Abigail

If is rare for a horror movie to give away it's twist in its trailer. And still rarer to hold your interest, after the aforementioned cardinal sin, for almost its entire length, because of the vivid characters, their banter and their gory endings.

The producers of Abigail did the first sacrilege before its release, leading to it crashing at the hustings.

The director and the script writers nearly pulled off a miracle by still making a gripping thriller, which looses some steam right at the very end.

This is an even- toned film. It maintains its momentum and its editing doesn't let the speed flag down. The last 20 minutes are slightly convoluted as if the writers couldn't think of a way to end it.

Liked it. Had the potential to be a real classic.

A mixed group of criminals kidnap Abigail, a young ballerina, and daughter of a powerful business mogul. The gang think they're coming into millions, but Abigail has a shocking surprise waiting for them.

One of the horror highlights of 2024 so far, it's done well at The Box Office, and it's easy to understand why, it's definitely a crowd pleaser.

A seemingly straightforward thriller very rapidly turns into a genre crossing horror movie. Abigail is a real mix of styles, it's goofy, it's funny, it's well paced, and of course there are plenty of jump scares.

Very nicely made, well shot, with some good music, which surprisingly doesn't become too intrusive.

You really can't fault any of the performances, credit very much to that young Alisha Weir, excellent as the title character. Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens are both good, but Weir steals the show.

A cheeky And then there were none reference too.

7/10.

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 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.

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.