Abigail: Universal Monster Movie Rated R for “Strong Bloody Violence and Gore Throughout”

Universal’s upcoming horror movie Abigail has officially been rated R. According to the MPA’s FilmRatings.com, Abigail is “rated R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use”. The film, which comes from Radio Silence, the filmmakers behind Ready or Not and the most recent Scream sequels, is set to open in theaters on April 19th.

Abigail is set to be an unexpected take on Universal Monsters lore, specifically vampire lore. The film is described as follows: “Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”

“From Radio Silence — the directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett behind the terrifying modern horror hits Ready or Not, 2022’s Scream, and last year’s Scream VI — comes a brash, blood-thirsty new vision of the vampire flick, written by Stephen Shields (The Hole in the Ground, Zombie Bashers) and Guy Busick (Scream franchise, Ready or Not).

“Abigail stars Melissa Barrera (Scream franchise, In the Heights), Dan Stevens (Gaslit, Legion), Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Freaky), William Catlett (Black Lightning, True Story), Kevin Durand (Resident Evil: Retribution, X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and Angus Cloud (Euphoria, North Hollywood) as the kidnappers and Alisha Weir (Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, Darklands) as Abigail.

“The film is produced by William Sherak (Scream franchise, Ready or Not), Paul Neinstein (Scream franchise; executive producer, The Night Agent), and James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, Scream franchise) for Project X Entertainment, by Tripp Vinson (Ready or Not, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island), and by Radio Silence’s Chad Vilella (executive producer Ready or Not and Scream franchise). The executive producers are Ron Lynch and Macdara Kelleher.”

Another Universal Monsters Film is Unlikely to Get a Sequel

While Abigail — which is set in the Universal Monsters universe — is headed to theaters, another Universal Monsters film is unlikely to get a sequel. Brad Fischer, producer of last year’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter, previously cast doubt on the film getting a sequel.

“We had two Dracula movies this year, so clearly, there’s a lot of imagination out there, running through the heads of creatives about what you can do with that character and story,” Fischer shared with SYFY WIRE. “[Robert Eggers’] Nosferatu is also coming out next year. So no, we haven’t really talked about continuing Clemens’ story specifically. But the Dracula novel is so epic and there’s so much story there … I’m sure that there will be more Dracula-inspired stories and narratives that end up being committed to screen.”

Abigail opens in theaters April 19th.