Abigail

• Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
• April 7, 2024 (Overlook Film Festival) / April 19, 2024 (US)

Hired kidnappers take the daughter of a powerful criminal for ransom unaware of something dangerous.

Abigail is one of a plethora of vampire movies that cobbles together multiple bits of previously used mythology or inversions thereof. It manages to do so with a bit of style and flourish that gives the well-worn paths that it travels a unique and fresh feel.

I hear this started as a new version of the 1936 film Dracula’s Daughter but morphed into something very different. This used the same brief excerpt from Act II of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake that was some of the only music used in the 1931 version of Dracula. It is a haunting and beautiful acknowledgement of the film that added to the tone here.

They prevent a need to dig in the backstories by setting up the scenario that these people watching over the girl are not supposed to use real names or discuss personal details. It’s an intelligent move by the people behind this that keeps Abigail focused on the story and the moment and not too much beyond that. Of course they find out details but only enough of what pertains to their current predicament.

This is your basic kidnap plot where the tables are quickly turned. The twist is that not only is the target a child but that the kidnappers are, well, a meal. There is some dark humor derived from that. I do feel a dangerous kid vampire is a tough sell. Then again a kid in an important part is always a tough sell, but Alisha Weir who plays Abigail is very effective. One of the most threatening vampires I’ve seen in a long time. Some of the credit goes to the director but without a good actress it never would’ve worked.

Abigail is a frightening predator. More importantly she’s also a child. She’s not intelligent beyond her physical years but she’s also is not naïve or innocent. As a child she just wants the love of her father who really doesn’t care about her. That’s one of the few things you know definitively about her beyond her extreme old age.

Her father (Matthew Goode) for his part is only seen towards the very end. A good chunk of the movie is spent getting him built up as an urban legend of a crime figure that’s horrifyingly really real. He becomes a larger than life figure and when we see him he delivers.

I am a little bothered by Abigail getting a rehab by the end of the movie. She spent a good chunk of the film trying to kill people and just generally screwing with them. By the end she is the unloved daughter of a very evil crime boss. You do feel a little sad for and may be even kind of like her. I blame myself for that working. How does she get rehabbed though? She is a soulless, undead murderer! Are daddy issues a good excuse?

The corrupt former cop (Dan Stevens) was a great ultimate villain of the story even if the predator should have remained as such. I fully expected him to be a bit of an antihero in all this. At least lasting long enough to kill the main threat before turning on the woman who was our final girl.

Abigail has some moderate scares and some good humor with the gore getting gross. I’m not talking about the exploding vampires. I’m talking about the decapitations and gouges. The head that fell off into one character’s hands was great! Darkly funny and genuinely shocking.

This is not mine blowingly original but a very well executed mix of horror and the table turning victim genre. I like that the daddy vampire is not some aloof character who’s been off to the side for eons but rather a despicable individual who’s been using his immortality and powers to gain power and do bad things. If you’re centuries old and not wealthy or powerful or both you’re doing it wrong.

With a fantastic performance by the young Alisha Weir and a good combination of plot ideas Abigail is a breath of fresh air for the vampire genre. It’s funny and exciting and manages some cool as well. A good choice for horror fans.