Many horror films take the time to pay homage to the original scares of the 1920s and 30s Dracula and Invisible Man, many of which form the modern stereotypes associated with these ghouls. ‘Abigail’ does more than that, being directly inserted into the same universe as these old originals, known as the ‘Universal Monsters’ universe. Specifically, ‘Abigail’ takes inspiration from the ‘Daughter of Dracula films, reimagining it into a more horrific and modern tale.
As the trailer sums up, ‘Abigail’ is about a group of specialty criminals kidnapping a young ballerina for 24 hours, keeping her for ransom from her unknown father, only to find out she is not trapped by them. Still, they are trapped in her house to play cat and mouse. The film does not try to hide this fact from the audience, with dialogue from the notorious Abigail quickly implying that something bad is going to happen to the band of ‘pack rats’ or criminals.
The film acknowledges every vampire story from the team trying to use garlic, turning pool cues into wooden stakes and the age-old protection from a cross. The film being a comedy as much as it is a horror makes fun of these attempts, showing how crazy those ideas would be against a non-human magical entity. In the same way, the film acknowledges all the different vampiric powers seen in different adaptations such as flight, super strength, regeneration, and the concept of thralls, a puppet vampire for one with real autonomy.
One thing to take into account when considering watching ‘Abigail’ is the sheer gore of it all. They do not censor anything, all wounds are completely open and zoomed in on, and blood explosions were so common the effects team apologized to the actors for just how much fake blood they were coated in throughout production. The practical and graphic effects team noticeably put in quite a sum of work to get the bloody mess put to screen, which is not shocking noting the film comes from Director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin who is already known from past works to love fake blood.
It’s impossible, to sum up every joke the film makes about people in general and the monster concepts from over the years, making the best decision for everyone to see it for themselves and see which part captivates them. This isn’t a movie meant for the faint-hearted or those who shy from crude or violent humor, but either way, it is a skillfully designed movie. For those the film attracts, it ticks off every horror monster lover’s boxes with its loyalty to its predecessors and ability to still be its work.
