forced to become a vampire. She tries to escape and discovers that she has magic powers. She joins a group of rebels to fight the authorities and save her father. The film also stars Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand and the late Angus Cloud.
Overall, Abigail is a fun movie to watch. It is full of action and adventure. It is not a masterpiece, but it is still worth watching. The cast is great, and the movie is well-written. I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves vampire movies.
While it certainly has a few laughs and some cool visuals, Abigail is ultimately a disappointing entry from the Scream franchise. It is a movie that tries to bite off more than it can chew and fails to deliver on many fronts. It is a shame because the cast and crew seemed to have so much potential. The lookmovie film is a bit overlong and suffers from a few too-frequent lulls. In addition, it suffers from some unnecessary plot points that detract from the story and characters.
Cast & Crew
Abigail is a steampunk story with an interesting concept, but the movie fails to impress. It has a very low budget and the script is not well written. The dialogues are clumsy and the acting is mediocre. The film tries to be a serious drama, but ends up as an undemanding time pass.
Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin are the directors of Abigail. They also co-wrote the movie along with Guy Busick and Stephen Shields. The movie is produced by James Vanderbilt, Tripp Vinson, Paul Neinstein, and William Sherak. Macdara Kelleher is the executive producer of the film.
Abigail stars Alisha Weir as the title character. She has a coddled upbringing and spends her free time practicing her ballet pirouettes. She is a good kid but has a Dracula-worthy dark side that she hides from her would-be captors. The rest of the cast includes Giancarlo Esposito, Dan Stevens, Angus Cloud, and Melissa Barrera.
The film has some decent action scenes and the climax is exciting but not enough to make the movie worthwhile. It is a mashup of genres that pits a group of criminals against a pint-sized ballerina vampire who steals their hearts. Most of the characters are stereotypical and cliched. However, Weir and Barrera are a welcome addition to the cast. The rest of the cast are also adequate but fail to deliver much beyond what is expected from them.
Recommendations
If you like action and bloody high-concept horror thrillers then Abigail might be a movie for you. However, the filmmakers rely too much on clichés and familiar motifs that are overused in other films with similar themes and narrative. The film has a stale feel to it that makes it hard for viewers to engage with the characters and storyline. Tinatin Javakhishvili, who plays the main character of Abigail, is uninspired and bland in her performance. Her character is supposed to be the one who sparks a rebellion against tyrannical rule, but she just feels stale and played out.
The movie also lacks an intriguing backstory that could have helped the audience connect with the characters and the story. While the director does a good job in establishing the world with impressive visuals, he doesn’t spend enough time delving into intricate details of the storytelling elements.
Eddie Marsan (The World’s End and Sherlock Holmes) does a decent job as the father of Abigail, but his role is pretty limited. The rest of the cast is filled with stock characters who fall into familiar cliches and stereotypes. Actors Rinal Mukhametov (Attraction and Coma) as Norman, Ravshana Kurkova (The Blackout and Beanpole) as Stella, and Nikita Dyuvbanov (Dance to Death and Beyond the Edge) as Marcus round out the rest of the cast.
Final Words
Abigail isn’t exactly a groundbreaking horror movie. But it’s one of the most fun, bloody rides of the year. It features a pitch-perfect ensemble cast, a barrage of twists and pirouettes (and killings), a ton of viscous looking blood and gore and a memorable performance from the film’s star.
If nothing else, this is a bloody body count caper with a likable group of morally grey characters. Melissa Barrera continues her career-long run as the Scream Queen, Dan Stevens is a cocky alpha male with a serious case of ADD, Kathryn Newton proves she’s not just a ditzy monster from Lisa Frankenstein, and Angus Cloud, Kevin Durand, and William Catlett deliver plummy character actor performances.
But the standout is undoubtedly Matilda: The Musical alumna Alisha Weir as the title character. She’s both a sneering predator and a lovable little girl with a mordant sense of humor. And though the film could use a few more solid kills and a backstory for its lead, Abigail is still worth checking out. Just don’t expect anything besides what the trailers promise. The rest of the movie is a middling exercise in cliché slasher conceits that lose their way more quickly than a toddler with stage fright. Writers/directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not, the 2022 Scream reboot) do their best with a meager setup but ultimately fall short of the mark.
