Abigail Directors Tease A Brain-Melting Soundtrack And Jean Dawson's End Credits Song
From Goblin's signature theme for "Suspiria" to the viral success of Richard Carter's "Talk To Me" track "Le Monde," the right song at the right time can be the making of a great horror movie. "We can try a billion songs," says Matt Bettinelli-Olpin — co-director with Tyler Gillett of upcoming ballerina vampire movie "Abigail" — but when they hit on the perfect track, "We go, 'Oh f**k, that's the song. That's great. It hits all the notes."
Sometimes the right song isn't out there yet, and the movie calls for a new one to be written from scratch. When the directing duo needed an old-timey "Hide and Seek" tune with a Vincent Price-esque narrator for their 2019 horror-comedy "Ready or Not," they couldn't find one — so they asked "Southbound" composers Louis Castle and James Bairian (known collectively as The Gifted) to write something original. Last year's "Scream VI" also got its own tie-in song, "Still Alive," from Demi Lovato and Mike Shinoda, on a soundtrack that also featured the song "Menthol" by experimental pop artist Jean Dawson.
For "Abigail," the directors wanted to "start the movie in [a] more classical sense and then take the audience on a sonic ride," as Gillett explains. And since their little monster (played by "Matilda the Musical" star Alisha Weir) is a ballerina, what better place to start than with Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake"? "The contrast between 'Swan Lake' and anything is just amazing." They don't want to give away any other specific needle-drops, but Gillett teases that there are some "fun swings" including "one track in particular that is going to, I think, melt people's brains."
"People are going to have thoughts," Bettinelli-Olpin concurs.
'There's something so amazing about having a bespoke song to go out on'
"Abigail" doesn't just have a jukebox soundtrack. "We had a really amazing experience with Demi Lovato and with Mike Shinoda on 'Scream VI,' and just loved the feeling of being able to create some original music for the movie," says Gillett. "So we brought Jean Dawson in to do the end song for this film."
The directors have been fans of Dawson's since they discovered his music while putting together the "Scream VI" soundtrack. Gillett says that the song Dawson wrote for "Abigail" is "really cool, and we can't wait for people to hear it" — but there's no telling what to expect. Dawson isn't an artist who can easily be pinned down to a particular genre, which ranges from the hip-hop pop-punk vibes of "Menthol" to chilled-out sea shanty "Pirate Radio." He personally prefers not to put a label on it. "You can call me a hillbilly folksinger. Yeah, for sure. That sounds great," Dawson said in an interview with Hypebeast last year. "'Do you make rock music?' Yeah, for sure! 'Do you make rap music?' Yeah, for sure!"
Whatever he's cooked up for "Abigail," the directors are happy with it. "It feels like something that if we can continue that trend in our own films, we absolutely will," says Gillett. "There's something so amazing about having a bespoke song to go out on."
"Abigail" arrives in theaters on April 19, 2024. Tickets are on sale now.