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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Melissa Barrera has been busy with the horror genre, with Caroline Lindy’s Your Monster having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this January. The actor reunites with her Scream and Scream VI collective, Radio Silence (V/H/S, Southbound, Ready or Not), for their newest collaborative film project, Abigail. This group is comprised of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, along with producer Chad Villella. Abigail is Universal Pictures’ third attempt at modernizing their Classic Monster-verse following Leigh Whannell’s 2020 psychological horror, The Invisible Man, and Chris McKay’s Renfield from last year. This monster horror thriller tends to fall into narrative tropes of the genre here and there, but even then, all that is made up for through its tremendous performances and chemistry, production designs, and bloody thrilling sights.
Abigail is directed by Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The film is written by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick.
In this review, I will discuss Radio Silence’s Abigail. As this article’s title suggests, there will be no spoilers present here. Still, please beware of minor giveaways from the film’s trailers and promotional materials as they may be discussed in this review!
Universal Pictures’ Abigail Synopsis
According to Universal Pictures, here is the synopsis for Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Abigail.
Children can be such monsters.
After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.
Univeral Pictures
Discussion
The truth about Abigail (Alisha Weir) is not something to be hidden from viewers, as it’s made quite known what the eponymous character is to both the audience and the characters. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s horror film is straightforward in the promised premise. The heist team must kidnap a child, then hole up inside a house with her to collect their loot. However, the plot is not just that alone. Rather, Shields and Busick write a screenplay that is so full of horror archetypes, clichés, and tropes that it’s just intentionally laughable to watch despite some predictable elements en route.
To be clear, these archetypes range from the stoner figure to the partially oblivious, dumbfounded blonde to the dull-witted muscle. Some of these roles tend to overlap, though. One character is a former druggie, and two to a few characters come from similar professional backgrounds. As for the conventional narrative techniques of horror, reckless decisions are made. At some point, the team decides to split up to establish a perimeter around the house or to search for certain items, rooms, or people.
Yet, this formulaic stupidity is so brutally deliberate that viewers cannot help but be in complete awe of its intelligent merits. Insofar as Universal’s press notes of the film, with Shields citing Reservoir Dogs and vampire titles as far back as Salem’s Lot in the late 1970s as inspirations, Abigail appears to me to possess the narrative framework of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn and the wandering spirit of the Wayans Brothers’ Scary Movie 2.
Production
Production designer Susie Cullen’s set pieces of the Wilhelm Manor are so intricately crafted that it is almost as if the audience themselves are navigating through the home. In one room, there is the kitchen that connects to the downstairs elevator shaft… or apparently so. There are at least a few stories to truly exhibit movement within space. Cullen and her team also make up various rooms and hallways within the manor to give off that feel of an anxiety-inducing maze. Then, there’s the massive library, with its secret compartments, long polished flooring, and the stone statue of a vampire child and her father underneath a creaking study window.
Radio Silence’s love for blood is evident in how they showcase the killing of vampires. In fact, how they die on-screen brings explosive effects from Ready or Not, or similarly, Prime Video’s The Boys. Seriously, when Melissa Barrera says, “We’re going all out in this movie” regarding the blood and guts, she means it. Abigail is well-suited for these types of practical effects.
Cinematography and Soundtrack
Morton’s camera work does a neat job of capturing the characters within its frames. When viewers first see “Joey” (Barrera), she is leaning against a wall in an alleyway opening a Dum Dum lollipop. This shot plays perfectly for the character’s rehabilitation from substances, implying a larger purpose in the final scene. “Dean” (Angus Cloud) is a scene-stealer in the first act. Here, he is involved in a couple of jump scares, shows off his artistry, and observes another’s work of art in the process. The final act’s framing of Joey in a hall during a lingering string of moments is intense and suspenseful. Paired with editor Michael P. Shawver’s use of cuts, this sequence almost plays into Alfred Hitchcock’s theory of the ticking bomb.
Tyler’s scoring is sweet stuff and the song selections aid in telling a story set in modern times. Viewers get to see Dean play The Jacka as he drives a van through a green traffic light. This is the film’s first sign of adding light to the tenebrous. More to this point, I love the rock song that plays when Abigail briefly chooses to play puppeteer. Jean Dawson’s “Burn My Tongue” is a powerful means of ending the film. It personally brings me back to soundtracks like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Something about the inclusion of this musical number suggests that the story doesn’t need to end here.
The Crew Behind Abigail
Aaron Morton serves as the director of photography. Bernard Walsh serves as the film’s stills photographer.
Michael P. Shawver (Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) serves as the editor. Ryan Cunningham is the assistant editor.
Brian Tyler (Darkness Falls, Constantine, Final Destination 5, Ready or Not, Scream) scores the soundtrack for Abigail.
Joe Lisanti is the supervising music editor. Matthew Llewellyn and Ben Zales (Mr. Robot, The Forever Purge, Night Teeth, Umma, They/Them, M3GAN) are the music editors.
Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl (World War Z, Terminator Genisys, A Quiet Place, Cocaine Bear) are the supervising sound editors and sound designers.
Jon Greasley also serves as a sound designer. Jesse Rosenman and Veronica Li are the assistant sound editors.
Rich Delia (Don’t Breathe, Lights Out, It: Chapter One, The Babysitter, Brightburn, Swamp Thing, Mortal Kombat, Scream, Scream VI, Renfield) serves as the casting director for the film.
Adam Richards (The Final Girls, Brightburn, Swamp Thing, Scream, Scream VI, Renfield) is the casting associate. Amy Costa is the casting assistant. Maureen Hughes is the casting director for Ireland.
Giedrius Nagys serves as the film’s stunt coordinator. Brendan Condren is the additional stunt coordinator. Jessica Grant serves as the fight choreographer.
Aesthetics
Susie Cullen serves as the production designer.
Shane McEnroe is the supervising art director. Jon Beer is the art director. Robert Barrett and Aoife Morris are the assistant art directors.
Kevin Downey serves as the set decorator.
Gwen Jeffares is the costume designer. Annie Peachey is the assistant costume designer.
Liz Byrne is the makeup designer. Elaine Finnan is the key makeup designer. Katie Derwin and Aimee Plant are the makeup artists.
Matthew Smith serves as the prosthetics designer. Vincent Lam is the prosthetics artist.
Linda Gannon is the hair designer. Cassie Murphie is the key hairstylist. Zuelika Delaney is the hairstylist.
Julian Andraus serves as the VFX editor.
The Cast of Abigail
Melissa Barrera (In the Heights, Keep Breathing, Carmen, All the World is Sleeping) portrays “Joey”, the protagonist of Abigail and a medic of her heist team.
Alisha Weir portrays Abigail, the titular character of the film. Dan Stevens (The Guest, FX’s Legion, Apostle, The Rental, Cuckoo) portrays “Frank”, the team’s appointed head of ops.
Kathryn Newton (Paranormal Activity 4, Freaky, Lisa Frankenstein) portrays “Sammy”, the team’s hacker.
Kevin Durand (The Butterfly Effect, Legion, Fruitvale Station, Tragedy Girls, Swamp Thing) plays “Peter”, the team’s muscle. Will Catlett (Lovecraft Country) plays “Don Rickles”, the team’s sniper shooter. Angus Cloud (HBO’s Euphoria) portrays “Dean”, the team’s unprofessional getaway driver.
Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Okja, The Boys) portrays “Lambert”, the efficient organizer of Abigail’s kidnapping.
Matthew Goode appears as Abigail’s father.
Performances and Character Developments
As someone who has invested a lot of time watching and understanding HBO’s television series, Euphoria, it would be remiss of me to not highlight the film’s source of levity, Angus Cloud. The late actor plays the underdog of the heist team so well. That is, the stoner type who tends to crack jokes from time to time. He reminds me of the role the late rapper Mac Miller portrayed in Scary Movie 5. This is why I believe Abigail tends to nearly lean into spoof territory. Cloud portrays the role of “Dean” so well that his absence can surely be felt when not in the room.
As “Sammy”, Newton channels the bad guy within who appears as threatening as her Lisa Frankenstein character and behaves as menacing as her Freaky character. Like all the other mysterious characters around her, there could be more to physically show that Sammy is a rebellious type. While the tattoos on her body seem to demonstrate something of a personality, viewers must invest time in the characters to see how they shine and how they intimidate. Newton’s scenes make that description work, whether it’s retrieving a sack of garlic from the kitchen, tumbling into a swimming pool, or dancing to the music.
Lead Roles
Donning a New York accent, Stevens naturally portrays a personality fans of the actor may be familiar with while also under the character pretense of a whole new backstory. “Frank” has something of a corruption to himself, a man who has lost his way and a means to get out. He has a sense of thrill, especially in the final act of the film, where he eventually uncannily resembles a character from Garth Ennis’s Preacher.
Weir’s take on a vampire character in a child’s body is terrific. She displays maturity for somebody who is a few centuries old balanced with a facade of innocence given what she looks like on the surface. The young actor can steal every scene that she is present in, especially when chasing her victims through the halls of the manor. Abigail’s vampiric look is horrifying, almost akin to that of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Her role in the final act takes a turn, and I think there could be a little more to show the causes of those personal changes.
For what it’s worth, you just have to show up.
Abigail (Alisha Weir) in Radio Silence’s ‘Abigail’
Like other lead roles, Barrera carries the film as “Joey”. The actor performs in a way that still speaks “fearless”. At the same time, she presents herself so as to differentiate from characters that she has played previously. This is not the same Melissa Barrera fans have seen in the Scream films through Samantha “Sam” Carpenter, and she makes the role of Joey her own. She, along with her ambivalent interactions with her co-stars, makes this film worth the watch.
Final Thoughts on Abigail
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Abigail has come out at such an odd point in time. However, that very kairos defines history as we know it, namely cinema’s current epoché and its need for revolutionary storytelling. Through Radio Silence, Shields, and Busick’s collaborative efforts, this horror thriller is a special entry in the vast catalog of titles to flip through. The laugh- and scream-out-loud chemistry between castmates, the layered set pieces, the creative camera work, and the resonating composition altogether prove that a brilliant narrative can be told while still concealing the mysterious closed books that are the characters. With that, a new page is turned, and horror fans can look forward to the next chapter!
4.5/5 stars
Radio Silence’s Abigail is now playing in theaters!
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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
