Film review by Cliff Homewood
Its Abigail’s party and you are all invited. It’s going to be a bloodbath. From the Directors of Ready or Not, the film takes inspiration from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None amongst other sources. A fact cheekily referenced. A bunch of criminals are tasked with kidnapping a daughter and then holing up with her whilst they wait for ransom. Something supernatural then starts to pick them off one by one …
Alisha Weir, who plays Abigail, and previously Matilda, shows she is a superb actress. You really feel the stress of her captivity. She’s going to be a star. This film also features Angus Cloud’s last performance, tragically dying of a drug overdose in July 2023 aged 25. He plays an annoying man child well as I found myself hating him. Abigail also stars the more well-known Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) who’s everywhere playing the calm bad guy. I didn’t like Dan Stevens without his charm, but this shows he has acting range.
Kevin Durant (Locke & Key) plays the thick muscle well, looking like a buff Elon Musk. He gets laughs being 5 minutes behind. The dumb character is a beloved staple of sitcoms: Trigger; Father Dougal and so on. What if the musclemen stereotype wasn’t just written as the butt of jokes. The most famous musclemen, Schwarzenegger and Stallone, I wouldn’t call them dumbies. As a writer I immediately thought that an intelligent muscleman would make a far more interesting character. Frustrated by the jokes made at his expense, but going along with them in a dog-eared fashion as it has a sense of humour. One could pretend to be dumb to suss people out. This would make for a more interesting character. Generally the comedy here is on the level of drawing a dick on someone’s face when they’re sleeping,
My issue with this film, which I did enjoy, was that most of the characters weren’t likeable. Better writing would make us love the bad guys. Reservoir Dogs has a similar situation: characters stuck in the one location; but Tarantino makes his characters loveable. Most people like Mr Pink for instance. He’s cool. Dan Stevens in a similar role here comes across something of a dick. Mr White loved Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs, we cared because he did. In From Dusk til Dawn Tarantino’s character is the equivalent to the characters in this. You don’t care for him. He’s a bad man. I felt that the characters just weren’t developed enough in Abigail except for the lead, Melissa Barrera, who does the old looking at a photo of a loved one trick. In From Dusk til Dawn you care for Clooney as you learn that the bad guy has a moral code, maybe twisted but you get the feeling he’s a good guy if you go along with his plans, which the family do. The girl even wants to stay with him at the end and he turns her down because he cared. As the goons weren’t likeable enough to elevate Abigail, it felt disposable.
SPOILERS FOLLOW …
SPOILERS BELOW …
SPOILERS are everywhere, if you haven’t read reviews or seen the trailer stop here, avoid those things and see the film fresh. As with From Dusk til Dawn it has a mid-movie twist which everyone seems to be intent on spoiling. If only the Interview with the Vampire TV series had Alisha Weir! Abigail is a good movie, made by an amazing eponymous performance from Weir. Abigail contains maybe the most dangerous vampires we’ve seen, seemingly unstoppable. The way she likes to play with her food, all efforts to thwart her not being worthy of her attention. She’s more interested in her ballet moves, making some great imagery. The fact she’s taunting her would be kidnappers helps cover any potential plot holes. Vampires appear to have a pulse in this. 30 Days of Night is the last time I remember vampires feeling this insurmountable and the bloody ending reminded of The Cabin in the Woods.