Worth: $14.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Giancarlo Esposito
Intro:
… a blood-splattered, limb-lopping good time, albeit one that never quite feels revelatory.
Some movies have absolutely killer premises. Set-ups so good, so elegant, that you’ll hear them and go, “Yeah, I’m putting that flick right in my various face holes.” Abigail is such a film, with a wonderfully dark and clever conceit that will likely have your bum heading straight for the seat. However, once you read this, you may cotton on to the twist and that may lessen your enjoyment of the film, just a tad. So, here’s what we reckon: if you’re in the mood for a bloody, brisk, funny and surprising good time, stop reading this review and go see Abigail.
Garn. Off you pop.
Okay, so if you’re still here, we’re going to be talking about the premise in only the vaguest of terms, but the twist will be spoiled for you (as it is in all the trailers and marketing).
Abigail is the twisted tale of a group of crooks who have been hired to kidnap the child of an unknown wealthy father. Once the kid is ‘napped, the plan is simple: lie low for 24 hours, collect the ransom money and make out like bandits. What these nefarious individuals have failed to realise, however, is that Abigail (Alisha Weir) is no ordinary child. Point of fact, she’s a ballet-obsessed vampire, hundreds of years old, with an insatiable hunger for blood. What follows is an engaging, well-shot crims versus pint-sized bloodsucker yarn, with plenty of laughs and lashings of gore.
This isn’t wildly original stuff, mind you. Premise aside, Abigail is a pretty meat and potatoes experience with plenty of fun gags but nothing you haven’t seen variations of in From Dusk Till Dawn, Fright Night, The Lost Boys and Renfield. That said, the cast is uniformly great, with Melissa Barrera giving a far stronger performance than her previous role in Scream VI and Dan Stevens chewing the scenery in a very different manner to his recent turn in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Also noteworthy are Kathryn Newton as a punky hacker and Alisha Weir does great work as the titular fanged moppet.
The direction from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett is also slick and engaging, reminiscent of their work in Ready or Not (2019), albeit with less subtext and social commentary.
Ultimately, Abigail is a well acted, well shot and lightly entertaining vampire flick. The best way to see it would be with no idea about the premise, but even knowing there’s a fanged undead at the core of the piece, it’s still a blood-splattered, limb-lopping good time, albeit one that never quite feels revelatory.
