After a group of criminals kidnaps the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.
When the trailer for “Abigail” first dropped, I watched half of it and then turned it off. It grabbed me from the get-go, so I decided not to finish it and read nothing more about it before attending a press screening. And I’m so glad I did because “Abigail” had twists galore. A few I saw coming, but most I did not, and I love when a film can do that to me; surprise me just when I think I’ve figured it out.
The film is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo who made the equally impressive “Ready or Not” and the two most recent “Scream” movies, so surprising their audiences is something they’ve had a lot of practice with.
“Abigail” tells the story of a group of kidnappers who abduct a young girl, Abigail (Alisha Weir), and hold her ransom for $50 million in an abandoned mansion far away from the city. The group never reveals their real names or anything personal and keeps everything professional. Until that is, one of them learns the identity of the girl and her father, a crime lord with a terrifying reputation. The group suddenly finds themselves locked in the mansion with no way out, and one by one, they start dying in gruesome fashion. Now, they must band together to fend off whatever is stalking them and hope they can find a way out before it’s too late.
The movie was shot entirely on location in Dublin, Ireland, something I was unaware of before the screening as the story is depicted as taking place somewhere in America. As someone who was born and raised in Dublin, I thought they would have shot the movie at Ardmore Studios in Bray in County Wicklow, where countless movies were filmed – “The Great Train Robbery,” “Excalibur,” John Huston’s “The Dead,” and many television series such as “The Tudors,” “Camelot,” and “Penny Dreadful” – but it was actually shot in Glenmaroon House in County Dublin, the former residence of Arthur Guinness, featuring grand wood paneling and staircases, stained glass windows and even a swimming pool. The film looks stunning as cinematographer Aaron Morton takes advantage of the house’s beautiful, old, decrepit framework.
While the cast is engaging and convincing in their individual roles, Alisha Weir steals the show as the titular Abigail. When we are first introduced to her, handcuffed and chained to a bed, you can’t help but feel sorry for her. Crying and begging not to be hurt, you want to take her away from these reprobates and protect her, but you quickly realize it’s the miscreants who need protecting. We learn that Abigail is a centuries-old vampire in the guise of a young girl who will rip your head off and drain your body of blood before you even know what’s happened. And just FYI, I haven’t seen this much blood since Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead II.”
We are treated to an assortment of dismemberments, beheadings, mutilations, disintegrations, lacerations, and bowel extractions, and that’s just the beginning. Ms. Weir effortlessly transitions from a young, naïve little girl to a raging, foaming-at-the-mouth, profanity-laden monster as quickly as we can blink or smile. Born in Dublin, I see a great future ahead of her, and the ending of “Abigail” leaves the door open for more blood-soaked tales, should the filmmakers and studio choose to go that route. Sometimes, I think it’s perfect to make one film and leave it at that, but this being Hollywood, if it makes money and is well received, a sequel will undoubtedly transpire sooner or later.
I was a fan of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett before “Abigail,” I loved “Ready or Not” because it completely ambushed me with that jaw-dropping finale, and they managed to breathe new life into the “Scream” franchise, something it desperately needed, and I very eagerly await their next outing. “Abigail” is a monstrously good time at the movies, and if you can stomach the blood and gore, you’ll have a scream.
In Theaters Friday, April 19th
