Abigail – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

ABIGAIL – Review by Susan Kamyab

April 18, 2024April 18, 2024 Susan Kamyab Abigail, Alisha Weir, angus cloud, horror, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Melissa Barrera, Tyler Gillett, universal pictures

It’s rare these days to not be able to predict the end of a movie, especially one that appears to be formulaic, but I can assure you, you won’t know what to expect from Universal Pictures’ new, surprisingly funny thriller, Abigail. After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful, wealthy man, they must wait 24 hours in an isolated mansion to collect their 50-million-dollar ransom, but things quickly go awry when the group discovers they are locked inside with no normal little girl. What proceeds to happen is an entertaining, creatively shot blood bath that will shock and humor audiences.

Reviews

ABIGAIL – Review by Maitland McDonagh

December 1, 2023January 1, 2024 Maitland McDonagh Abigail, Ava Cantrell, dark star features, Hermione Lynch, stalk-and-slash, Tren Reed-Brown

An affectionate homage to ’70s exploitation movies, Abigail takes place in a small Alabama town, the kind of place where nothing much happens aside from the usual sports worship and school bullying because hey, hormonal teens will be hormonals teens and it will all shake down by the time they graduate and start recreating their parents’ lives. It opens in 1976, when a pair of young people in a VW van pull over so the guy can take a leak while his girlfriend rolls a blunt. All of which ends badly: Both are murdered by someone wearing a creepy burlap-bag mask with a childish approximation of a human face painted on it.