Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir, Giancarlo Esposito
Certificate: 18
Run Time: 109 mins

Abigail is the latest from horror director duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The duo have been in the horror game a while, contributing to the found footage anthology film V/H/S and directing Devil’s Due. They peaked with Ready or Not (which I thought was just fine) before rejuvenating the Scream franchise. 

Abigail covers somewhat similar ground to Ready or Not in that it is also largely set in a grand, secluded manor. Six criminals are tasked with guarding the titular character, a young ballet dancer, for 24 hours while they wait for a ransom payment from her influential father. The film begins in the vein of Reservoir Dogs where none of the team know one another and use fake names to avoid any member from identifying the others. In a somewhat cheap move, Melissa Barrera (who led Scream (2022) and Scream VI)’s Joey, a former military medic struggling with substance abuse issues, deduces the identities of all the criminals in an early sccene. However, despite the seemingly straightforward task of babysitting Abigail,  all is not what it seems and if you’ve seen the trailer (or any of the marketing material, for the matter), the big surprise has been bafflingly spoiled.  

Abigail is just fine and you pretty much get the film promised by the trailer, albeit with a couple of narrative surprises to keep things fresh. It’s drastically overlong – the film would have been much punchier with a tigher 85 minute run time. As it stands with the 109 minute length, we end up going through the motions and being a step ahead of the characters which makes things predictable. The film isn’t particularly scary and I’m surprised the violence is enough to earn it an 18 rating in the UK. Horror-comedies are a tough genre to pull off and this is neither funny or scary enough to fully work as either. 

 The main draw of the film are the performances. Barrera embraces the scream queen role and it’s easy to empathise with her trauma. Kevin Durand is another highlight as Peter, an alcoholic and physically imposing, yet rather unintelligent mercenary. However, it’s Dan Stevens who steals the show as Frank, a former police detective and the actor delivers some ripping dialogue. Brian Tyler’s score is another plus, with the composer updating the iconic Swan Lake with a twisted and sadistic edge.

 It’s a shame Abigail doesn’t fully work with its fun premise but this is a passable, somewhat fun-in-the-moment horror that you’ll forget about almost immediately afterwards. The film would have benefitted from a tighter edit and committing to either being a fully-fledged horror or comedy rather than awkwardly trying to balance both. 

⭐⭐ (Poor)