It was the moment I realized (about two thirds of the way in when the book itself comes up as a minor reference in a plot device) that Abigail was a loose structural adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, that I was fully in the court of this movie about people being terrorized by a vampire ballerina girl. It’s just a wonderfully smart and inventive lens through which to tell this story that originally began life as a remake of Dracula’s Daughter. And that source still can be found in some corners of the movie, especially in the end; but in the hands of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directing team behind Ready or Not and those last two Scream movies, it morphed into something more interesting, entertaining, and even more clever. The traces of a murder mystery classic are just the most thrilling facets of that.
Concerning six hired criminals who kidnap the ballet enthusiast daughter of a mysterious wealthy crime lord and stow her away in a secluded mansion, one of the movie’s first great strengths is how efficiently it establishes these characters without saying too much about them -they have to retain anonymity after all. Giancarlo Esposito’s liaison assigns them aliases based on the Rat Pack and they are just as complimentary and contradictory an array of personalities -most of them at least a little outrageous through the performance choices of their actors. But these contribute a lot to the movie’s particular fun identity, it’s tone never very serious and its effects consciously over-the-top. It very much is a companion piece to Ready or Not, which struck a similar delicate balance of tension and humour. And perhaps nobody pitches it better than Dan Stevens as de facto leader Frank, with what seems to be an intentionally bad New York accent and a flamboyant attitude of careless ego.
He’s a former cop as we learn through rather convenient deductive work from Melissa Barrera’s Joey, the central character and foil of the group, who also picks up on the wealthy background of thrill-seeking hacker Sammy (Kathryn Newton), the military career of sniper Rickles (Will Catlett), the mob affiliations of dimwitted French-Canadian muscle Peter (Kevin Durand), and the simple psychopathy of aimless driver Dean (Angus Cloud -who passed away shortly after filming; the movie is dedicated to his memory). Very quickly, and before they start getting picked off one by one this ensemble finds a comfortable chemistry, bouncing off each other with ease, and really getting into their parts and dynamics. As in Godzilla x Kong, its clear Stevens is having a ball getting to let loose like this -his character ultimately going to some pretty extreme places, but it is a blast to watch. Newton calibrates her usual strengths in entertaining ways, and even Barrera -written fairly dull as the good-hearted protagonist- is keenly dedicated, and is uplifted by the playfulness of the dopes around her. Durand might be the stand-out though -his idiocy never unbelievable given this reality- quite often he gets the funniest moments and is superb in playing them up.
Alisha Weir as the titular little monster is pretty good at playing off of them too, even if the whole taunting tone of her character feels derivative of other child-antagonist horror flicks. Her motivation being tied up in semi-sympathetic daddy issues doesn't ever translate authentically either, and only serves to tee up a reconciliation of sorts between her and Joey in the endgame. It's a sector of attempted thematic seriousness in a movie that is otherwise solidly and appropriately cheesy. Where it nearly works however is the revelation of everyone's true character and the crimes that singled them out as Abigail's targets -a plot point lifted from the aforementioned Christie novel. Naturally, Joey takes on the part of Vera Claythorne with an equivalent (albeit not nearly so dark) sin, and space provided by the script for redemption. It's mostly through the charming allusion revealing a new layer of the script's cleverness and the tangible depth it allows Barerra to work with that this exposition dump and its consequences adds value to the film.
Abigail is not a particularly scary movie -even as it creates a couple good sequences of tension, its instances of horror tropes don’t amount to much of anything. But it does work remarkably well as an action-comedy. There's more confrontation and less stalking here than you would expect. And while Abigail's ballet fighting is edited haphazardly, the clashes themselves are wild and engaging, especially one that pits three kidnappers against her and renders amusing ways for them to be subdued. The movie is cavalier with its gore in a delightful way too. Though harmlessly non-explicit, the directors use blood as their garnish -much as they did in the last act of Ready or Not. There's nothing they seem to like more than showering their actors in the stuff and its effect here is drenched (pun intended) in a sense of adrenaline catharsis. It doesn’t raise the stakes at all but it makes them a damn sight more colourful.
And it works well with the tone that they’ve chosen, the eagerness to be silly with the movie’s character and its horror elements alike. With the frame of the movie’s resemblance to And Then There Were None, the little references that go along with it lending an air of some literary sophistication to proceedings that are otherwise grisly and excessive, it has an almost Hammer Horror kind of appeal. That affection for its own campiness radiates in goofy one-liners, rich sets and a startling though appropriate twist. All of it related with a palpable sense of enthusiasm from everyone involved.
If this is the tenor that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett brought to their Scream movies that I missed, I might have to reconsider them. For its part, Abigail is much less generic than its mere premise may suggest. Earnest digressions above its weight and a lack of effective scares aside, the entertaining performances and script as well as some inspired choices in the structure and action of the piece make for a fun and surprising movie. A bonkers little flick about a vampire girl killing a bunch of morally compromised but fun characters. Who wouldn’t be on board for that?
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