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The enigmatic Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) devises a kidnapping scheme, entrusting Frank (Dan Stevens) to assemble a team to snatch a young ballerina named Abigail (Alisha Weir), hoping to collect a $50 million ransom. The team, who use Rat-Pack-derived aliases, also consists of Joey (Melissa Barrera), Peter (Kevin Durand), Sammy (Kathryn Newton), Dean (Angus Cloud) and Rickles (Will Catlett), all of whom remain tight-lipped about their personal histories as they carry out the job and take Abigail to Lambert's secluded mansion. Needing to guard Abigail for 24 hours while Lambert negotiates the ransom, the group hesitantly settles in for the night, with Joey accepting the task of watching over their hostage. However, all is not well inside the mansion, with one of the crew meeting a grisly end, sparking tension and mistrust. As it turns out, Abigail is a vampire who wants to feed on her kidnappers, and there is no way to escape the locked-down mansion, sparking a desperate fight for survival.
Before the horror show kicks in, the opening act relies more on intrigue and suspense, with the kidnappers carrying out their mission and travelling to the mansion, where tensions flare once the body count begins piling up. After Abigail reveals her true self, she commences her game as her trapped victims fight and strategise, unsure about which aspects of vampire mythology to believe. However, with the reveal of Abigail's vampiric nature happening relatively early, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett struggle to sustain the feature, with too many overwritten detours diminishing the picture's momentum. By the time the movie reaches its (not entirely satisfying) conclusion, the experience feels slightly fatiguing. One can't help but wonder if a tighter, 90-minute edit would be more successful.
Thankfully, when Abigail works, it really works, delivering the type of operatic, vicious, violent set pieces that horror fanatics crave. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett continue to demonstrate a flair for slick, well-staged conflicts, and they astutely alternate between dark humour (the over-the-top gore is a treat) and genuinely unnerving moments (Abigail's screeching is intimidating as hell). The directors embrace the R rating, merrily taking the bloodshed all the way up to 11, seamlessly mixing CGI and practical effects, covering the actors and the sets in buckets of blood. The aesthetic approach to Abigail is superb, with cinematographer Aaron Morton (The First Omen, 2013's Evil Dead) taking full advantage of the expansive mansion through careful framing and lighting, using shadows to augment suspense. The directors once again turn to composer Brian Tyler (Ready or Not, Scream, Scream VI) for the soundtrack, and the accompanying original score is suitably atmospheric and intense. From a technical perspective, Abigail is immaculate, carrying more visual gravitas than cheaper, B-grade horror offerings.
A small but robust selection of actors helps elevate the material, with newcomer Alisha Weir making the biggest impression as the titular Abigail. It's a challenging and multifaceted role for the young performer, but she pulls it off without a hitch, initially appearing vulnerable and scared before becoming a ruthless, demonic killing machine. She's also manipulative and conniving, making it unclear whether anybody should trust her at any point. Equally impressive is Barrera, who gives the movie some heart as the group's most level-headed and moral member. The rest of the cast enjoys scenery-chewing to a certain extent, from the late Angus Cloud as a sociopathic wheelman to the underrated Kevin Durand as a muscular but dimwitted mob enforcer. Meanwhile, Kathryn Newton has a blast playing an overenthusiastic hacker with no criminal experience, and she has an absolute ball during several scenes in the third act that cannot be spoiled. But the film's scene-stealer is the magnetic Dan Stevens, who espouses a thick Boston accent and devours the scenery with gusto, showing once again that he needs to be in more movies. (Also see Godzilla x Kong for another example of Stevens's unique brand of scene-stealing zeal.) Brilliant character actor Giancarlo Esposito also makes a great impression, embracing the opportunity to ham things up towards the end. Admittedly, the more recognisable the actor, the longer they survive in the proceedings, but this is not to undermine any of the performers, all of whom hit their marks with confidence.
Abigail's narrative is not exactly original, and the movie feels too long, but Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett get far more right than wrong, solidifying themselves as a genre talent to watch. It's a vampire movie with genuine teeth, containing enough memorably intense images and set pieces to make it well worth checking out for horror fans.
7.1/10
