Abigail Review: This Ballerina Vampire Bloodbath Is A Perfect Horror Movie [Overlook 2024]
Most filmmakers would kill to have a track record like the filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence. Breaking in with the anthology horror films "V/H/S" and "SOUTHBOUND" as well as the found footage flick "Devil's Due," the crew skyrocketed to new heights with the crowd-pleasing horror-comedy favorite "Ready or Not," which more than proved they were capable of taking over the reins for "Scream V" and "Scream VI." Now, collective co-founders Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are back in their directors' chairs for an original horror story, unleashing the balls-to-the-wall "Abigail," aka "the ballerina vampire movie." The trailer alone had already firmly placed this on my most anticipated films list of 2024, but my deep love of "Ready or Not" meant my expectations were sky-high. And yet, somehow, those wild Radio Silence boys knocked this out of the park and into the stratosphere, crafting arguably their best film yet.
The story is centered on a group of criminals who have enlisted to kidnap and hold the young, ballet-obsessed daughter of a powerfully wealthy man for ransom for 24 hours. What should be a standard get-rich-quick scheme almost immediately turns into a demented bloodbath once they discover that the mansion safehouse they're keeping her in is actually a trap, and this kidnapped child is actually a hungry vampire with a penchant for sardonic one-liners and dancing with decapitated bodies.
With a pitch-perfect ensemble cast, exquisitely timed laugh-out-loud moments of humor, a barrage of twists (or should I say pirouettes?), an unbelievable amount of blood, killer action set pieces, and a downright transcendent performance by one of the best child actors in the game — "Abigail" sets the bar as the most fun you can have with a horror movie of the year. In other words, "Abigail" is horror on pointe.
Draining the blood of The Usual Suspects
Radio Silence struck casting gold with their horror-comedy version of "The Usual Suspects," as handsome jagoff leader Frank (Dan Stevens), empathetic medic Joey (Melissa Barrera), ditzy rich-girl hacker Sammy (Kathryn Newton), lovable lunkhead beefcake Peter (Kevin Durand), stoic lookout sniper Rickles (William Catlett), and disaffected runaway driver Dean (Angus Cloud, in one of his final roles) have electric chemistry and play off of one another to brilliant results.
They are brought to the mansion by Giancarlo Esposito's mysterious Lambert, who gives them all code names based on members of The Rat Pack, declaring the miscreants his "pack of rats." Each character beautifully falls into their archetypal role, but their bombastic personalities prevent the film from ever feeling like a stale rehash. We know these characters already, sure, but it's what the actors do with the characters that keep "Abigail" fresh and interesting.
Dan Stevens continues his year of being the weirdest, hottest guy in the cast and makes a feast of his "I Think You Should Leave" inspired character. Melissa Barrera, who served as the leader of Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett's "Scream" series, commands her position as the emotional anchor for the film with ease, but the rest of the cast seems to be taking turns stealing scenes from one another — and I mean that as a compliment. This is a group of people who are so easily detestable, but "Abigail" leaves plenty of room for the audience to get to know them and decide whether to root for their survival or crave this tiny dancer to grand jeté so hard she knocks their head of their shoulder. Even the "worst" people are ones that you love to see on screen, especially when a pint-sized, bloodthirsty terrorist of the undead is having the time of her endless life messing with them.
Alisha Weir is revelatory
"Abigail" does not work without its titular vamp, and the "Matilda the Musical" star is in control of every second of the film's runtime. She effortlessly fluctuates between a precocious little ballerina, a terrified child at the center of a kidnapping, a ruthless killing machine with animalistic rage, and a sarcastic sense of humor with jokes wise beyond her years. This is an exhaustingly demanding role for even the most seasoned actors, and Weir makes it look not just easy, but the must-attend murder party of the year. Watching her face off with Dan Stevens is particularly delightful, especially in one particular scene that had me practically jumping out of my seat. Between "Matilda the Musical" and "Abigail," Weir has shown she's the future of Hollywood as long as the industry keeps giving her these phenomenal roles to sink her fangs into. I honestly cannot imagine another actor in her place, she's that great.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett clearly realized the strength of their cast and perfectly paced the film to showcase their strengths. They establish the characters quickly and efficiently, allowing for more room to absolutely tear the roof off the place. If you thought "Ready or Not" was a gory good time at the movies, get ready for "Abigail" to crank things up to 11. And like that film, there's nothing subtle about "Abigail" either. It's as if they heard undisputed horror legend Garth Marenghi say "I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards," and wore it like a badge of honor. It probably won't work for some people, but this is precisely my favorite flavor of movie.
And that flavor is shouting "HAHAHA, HELL YEAH" at the screen more than once.
A perfect connection to the classic monster
As silly as "vampire ballerina" sounds on paper, this is actually an inventive way to connect "Abigail" to Tod Browning's 1931 Universal Monster movie classic, "Dracula." The main title theme of the film is "Swan Lake, Op. 20, TH.12 / Act 2," which becomes the central sound of "Abigail." Just about every American-made horror movie in the last 100 years can be traced back in some way to the building blocks set by the Universal Monster movies, but this direct throughline only enhances the fun to be had. If Universal Studios isn't already planning a maze for Halloween Horror Nights where people try to survive the mansion while a vampire ballerina chases them, something is seriously wrong with the world.
Traditionally, films that are this delightfully raucous, bloody (and I mean BLOODY), and silly are relegated to B-movie schlock (not a bad thing, for the record), but "Abigail" still embraces the excessive and ornate gothic aesthetics of classic horror movies. The result is an old-school vampire movie with modern frisk and flair and an absolute blast of a movie to watch with a crowd. I'm sure there will be plenty who think I'm overhyping the film or exaggerating how good it is, but I honestly wouldn't change a thing. "Abigail" is a perfect horror movie and already one of the best films of 2024. I pinky promise.
/Film Rating: 10 out of 10.