Initially, the start of the film is like any other abduction thriller, however, the film starts with 12-year-old Abigail (Alisha Weir) practicing “Swan Lake” on the ballet stage, a clear nod to the vampire genre, given that Tchaikovsky’s stunningly emotional score is the identical music that underscored the introduction of the 1931 Bela Lugosi film “Dracula”, which this film is highly influenced by among heist movies that make this a great concept of a crime movie merging with a monster movie, and Abigail nails both genres with ease.
This poignant opening sequence concludes when the kidnappers “Dean” (Angus Cloud), “Sammy” (Kathryn Newton), “Peter” (Kevin Durand), “Joey” (Melissa Barrera), “Frank” (Dan Stevens), and “Don Rickles” (Will Catlett), characterized by their exaggerated and crude demeanor, manage to get away and make off with Abigail, who appears to be the daughter of a wealthy person. They whisk her away to a secluded mansion and confine her to one of the rooms.
Now this seems like a normal ransom exchange situation where if the crime proceeds without any hitches, each person stands to pocket a whopping $7 million in ransom as mentioned by their boss, Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) while only on our screen for a limited time, showcased his nonchalant bad guy persona we have all come to love. This however is where the bloody story really begins.
ABIGAIL – Children can be such monsters
Early on in the film, we learn Abigail’s wealthy father is Kristof Lazar (Matthew Goode), a vicious and omnipotent underworld boss who has a way of taking apart his enemies into pieces. Abigail, though she apparently doesn’t like her father very much, and tries to make her life more interesting with a little game, before long, turns into a vampire and goes after the kidnappers, one by one. She toys with them as a kind of game, and a few of them get turned into vampires, which was done quite well, to show the true power and control vampires have over those they bite.
Abigail almost makes a massive mistake and with the help of Joey (Melissa Barrera), as she is one of the kidnappers who seems to be able to think on her feet to get out of sticky situations, and in this case manages to get herself out of a predicament that would see her go face to face with Frank (Dan Stevens), the leader of the gang becomes one of the leading protagonists at the end of the film, and even though bloodied and battered, Joey manages to fight her way through it all save herself by showing she is not like the others.
There’s a parent-child dynamic between both Abigail and Joey as they seem to be in search of something to validate their existence, and they seem to find that something in each other that has been missing in the end and makes this one of the best horror-comedy mashup films that will have you wanting the “ballet” to keep going.
ABIGAIL opens at cinemas on Friday, 19th April.
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett
Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir and Giancarlo Esposito
Rating: 18 H L P V
Genres: Horror
Written By: Stephen Shields & Guy Busick
Distributor(s): Universal Pictures
Music: Brian Tyler
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The Review
ABIGAIL
There’s a parent-child dynamic between both Abigail and Joey as they seem to be in search of something to validate their existence, and they seem to find that something in each other that has been missing in the end and makes this one of the best horror, comedy mashup films that will have you wanting the "ballet" to keep going.
