‘Abigail’: Review

Dirs: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett. US. 2024. 109mins

A kidnapping goes terrifyingly awry in Abigail, a crime-thriller that quickly morphs into a horror film full of gore and gusto. After taking a 12-year-old ballerina hostage, expecting a massive ransom from her rich father, some luckless crooks discover her terrible secret — she is a vampire — resulting in a desperate life-or-death struggle with the diminutive bloodsucker. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett bring a crowd-pleasing energy to this gruesome, slyly funny mix of genres, although an overly complicated story and underwhelming characters drain some life out of the proceedings.

The sight of this slight child chasing terrified adults around a creepy mansion is consistently amusing

After premiering at the Overlook Film Festival, Abigail opens wide on April 19 through Universal. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett reunite with Melissa Barrera, who starred in their 2022 and 2023 Scream sequels, and she is joined by Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton and Giancarlo Esposito. The directors’ horror track record (the pair also helmed 2019 box office hit Ready Or Not) should help attract audiences, as will the clever premise and the promise of an over-the-top, blood-soaked experience. Solid reviews and a lack of direct competition — The First Omen has faltered at the box office — could result in sturdy grosses.

A team of criminals who have never previously met is recruited to kidnap Abigail (Matilda The Musical star Alisha Weir), a classically-trained ballerina, and take her to an abandoned mansion in the middle of nowhere. Their boss Lambert (Esposito) assigns them codenames inspired by the Rat Pack — including edgy Joey (Barrera), immature Sammy (Newton) and cynical leader Frank (Stevens) — and tells the crew to keep an eye on the girl while he arranges for the ransom to be delivered. 

Anyone who has seen Abigail’s ads will already know what takes Frank and his team a long time to learn: Abigail is not nearly as helpless as she appears, picking off the criminals one by one. Consequently, audiences may be restless during the film’s opening sequences, which spend considerable time introducing the collection of crooks and then creating tension once individual members start to die. Frank and Joey emerge as the smartest, most resourceful of the group, but they do not trust one another – although the suspense surrounding the killings fizzles as we wait for them to realise that Abigail is a vampire.

Once that is established, though, Abigail harks back to Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s breakthrough Ready Or Not, which also involved a brutal battle for survival within the confines of a stately manor. The directors clearly relish the scenario’s claustrophobic possibilities, using Stephen Shields and Guy Busick’s screenplay as an excuse to devise flagrantly sanguinary set pieces. But the gore is occasionally leavened by a wry sense of humour, either because of the criminals’ foolishness or the fact that they cannot wrap their heads around how to defeat a vampire– something they assumed was just a fictional figure.

The outlandishness extends beyond the body count and bloodshed. Incorporating Tchaikovsky on the soundtrack, the filmmakers play with the conventions of opera and ballet, presenting us with a tiny vampire in a tutu who can be graceful when she is not sinking her pointy teeth into her prey. Weir weaponises her cutesy-pie countenance, tricking these criminals into lowering their guard. While later twists that reveal more of Abigail’s origins — and those of her mysterious father — are unsatisfying and convoluted, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett still find opportunities to produce laughs amidst the kill scenes. The sight of this slight child chasing terrified adults around a creepy mansion is consistently amusing.

Yet Abigail is undone by too many dull supporting characters, few of whom will be alive by the final reel. The late Angus Cloud has a few choice moments as the horny, idiotic criminal Dean, and Esposito conveys his usual icy command. But, early on, it becomes obvious which of the crooks is worth emotionally investing in, making it a bit tedious to watch the unimportant sidekicks being killed off. Barrera is a formidable force, although Joey is saddled with a generically ’poignant’ backstory, while Stevens does what he can as Frank, a smart aleck always scheming to gain an advantage over his fellow kidnappers. 

For those who simply require their horror films to provide numerous gross-out sequences and graphic violence Abigail fits the bill, and Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s relentless desire to amplify the carnage is impressive in its commitment. But that also puts a strain on the plotting, which grows increasingly laboured as the filmmakers try to concoct more reasons for the criminals to underestimate Abigail so she can continue her reign of terror. As diverting and gleefully disgusting as it can be, Abigail ultimately has more gore than brains, its funhouse escapism fleeting rather than ferocious.