Delightful, contemporary horror movie that keeps things simple.

When a cherry-picked squad of kidnappers abduct a young girl, they discover they are in for a lot more than they bargained for.

Directed by the minds behind Scream, Matt Bettinelli and Tyler Gillett, and also written by Scream author Guy Busick, Abigail has a similar flair for self-awareness. Starring Melissa Barrera Martinez (also from the Scream series) Dan Stevens (Cuckoo) Alisha Weir (Matilda, Wicked Little Letters) Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania) and Giancarlo Esposito (Megalopolis) the cast is small but quite stacked. Being set almost entirely within a beautiful old country house, the stage is set for a small scale horror movie with lots and lots of blood.

First off. Abigail‘s secret is somewhat of a spoiler. Despite the trailer mostly giving it away, and almost all photos and stills give it away as well. It is even debateable whether or not preserving the secret is even worth it; it might raise expectations too high. But a spoiler warning will be present when going into the minutiae of the film.

For the most part, Abigail is a very enjoyable horror romp. It doesn’t fall prey to too much cliché, and when it does it wears this reality with pride. The twist being that this group of characters are all villains, or at least have done wrong in the past. A neat twist over the “expendable teenagers” established norm. Dan Stevens is having a strong year with this and Cuckoo. He has a coolness that gives easily away to frenetic anxiety here which is a joy to watch. Melissa Barrera Martinez is very good here also, as the more emotionally-together of the group. Indeed, the film’s core strength is its characters all being generally unlikeable individuals. Meanwhile the stakes are raised, making them look vulnerable and silly as a result.

Visually the film is great. The limited number of sets and locations are excellent. The gore effects are awesome and surprisingly vivid and realistic. At least… when they aren’t being comically over the top. Which also got a hearty chuckle.

Overall, fans of horror movies should definitely check it out. It is a gory but quite light-hearted flick. A good way to spend an evening.

Now onto spoilers. If you want go in blind, don’t watch the trailer or anything. But also acknowledge that this twist isn’t ground-breaking, and won’t change horror cinema forever.

This subgenre of horror is a little played out in 2024. The movie even recognises this in its script, with some wry postmodern quips. Admittedly, this will date the movie; it is here for a good time, not a long time.
It turns out that the kidnappers’ have tied up a literal vampire. A small child who prances around as a ballerina, but also has super strength and can rip your throat out. Our characters have a good scene debating what they should do against this enemy. It is refreshing to hear people point and say: “Yes, that is this monster, also wtf.” rather than having the screenplay pretend they don’t know. Especially in a contemporary setting like this.
Abigail’s appearance and powers are classic, and is very much the sort of vampire you expect. No sparkly skin in the sunlight here. The film isn’t as over the top as say… 2023’s Renfield is, but it still has a lot of gore when it wants to. Like funhouse goo levels of gore. It is wonderfully silly.

Overall, Abigail is surprisingly good. And when Halloween rolls around, it is a good fun romp that should entertain most movie lovers.