Stalking its way into UK and US cinemas today is the horror movie, Abigail. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the film stars Alisha Weir, Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand, and Giancarlo Esposito, and tells the story of a gang of kidnappers who unwittingly cross paths with a young vampire.
In the movie, a group of six strangers (all using codenames) kidnap a young ballet dancer named Abigail. The girl is the daughter of a powerful underworld figure and the plan is to keep Abigail safe and secure for the next 24 hours while a sizeable ransom is issued for her return.
If the group stick to the plan and nothing happens to Abigail, each member will receive $7 million. But as the group soon discover, Abigail is no ordinary girl and her taste for blood could be their undoing.
Inspired by the classic Universal Pictures monster movie, Dracula’s Daughter, Abigail is a blood thirsty vampire picture filled with guts, gore, and gusto! Abigail is a macabre movie, worth sinking your teeth into, and it is a real treat for horror fans.
From the script and the effects, through to the staging and the flourishes of humour, Abigail hits many of the right beats and is a heap of fun. It tells a simple story, but one which is very effective and it is easy to get caught up in its clutches.
But it’s the cast who really make this movie. Abigail is the perfect example of a film which serves up some great performances and hits a home run in the casting department.
Chief amongst the cast is Alisha Weir, who takes on the title role of Abigail. The former Matilda actress not only impresses in this picture, but she transforms Abigail into a true horror icon that will wow any vampire aficionado.
Weir celebrates her 15th birthday later this year, so would have been around 13/14 when this movie was shot, and boy, does she appear wise beyond her years. She plays the role of Abigail exactly as it is written, capturing the essence of the character note perfect, and she gives an outstanding turn.
When the part calls for sweetness and innocence she has it bolted down without any problems. When it calls for sheer terror, she knocks it out of the park.
Every time Weir is on screen, she grabs the attention and draws the focus. I guarantee Weir’s performance will inspire many people to don Abigail costumes this Halloween and I expect various casting directors will be looking to book her for their next big picture.
Outside of Weir, Melissa Barrera impresses in the role of ‘Joey’, one of the six kidnappers, and proves she has legs to move beyond the Scream franchise. You may recall, Barrera has been in the spotlight a lot recently, after being unfairly dropped from the Scream movie franchise, but with Abigail she makes it clear she has the skills to carry on regardless.
Joining Barrera on screen as the remaining kidnappers are Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, Will Catlett, the late Angus Cloud, and Kathryn Newton. All are fab, with Stevens and Newton a particular highlight.
Newton has been building up a nice portfolio of pictures in recent years, including horror titles such as Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), Freaky (2020), and Lisa Frankenstein (2024), as well as non-horror movies such as Blockers (2018) and The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021), and she always impresses. Her performance in Abigail is no different, and she is a lot of fun, especially during the back-half of the film where she gets to really let herself go.
What makes Abigail shine (apart from the cast) is the way the film keeps things fairly straight forward, but manages to build a meaningful story out of what is on offer. Sure, the film is about a kidnapping, but it’s about a bit more than that, and it touches upon issues relating to parenting, trust, and the understanding that being a good person can pay off from time-to-time.
It crams these ideas into a two-hour horror film, tosses some blood at the screen and for the most part does everything it sets out to do. Sure, the pace drops a couple of times along the way, but this is good stuff regardless, and is yet another example of the horror genre delivering solid entertainment.
Universal Pictures has recently tried its hand at reimagining its horror back catalogue with the likes of The Invisible Man (2020) and Renfield (2023), and isn’t doing a bad job of it. Abigail sits comfortably alongside these films as another horror hit and is most certainly one to watch.
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