Abby

One of the strangest, wildest, and weirdest blaxsploitation movies, Abby is an African-American retelling of The Exorcist, with Carol Speed as the possessed title character. The chaste and devout wife of a reverend, Abby spends her time as a marriage counselor in her neighborhood parish. Through mind-boggling misfortune having to do with the accidental release of a vicious demon, Abby begins to exhibit odd behavior (giving out salacious marital advice in one hysterical scene) and a noticeable change in the vocal register. Transforming from the practically virginal naif into a sex-starved ghoul with a hyena's chortle, Abby takes off into the night of dance clubs and singles bars. Father-in-law William Marchall races home from Africa to perform the exorcism, but will he be too late?

The blaxploitation genre sometimes went into horror territory - everyone has heard of Blacula, most people have heard of Blackenstein but considerably less folks have heard of Abby. What this one was, was a black version of The Exorcist. It actually made millions at the box office on release but was pulled from theatres after Warner Bros accused producers AIP of ripping off their movie. And to this day it has barely been released on any format of home media and there is even a strongly believed theory that Warners not only put out a lawsuit but in fact confiscated all prints! All of this is a poor show from Warners really, as this is no more of a rip off than various other films from the time and its African voodoo element in fact gives it an entirely original angle.

Its story has a professor unwittingly unleashing a West African sex spirit in Nigeria, which goes on to possess a woman back in the U. S. This leads to her vomiting in church and exhibiting all manner of other anti-social behaviours. The title character is played with some energy and commitment by Carol Speed and Blacula actor William H Marshall takes on the gravitas role of the professor. It's a pretty good film overall and not as campy and silly as you may expect. Hopefully it will get a proper release on home media one day.

Scary, hilarious, and vastly better than its reputation suggests, Abby has a number of moments where you don't know whether to laugh or scream. I, personally, ended up laughing most of the time. One of these scenes has Abby (Carol Speed) beating up a concerned family friend while chanting, "Here we go 'round the merry-go-round, merry-go-round, merry-go-round...." Another moment has Abby obscenely salivating over chicken blood. Still another is when she rips open her blouse and begins spouting four-letter words at a marriage-counseling session. Then there's the discotheque exorcism, with the demon bellowing and swearing as the joint is telekinetically demolished. A lot of the movie is ridiculous, yes, but that's why it's so horrific. If it were rational, what would be the point?

Some scenes, however, fall off the humor-horror fence onto the comedy side. The best example of this is Abby's performance of the soulful "My Soul is a Witness" in the church choir. The problem is, Carol can't sing! Another character mentions her "angelic voice." Apparently the angels live in her sinuses! Then there's the use of fried chicken as a constant theme and Juanita Moore's sage pearls of wisdom about "lovin' a good man."

The performances range from passable to quite good. The best comes from the always dignified, commanding William Marshall as the exorcist. Paula Henderson's main theme, "Will We Find Our Tomorrows," is memorable, as is most everything else about the movie. Though it's often silly, Abby is never dull.

Trivia: Made for $500,000, Abby was a substantial success, grossing $9 million during its month in theaters. After that month, Warners sued and profits were frozen. Director William Girdler died two weeks after the suit was settled and never saw a dime.

"Abby" made it into the Golden Turkey Awards book as a nominee for the Worst Blaxploiotation Film of All Time and it's easy to see why! The film was released within weeks of "The Exorcist" and, as the story goes, was yanked from theaters and locked away in a vault since it bore such libelous similarity to the now classic blockbuster which so terrified audiences and caused infinite controversy of its own. No doubt, audiences that attended the few screenings of "Abby" before the film was summarily retired were pretty scared too, but in a much different way! "Abby" is truly a dreadful film on just about ALL levels, but what is most pathetic about it is it's lame attempt to exploit legitimate African-based Vodou iconography and lore into what is quite obviously a mad pastiche designed solely to trade on black heritage in order to copy "The Exorcist." The addition of Vodou-inspired and gospel religious references which could have potentially added a culturally-correct flavor to any other film does little more here than betray the attempt to "cash in".... Now, all this said, "Abby" is a hoot to watch! Dialogue, direction, and editing are lousy through and through. The acting is terribly stilted, and this film must have been a devestating dissapointment to all involved, especially then-rising star Carol Speed. Her nothing less than lewd performance (with tongue action) is splendidly embarassing. "The song" (sung by Carol Speed) is a dog you'll be tempted to howl along with. If you are lucky enough to land a copy of this shlocky African-American Blaxploitation gumbo (and check on eBay -- there's usually a copy floating around!), pair it up with another misguided masterpiece (which features one of Richard Burton's most horrendous performances as well as a bewilderingly coquettish, re-possessed Linda Blair): "Exorcist II: The Heretic" Magnificent movie masochism!

After years of wondering what the fuss about Abby was, I couldn't help but feel a little let down once I saw it. It's your average Exorcist ripoff but with less convincing effects, scripting, and acting. It plays more like a bizarre comedy than a horror film for most of the run time and runs out of steam midway through. Carol Speed gives a fun performance as the title character and is the main reason to see it besides the unintentional laugh moments.