Abigail is directed by the filmmakers known collectively as Radio Silence and this is their next film after Ready or Not, Scream 5 and Scream 6.
So 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.
So if you've seen the trailers for this movie or even some of the posters you probably have an idea of what this movie is about and that is of course that young Abigail, this little girl they've kidnapped, is actually a vampire.
And once the characters discover that it sets off a chain of events that is kind of like Ready or Not except reversed. In that movie you had one character who was against everyone else and she was our protagonist and she was kind of the victim.
In this movie you have one person who wants to kill everyone else but this time it's our antagonist. This little girl is insanely powerful and Abigail is played by Alicia Weir who some of you may have seen in the Netflix Matilda movie.
She is the star of this film, the absolute standout. So much is required of her. She has to play that innocent child at first. You feel sorry for her, you feel that she's the victim. She has all these crocodile tears and she's excellent at that. She has to be very funny because this character kind of relishes in her kills.
She has to do a lot of physical stuff. Not only the ballerina aspect of the movie but there's tons of wire work as well. Tiptoeing across a banister for instance, which I read she did on her own. And she has to depict a ruthless vampire monster that wants to feast on human flesh and blood. And she rises to the occasion every step of the way. She's absolutely fantastic in this movie and if Matilda didn't make her a star, this movie is definitely going to.
But where the first half of the movie really rests its shoulders is on the dynamic present amongst the kidnappers because none of them really know each other. They don't know each other's names. They don't share information with the other person.
There is a brilliant scene that expertly handles exposition where Joey, played by Melissa Barrera, and these are all made up names they give each other. It's not their real names. Tries to use her intellect and intuition to guess information about her fellow kidnappers.
And she happens to be right. This tells us something about her character, but we also learn backstories about all these people who aren't supposed to tell their backstories. It's a very smart way to handle exposition and character development when you have a group of people that don't want to talk about themselves.
Dan Stevens once again is chewing up the scenery in yet another role this year in Godzilla Kong the New Empire. He was having a lot of fun and he is here too. But I think the character that I felt the most empathy for was played by Kevin Durand.
He plays what they refer to as the muscle. He doesn't exactly have the greatest intellect. What I really loved about his character is when he is given crap by his fellow associates about his lack of brain power.
He kind of too. But I think the character that I felt the most empathy for was played by Kevin Durand. He plays what they refer to as the muscle. He doesn't exactly have the greatest intellect. What I really loved about his character is when he is given crap by his fellow associates about his lack of brain power.