Abigail

This is fun - almost in the style of Hammer. It's gory, but not scary. A clichéd plot and characters, but directed and acted with enthusiasm, and a good nod to classic vampire films. All the references were there, we were just missing Vincent Price and Christopher Lee and an over-coloured palette.

There was a tongue in cheek patina right across the film. I'm not sure why it was rated 18 in the UK - unless to protect people with an aversion to tomato sauce. The gore was done with explosive fun - a real splat fest.

This was surprisingly entertaining, done with gusto. Absolutely worth 90 minutes.

There is nothing in this film that you haven't seen in a number of other films but it manages, thankfully, to deliver.

It doesn't for my money have as much humour as Ready or Not but does have enough character back story for the audience to know who to support and who to scorn and to emotionally commit to ( as much as you can in a horror flick).

You know what is going to happen once the basic premise is exposed and it's fun finding out how and when, and watching the whole thing play out.

At the centre of it all is Abigail, played expertly and delightfully by Alisha Weir who exploits this platform to showcase her undoubted talent. She is ably supported by the cast to realise this competent effort and make viewing it time well spent.

I believe the film is best watched without prior exposure to the trailer, hard as that is these days, and have also not revealed any content here in that spirit. Enjoy the film.

Plot

After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they're locked inside with no normal little girl.

Cast

Alisha Weir knocks it out of the park with her performance, Melissa Barrera is solid, Kevin Durand is excellent as always and Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton and Giancarlo Esposito are er also there.

Verdict

I don't go the cinema often, usually this is because of limited time, inevitable disappointment and the ridiculous expense involved. The missus wanted to see this so I made an exception, I was right about the expense as it came to just over £50 which is lunacy for a 90 minute presentation and don't even get me started on how many adverts I had to endure (And I don't mean trailers).

But did I at least least enjoy the film? Well, yeah I really did. Alas this is certainly a movie where a person would be better off not watching the trailer, knowing the big twist straight out of the gate certainly damaged the film but it was so good and threw so many additional curveballs it just didn't matter.

A solid cast (I'm a Durand fanboy) including a child actress who absolutely nailed her role to unexpected levels, a decent budget, great setting, decent cinematography and dare I say some levels of originality Abigail was an unexpectedly good film and everything I wanted M3gan (2022) to be.

See I've slated Hollywood horror for years claiming they've lost their way but movies like this demonstrate all hope is not lost.

Gory, over the top yet fairly smart and fantastically executed Abigail is a solid horror film.

Rants

Poor Barrera, glad to see she's having a decent career post her ridiculous firing from the Scream series. Who'd have thought that being against genocide is a bad thing and a person could get fired over having that stance? Plenty in support of it are doing just fine. What a time to be alive!

The Good

Barrera, Durand and Weir Sufficiently gory Very well constructed Barrels of fun Plenty of twists to keep you entertained

The Bad

I feel the finale could have been handled a smidge better Newton didn't seem on form.

This was a very neat storyline. Playing off the 'little girl horror' of the movie 'Megan', there was a excellent chance for a Lost Boys type of horror comedy. But the director, writer or computer AI did not know what to do after that.

Logic: There is absolutely none. There are approximately 4 times when they split up AFTER they learn what is going on. People are smart for about ten minutes and are completely dumb the rest of the movie.

The fight scenes are mediocre at best.

I had to push hard to finish it. Again the storyline is the only thing that kept my interest.

I am giving five stars for the storyline and the little girl's acting, which was actually good. Otherwise this is a 4-star film.

This is an entertaining horror movie with comedic elements sprinkled throughout it and everyone in the cast does a pretty good job with the parts they're given but Dan Stevens kills it, he steals the show in every scene he's in, killer lines and he's so damn funny you can't help but laugh. The movie is nothing you haven't seen before but even with that in mind it still manages to surprise you and be unpredictable at times with different twists and turns in the story.

Overall it was a solid experience and I would definitely recommend it if you're looking to grab a cold one, kick back and get some popcorn.