Abigail (2024) Review

 "I like playing with my food."
-Abigail



A crew of criminals kidnap a young girl with the plan of holding her for a large random.  Unfortunately for them, they discover she isn't trapped with them, but they are trapped with her...and she is a vampire.


What Works:

This movie has a an excellent cast who play a wide variety of shady characters.  Even though they're all criminals, most of them are still likable and all of them are interesting.  They have great chemistry and it's fun watching them interact with each other and try and solve the problem, even while butting heads.  Melissa Barrera does a great job as our protagonist and its easy to become invested in her character.  Dan Stevens is wonderful as the slimy jerkwad.  And both Kathryn Newton and Kevin Duran are hilarious and really likable, even if they aren't great people.  I just enjoy watching these characters hang out and that's huge in a horror movie like this.  So many similar movies have boring and unlikable characters, so it's refreshing to have such a dynamic cast.

Abigail herself is a spectacular villain.  Alisha Weir is having an absolute blast in the role.  She's hilarious and really creepy.  It's glorious having this little girl ballerina just covered in blood and ripping people to pieces.  She holds her own well amongst an immensely talented cast.

The action sequences are a lot of fun, especially because Abigail injects a lot of ballet into her movements.  The chase scenes involve a lot of dancing.  It's very creative and makes the sequences memorable.  

Finally, the violence is wonderfully over-the-top.  Lots of bodies explode in a tsunami of blood.  It's very reminiscent of the directors' earlier film, Ready or Not.  It's so over the the top that the gore is mostly funny and not as scary or gross.  There are a few times where the gore gets gnarly, but mostly it's just ridiculous amounts of blood.  If we're covering the actors with buckets of blood, I'm a happy man.


What Sucks:

The setting is a really cool, old mansion and it reminds of a classic haunted house movies.  I wish they had done a little more with the setting.  The rooms the action sequences take place in are mostly incidental.  It was a missed opportunity to not do more exploring of the house and using the architecture for some fun, vampire action.

Finally, the 3rd act gets a little sloppy.  It feels a bit rushed at times and occasionally repetitive.  This would have been a great opportunity for the survivors to defeat their foe by doing something clever.  It's a pretty straightforward fight otherwise and it could have been more.


Verdict:

Abigail was an absolute blast with hilariously, over-the-top gore, fun characters, excellent performances, and solid action.  I think the film could have done more with the setting and the 3rd act could have been stronger, but this movie has absolutely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 

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