Children can be such monsters.
It’s the tagline of the movie, and it tells you everything you’re going to get. And it is a hell of a good time.
This is my newest favorite vampire movie. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it. Abigail is raucous, bloody good fun. If you want something in the vein of the Evil Dead movies for chaos and spurting blood and exploding bodies, Abigail is definitely that movie.
Abigail herself is the best part of the flick. An adorable little girl at first, sweet and charming and obsessed with ballet, she becomes every parents’ greatest fear: a demonic, uncontrollable monster hell-bent on destroying everything in her path. She absolutely dominates this film, and you can see the actress playing her is having the time of her life. Her performance is something to behold, as girls aren’t often given the chance to be this feral on screen. Oh, there are plenty of demonic and possessed girls in movies, but they are most often portrayed as victims, and at the mercy of other forces. Abigail is not that girl. She is the mastermind and one hundred percent in control of every situation she’s in. Watching the hapless crew of criminals she’s terrorizing turn from mostly competent to outright bumbling idiots is a delight. It’s kind of a metaphor for parenthood. You think you know what you’re getting into…
The cast of characters Abigail terrorizes all have great chemistry and play off one another in surprising and delightful ways. Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens especially bounce off one another fantastically. Their characters are forced to work together while they jockey for control of both their circumstances and the group of characters caught in Abigail’s deadly game, and you can see just how much both of them want to be anywhere else but here.
The movie is a riff on Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Soldiers (There are other titles and no I am not using them. Deal with it) and it’s lamp-shaded in multiple ways throughout the film and with the casting of Dan Stevens. If you can find it, check out his audiobook reading of Ten Little Soldiers. It’s a great performance.
Again, if you want a fun, bloody as hell vampire movie for Halloween, check Abigail out. You won’t be disappointed.