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.

I saw Abigail this weekend. I was especially excited for this film since Ready or Not is one of my favorite films, and this is from the same directing team of Radio Silence and had a similar look. Although I really enjoyed it, there is absolutely no taking Ready or Not's crown.

First of all, I cannot begin to tell you how exponentially better this film would be if the trailers hadn't given away its main conceit. Given how the movie was advertised, I assumed it would be revealed in the film right away. However the movie treats it like a mystery, and isn't revealed until almost an hour in. I can't imagine how entertaining it would have been to be legitimately surprised (if somehow you haven't seen the trailer, DON'T). Secondly it's a super small cast, so every personality matters. Based on the reviews I've seen, I'm obviously in the minority, but I absolutely couldn't stand Dan Stevens in this film. I've seen and read so many reviews talking about how entertaining he was in this and Godzilla X Kong, and I found him terribly obnoxious in both. I don't get the appeal, but I'm missing something.

Thankfully there were stand outs like Angus Cloud (RIP), Kevin Durand as the not so bright Canadian Muscle and especially Alisha Weir who is an Absolute ROCK STAR as Abigail. She is already so, so good, especially as a young actress.

This film is tremendously bloody, so not for the faint of heart. Unrelated to the film, but there was a 9 year old girl at the screening with her parents holding a stuffed animal while watching it, which was definitely an eye-opener.

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.

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 was a very neat storyline. Playing off the 'little girl horror' of the movie 'Megan', there was a excellent chance for a Lost Boys type of horror comedy. But the director, writer or computer AI did not know what to do after that.

Logic: There is absolutely none. There are approximately 4 times when they split up AFTER they learn what is going on. People are smart for about ten minutes and are completely dumb the rest of the movie.

The fight scenes are mediocre at best.

I had to push hard to finish it. Again the storyline is the only thing that kept my interest.

I am giving five stars for the storyline and the little girl's acting, which was actually good. Otherwise this is a 4-star film.