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Abigail

I recently revisited two great horror films after having not seen them in a while. Both based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and the English-language remake LET ME IN was a fresh take on the vampire genre. Living life within the body of a young girl, a vampire befriends a lonely boy and helps discover friendship for the very first time. Both films are atmospheric, thought-provoking, and prone to sudden moments of gratuitous violence. I also gleefully watched CABIN IN THE WOODS for the third or fourth time. An ingenious hybrid of horror and comedy, it remains just as good, if not better than when it was released over ten years.

I bring these up because as I was watching ABIGAIL, I couldn’t help but think of these productions. The film begins with a group of unnamed criminals (as in, when they are all together, they stick to the “no real names” mantra) who kidnap a 12-year-old ballerina. She lives in a magnificent home, and we have no idea why the abduction is happening. The girl, Abigail, (Alisha Weir) certainly has some fight in her, but ultimately, she is no match for adults with sedatives.

The group drives to a secluded mansion where they meet up with the mysterious Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito). He tells them that all they have to do is babysit the girl, make sure no one gets in, and within 24 hours, they will be splitting $50 million. The girl’s father will certainly pay to get her back, and then their work will be done. He bestows them each with a name from the Rat Pack to make communication a little easier and says that they have free reign within the home. The kidnapping was the hard part. He’ll take care of the rest

Things get messy pretty quick because Abigail is not exactly the sweet, innocent child she appears to be. If you are familiar with the marketing of the film (the poster, the trailers, literally all of it), you’ll know that the tiny dancer is actually a vampire, and the Rat Pack are now stuck in a diabolical maze. You see what they did there?

Once the fangs come out, the tone of the movie shifts completely. This is why I brought up CABIN IN THE WOODS. That’s kind of what the tone reminded me of. Dan Stephens is particularly game to tread the line between camp and sincerity, and for that reason, he stands out. Melissa Barrera is as well, and the give and take between the two of them, once you get used to it, leads to some fairly humorous moments. At the same time, whereas the laughs in CABIN IN THE WOODS were fresh and natural, most of the attempts at comedy in ABIGAIL felt forced. It was, in a lot of ways, even more similar to the endlessly entertaining READY OR NOT, another production that really nailed the blend of horror, humor, and camp while set within the confines of an expansive mansion. This is what ABIGAIL really went for, but just couldn’t get there.

There is gore abound, which in many ways is meant to garner a laugh as well. We’re talking about READY OR NOT and/or EVIL DEAD RISE levels of violence at times, which again, doesn’t quite land in the same way as it did in those far superior films. It’s a trend that exists throughout ABIGAIL. Sequences that worked perfectly in its contemporaries aren’t quite as satisfying here, so it lessens the impact and leaves the viewer reminiscing over what could have been.