Abigail Review: A Beautifully Bloody Fun Blend
Is Abigail a major win for directors Radio Silence and star Melissa Barrera?
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett Silence (collectively known as "Radio Silence," along with producer Chad Villella) have been taking progressively bigger steps towards rightly being called two of the top horror filmmakers working in the business. After breaking into the genre with other up-and-coming horror directors (like Adam Wingard) with the V/H/S anthology series, Radio Silence scored a big cult-hit with their film Ready or Not, which led to a big franchise opportunity and success with 2022's Scream and last year's Scream VI.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett's new film Abigail is arriving at a pivotal moment: the directors exited the Scream franchise on messy terms after their Scream franchise star (and star of Abigail) Melissa Barrera was fired from the lead role of Scream 7. Now Radio Silence and Barrera all have something to prove with Abigail, which already makes this film more than the usual B-movie horror experience.
The story of Abigail finds a group of anonymous criminals forming a crew for a high-stakes job: kidnapping the daughter of a powerful man and holding her for ransom. The kidnapping is pulled off flawlessly, but when the crew gets to the safe house to wait for the ransom, things take a dire turn. Crew members start turning up dead and the surviving members start turning on each other. Theories fly that an assassin has infiltrated the operation and is possibly posing as one of the crew. However, the truth turns out to be so much worse when it's revealed that the young girl they abducted is anything but that.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are coming off a major career high point with Scream VI, and in terms of their technical skills as directors, Abigail proves they are only getting better. The look of the film (created by The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power cinematographer Aaron Morton) is darkly lavish, while Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett further establish their signature as directors, effortlessly taking mystery, gory horror, witty comedy, and a bit of drama to have them flow together in a captivating brew of a movie. After both Ready or Not and Abigail, it's becoming a safe bet to assume that Radio Silence, plus a big mansion setting, plus an ensemble cast, automatically equals a fun movie. The script by Stephen Shileds (The Hole in the Ground) and Radio Silence collaborator Guy Busick (Ready or Not, Scream, Scream VI) quickly and effectively sets up both a single story arc and larger franchise mythos for possible revisiting, without one objective ever hindering the other. The story and characters are developed in perfect concert to make this over-the-top premise and character (Abigail the vampire) work and feel menacingly "real" when the crime caper turns full horror.
Abigail is arguably the strongest cast yet that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have pulled together. Melissa Barrera once again proves to be a smart choice for a Final Girl lead, with her character "Joey" being a nicely layered, complex, and interesting role to center the story around. Dan Stevens (The Guest) brings along some of that recent Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire scene-chewing mania to his role as Frank, and he and Barrera are a dynamic pair onscreen as leads. Kathryn Newton (Paranormal Activity 4, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) is funny and smarmy as Gen-Z stand-in Sammy, and even better when odd-paired with the massive Kevin Durand (Legion, The Strain), who plays Peter as charmingly dumb to great comedic effect. William Catlett (Black Lightning), the late Angus Cloud (Euphoria), and Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian) anchor the supporting roles with solid and engaging character acting, and each character gets a standout scene that each actor delivers on. Without spoilers, when things get bloody, every loss matters, thanks to the cast.
The cast of 'Abigail' (2024)
- Universal Pictures)Of course, the movie would utterly fail without Alisha Weir (Matilda the Musical) as the titular Abigail. The teenage actress is required to do more to carry this film than some of the most celebrated young horror actors out there and is delightfully wicked to watch while she does it all.
As many horror fans will wonder: Abigail (thankfully) never takes itself too seriously; never pretends the audience doesn't know the twist, or ever imagines being anything other than an efficiently executed, single-setting, (and literally) ripping-and-roaring good time. It doesn't re-invent the B-movie horror wheel in any way, but its balanced blend of heist action, crime drama, gore horror, and comedy does make it a uniquely fun experience, from a director team that is hitting its best strides.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Abigail debuts in theaters on April 19th.
