Abigail

Abigail follows a group of six criminals who kidnap the titular Abigail (Alisha Weir), taking her to a secluded mansion on the orders of their handler Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) in the hopes of receiving ransom money from her father. The group, who use aliases derived from the Rat Pack, is tasked with watching over Abigail for 24 hours. However, it soon becomes clear that Abigail is no ordinary 12-year-old, and the kidnappers find themselves in a far more dangerous situation than any of them bargained for.

Despite its horror-movie trappings, Abigail is not a scary movie, leaning more into the absurdity of its premise than any genuine scares. However, this is by design – what Abigail lacks in terror it more than makes up for with its excellent physical comedy, as well as its sheer spectacle, fully committing to camp and shlock with pride and pageantry. Even the most nervous and squeamish of theatre-goers will soon be laughing along with the film’s gory shenanigans, and the cinematography accommodates more casual audiences while maintaining a strong visual identity as a horror film.

Much of what makes the movie’s unique tone land is the stellar work of its talented cast to sell the humour and horror with emotion and intensity, marrying the two disparate elements together seamlessly. Weir clearly had tons of fun as Abigail, chewing the scenery as enthusiastically as she does the bodies of her victims, dancing through the carnage with equal parts grace and menace and perfectly conveying a character who has spent 100s of years in the body of a child through her chilling line reads.

The “Rat Pack” is also very entertaining – the feature goes out of its way to flesh out each kidnapper, with compelling interpersonal dynamics and great gags facilitated by strong performances across the board. In particular, Melissa Barrera has to do a lot of narrative heavy lifting as Joey, the “Final Girl” of the piece, and more than rises to the task, bringing out interesting dimensions to her costars, including a fascinating relationship with Abigail herself.

Overall, Abigail is a film with a simple mission statement, but it commits to that singular goal with heaps of enthusiasm and buckets and buckets of blood. It’s very silly, almost cartoonish at times, but that absurdity is woven into the film with care and love, resulting in an absolute scream of a cinematic experience.

Umar Ali

Abigail is released nationwide on 19^th April 2024.

Watch the trailer for Abigail here: