Vamp Watch: Abigail (2024)

Watched:  08/11/2024

Format:  Peacock

Viewing:  First

Directors: Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin  

Spoilers

A vampire movie opening with Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" is a cheeky move.  And it really sets the tone for what's to come for vampire movie fans, both signaling an awareness of *your* awareness of the genre, but also using it as diegetic music as a young girl takes to an empty stage in an empty auditorium.*

Abigail (2024), directed by two guys who've directed Scream franchise movies, knows *you know* you've shown up for a vampire movie.  So, whatever the set up in the trailer, which, when I initially saw it didn't really interest me - this movie knows it has to be something a bit more.   

I spent the first 45 minutes a bit surprised the movie was so color-by-numbers given the positive reaction to it - oh no!  That little girl in the vampire movie is a vampire!  And I expected we'd watch folks get picked off one-by-one in a locked cage.  And that's what it is.  It's hard to say otherwise.  But what it *does* do is have a good, twisty story that unspools organically and fun characters.

Our set up is that a team of "professionals" is hired to kidnap and hold the daughter of a powerful person and hold her in a spoooooky mansion.  They'll collect a ransom and that's that.  

From the poster, we know that little girl is a vampire, and people will be chomped.  But, the fun of it is the shuffling of what's really happening - as the vampire reveal happens, but then - realizing they're locked in, too, and why someone would lock them in, they realize - there's no negotiating for Abigail.  Abigail is the one who brought them there, and her reasons why are pretty good - aside from a light snack.

It's not the first time we've seen a child turned vampire and the inherent contradiction of eternal childhood (Near Dark, Interview with a Vampire).  But what I do like is that - while Abigail is shrewd and she's clearly a monster, she's still a child, and always will be.  And, eventually, like everything else, our theme is revealed.

Look, there's nothing scary about Abigail.  Sure, the movie is gory, and there's tension.  And I'd say it's a horror film, but so are a lot of films I like that never make me tighten my core while watching them (I consider, say, Black Christmas to be scary).  It's more of a puzzle box of a vampire movie that has similar, if less complicated, machinery as a Knives Out movie.  We're going to keep pulling back the layers, revealing more and more of what's really going on and why the players involved are there.  And that, my friends, is good stuff.  

  

Frankly, I was surprised how much I liked this movie.  I expected it to be *good*, because trusted sources said so.  But there's "good" and there's "oh, yes.  This is my particular flavor of film."  

It's absolutely helped along by the small, solid cast.  Dan Stevens as the "smart" criminal.  Giancarlo Esposito is in a key but smaller role, and kills it.  William Catlett as military-minded crook you can probably trust.  Kevin Durand as the muscle-brained muscle.  RIP actor Angus Cloud passed during production, but was really good as the shitheel bonehead.  This is the third or fourth thing I've seen Kathryn Newton in this year, and I'm glad she's up and coming.  She deserves it, and I look forward o what she does next.  Our stars are Melissa Berrera and Alisha Weir.  Barrera has been in Scream movies, but I don't know her.  But she's our Ripley here, and I look forward to saying "ohhhh!  She was in Abigail!  She's good!" to Jamie at some point in the future.  

Blowing my mind was tween actor Alisha Weir, who plays the child vampire.  Through direction and her performance, she nails the kid bit, the vampire-as-monster stuff and the weird conundrum of her long life and knowledge she carries, with the emotional needs of a kid.  Which are just going to manifest differently when your dad appears to be Dracula (and this is clearly an unofficial Dracula spin-off).  

I'm not sure I'll rewatch it this year, but this is definitely on my "have you seen (insert movie)?" list.  

*foreshadowing!  symbolism!