Which is one of the joys of living in this area. There is a sense of nothingness among the youth who have to grow up too fast and deal with the economic and personal struggles that occur in the area, but there is also a great sense of pride from those that have made it out alive and are continuing to persevere against all odds.

One of the reasons we have been able to do so is by having safe spaces like the public library which allow them to explore who they are and who they want to be. And libraries don’t just service the wealthy and the elite or the people getting by through the skin of their yellow country teeth to quote Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (whose CD once graced the shelves if I recall correctly). Libraries are some of the last vestiges that allow the disenfranchised to reclaim their humanity. To utilize the services like tax preparation, free internet connectivity, and find out more about various programs in the community.

But alas, again I am rambling about my love for the library and the reality of life in my small town, and so I guess it is time to start talking about the reason we are all here, tonight’s watch: Abigail (2024) starring Melissa Berrera and Alisha Weir, directed by Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin.

I’m going to start out by saying the marketing team of this movie really fucked up by unveiling the “twist” during promotion. If they would have kept us in the dark and made it seem like a standard kidnapping thriller it could have been the next From Dusk Till Dawn.

More movies should give us surprising shifts in tone and story like that.

More people probably would have gone to theaters “to see what everyone was talking about.” They should have kept us asking “what’s so special about Abigail?” 

The movie itself allows for this. We open with the kidnapping and we have no idea why they are kidnapping this girl other than her father is rich. We have a group of Tarantinoesque criminals who don’t know each others names and all who seem to have specific roles. Giancarlo Esposito’s mysterious “Lambert” tells us what we need to know about the kidnapping and ransom, and that our crew of kidnappers are highly recommended and not to reveal real names or backstories. 

The movie even sets up a potential fake haunted house story with the mansion that serves as our base of operations. It seems dilapidated, dusty, and lit by soft yellow lighting. Perfect facade for a haunted house and a “ghost” or “entity” to cause some mischief for our motley crew as they wait for the ransom.

We get our first hint at something sinister coming to our characters from Abigail’s sympathetic statement to our protagonist “I’m sorry about what’s going to happen to you.” This leads the characters to discussing the potential dangers of the girl’s father and that he is going to be at the heart of their problems and one of our crew members to interrogate and find out Abigail is the daughter of someone named Kristoff Lazar, an “urban legend” crime boss, which spooks all of our characters into contemplating leaving and eventually deciding that any and all threats are going to be coming from outside the house. 

Again, with our setting, and if kept in the dark, the audience could have been led into a false sense of Haunting meets Assault on Precinct 13. Or maybe even led to believe that one of our characters was potentially an inside man causing the issues to keep all of the money to themselves. I bet the filmmakers wanted to keep the twist secret just from all of the little bits of foreshadowing that occur right before a character finds a headless Angus Cloud (RIP). 

Seriously, the dialogue from Lambert, the Woody Woodpecker cartoon, and the statues/paintings and other decor that get highlighted in a few scenes all seem insignificant unless you know this is a movie about kidnappers being trapped in a cage with a vampire.

All of these hints and foreshadowing would have been a great dopamine rush for a keen observer when Abigail slips her cuffs and reveals her undead nature. At this point we get into the meta of vampires and vampire movies which is a fun little bit of dialogue and allows the movie to start making its own rules as it jokes around. 

This leads to a tremendous scene set to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake’s Swan theme where we see just how vicious and deadly Abigail can be as she dances first with the headless corpse before helping the audience understand what type of vampire we are dealing with. No crosses or garlic helping out here. 

The film then turns to a cat and mouse chase (a not so subtle metaphor throughout) with some gruesome moments and great acting from Alisha Weir, the actress of Abigail. 

The color pallette for the film is very warm which dulls the blood soaked actress as it darkens to a muddy brown and black against her white swan ballet costume, essentially showing her dark turn to black swan. Is this a retelling of Swan Lake? What the hell is the story of Swan Lake? All I know is from the Natalie Portman movie and the fact that there’s a black and white swan and it was written by a Russian which means there’s probably a lot of bleak within the beauty. This would have been a great addition to Dr. Lisa DiBartolomeo’s “Vampires: Blood and Revolution” class at WVU before the World Languages department (among others) was decimated by budget cuts and “fiscal responsibility.” 

The final act gets gore soaked and there’s a great scene involving Danzig’s “Blood and Tears.” The filmmakers do try to throw some more twists our way, but these would have all played out a little better if we had more time trying to figure out what was going on for ourselves instead of them letting us in on Abigail’s secret so early, or spoiling it with TV spots and trailers. I also wish the blood soaked scenery and characters were contrasted with the backgrounds and scenery.  

All in all: Original films are making a comeback through the horror medium and this one doesn’t disappoint. Is it a great movie? Not particularly. Is it good enough to warrant a re-watch. Definitely. This was the second time I watched the film, and I caught a lot more of what the filmmakers were trying to do. I definitely think this is one that got ruined by marketing and promotion showing us everything that made it special, but still manages to be a fun ride. I even think it was more enjoyable in the second watch. So…

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Check it out from the Cabell County Public Library

https://cabellcounty.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/test

*THIS POST AND THE A to Z Horror REVIEWS ARE NOT PROVIDED, ENDORSED, or SPONSORED by Cabell County Public Library*