A heist movie? With vampires? Say no more, I’m in.
That’s very much how I felt when I heard about Matt Bettinelli-Olpen and Tyler Gillett’s new movie, Abigail. I’m a sucker for a high-concept horror film, and the gloriously operatic trailer had me sold from day dot. After a wobble with the Scream franchise, I was ready for the duo to return to their original-horror roots after Ready or Not and give us something to chew on. Dan Stevens’ neck, to be specific.
Abigail picks up on a few threads of Bettinelli-Olpen and Gillett’s iconic horror hit, Ready or Not – the gorgeously labyrinthine mansion setting, the family drama, the gore, oh God, so much gore (and that’s not a complaint at all). The ensemble is uniformly excellent, especially Kathryn Newson (swiftly rising to scream queen status) and an exceptionally hammy Dan Stevens who stays just on the right side of panto, for the most part. The heist set-up was what initially drew me to the movie, a clever twist on the vampire premise that makes a pleasing mess of who to root for and who not to.
There’s no doubt in my mind, though, that Alisha Weir as the titular Abigail runs away with this movie. Usually, when it comes to little girl villains in horror, we’re waiting for the moment when the demon gets expelled from her body and she collapses thankfully into the arms of her loving parents – not so here. Weir brings a gleeful sense of fun to the role, and the blend of ballet and bloodletting lends the character an amazing physicality that really makes Abigail feel like a menace – it’s one of the best monster performances I’ve seen in recent years, and I sincerely hope it’s not Weir’s last foray into the genre.
All of this, so far, is very positive, which was exactly how I felt watching the movie – that first hour or so, I was having a great time, Scooby-Doo-ing around a spooky mansion while giblets spattered the walls and Dan Stevens gave his best to a bunch of wry one-liners. And then, the third act hit, and I had a lot of time to think about how much about this movie didn’t work.
Abigail’s third act is, honestly, a bit of bloated mess – the cast is just enough to keep the bad finale from upending the film completely, but, truly, it’s a push at times. The action feels repetitive (how many times can we watch Melissa Berrera get flung through something before it gets boring? Abigail endeavours to answer that question), and, instead of bringing the pieces together in a satisfying way, it feels more like the people behind the camera had a bunch of “aw, shit, wouldn’t this be cool?”-s, and not enough people saying no, actually, it really wouldn’t.
It’s a shame, because Abigail is, apart from this third act, a really great entry into the modern vampire canon – with a unique premise and a brilliant villain, it just needed a little polishing and editing to keep from that third act spinning out of the hands of the writers and directors. It’s worth a watch for the brilliant Weir alone, but it ends on a flabby let-down instead of the taut thrill-ride it should have been.
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By Lou MacGregor
(header image via IMdb)
No But Listen 