Abigail – Review

Cert – 18, Run-time – 1 hour 49 minutes, Directors – Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

A group of criminals are trapped in a house with a child (Alisha Weir) they’ve kidnapped for ransom, however their victim may be hiding a deadly secret.

Abigail’s much-marketed ballerina vampire spin doesn’t arrive until almost halfway through the film. With how gradual the build-up to it is, and how much time we spend getting to know the central cast of criminals, it feels like this was meant to be a secret for the film instead of a key selling point. Perhaps this is why the film’s first half feels so gradual, we know what’s coming because of the marketing, even if it still feels as if it’s trying to reach to the big turn around that will lead things to truly kick off.

Before this happens we’re introduced almost one by one to our cast of characters, going through them in sequence multiple times. Once for their skills, once for their names, once for their hidden secrets, etc. It’s evident how far through the film’s course they’ll make it from the latter of these instances, leading in to some early predictability. While the team leader may be Dan Stevens’ slimy, streetwise gangster ‘Frank’ the focus is on Melissa Barrera’s ‘Joey’, taking on this job so she can raise enough money to look after her young son after recovering from a drug addiction. Joey is the member of the criminal team in charge of looking after their kidnapped victim, Abigail (Alisha Weir). Keep her safe in the house overnight, earn $30 million in ransom money from her unknown wealthy father, however when they find themselves trapped in the hideout house things take a sinister turn.

While not wall-to-wall in terms of being spread throughout the film when the bursts of bloodshed do erupt there’s a fair coating of 18-rated gore on display. There’s no denying that the Radio Silence team know how to bring effect to blood by not using it in every scene, but providing lashings of the stuff when it does appear.

When it comes to the hiding from and planning to attack Weir’s dancing vampire – a very different tone to her leading turn in the film take of Matilda The Musical, mocking “I like playing with my food” – the style is much more similar to the pair’s Ready Or Not, although holding some of the self-awareness from their recent Scream films. Much like these, Abigail stands to simply entertain and provide some gory amusement throughout its run-time. While that run-time might feel slightly overstretched due to the drawn out nature of the first act in trying to establish everyone rather than the briefer everything/ set-up.

Once things kick off there’s an entertaining nature to the proceedings as a better sense of flow takes place. There’s more for the characters to interact with beyond each other, and there’s no denying the entertainment factor of the kills and splatters as things build up to the third act. Not everything completely manages to land with the various ideas which begin to fly around, but there’s still a good amount that clicks and works and makes for an enjoyable enough time with Abigail, especially once it truly gets going and allows for the trapped-with-a-vampire horror to truly flourish as it’s actually on-screen.

While the build-up might be drawn out due to predictability-inspiring character introductions, once Abigail’s vampire spin comes into play there’s an enjoyable nature to the bloody kills and spills which allow for a better overall flow.