Abigail – review

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

I originally looked at Abigail as a First Impression having watched the film on the big screen. I promised a full review when it hit the home market, and this is that review.

Before I go on, I want to touch – as I did originally – on the connection that has been made with Dracula’s Daughter. This is a Universal production and it does open with Swan Lake – a fact that intertextually reaches back to Dracula (1931) and was likely purposeful. I also noted, this time round, a dragon motif on the family crest and in some of the art in the house tying into the character Dracula, of course. Does this mean that the father vampire, Christof Lazar (Matthew Goode, A Discovery of Witches), is Dracula – after all he says in film that he has had many names? I’d say you could look at him through that lens, yes (though see the edit at the end of the review). But it still doesn’t make this a remake of Dracula’s Daughter. The tonal quality of the films and the plot are quite different. Abigail (Alisha Weir) is seeking Lazar’s approval and revels in her powers, Countess Marya Zaleska hated her father and wanted rid of the curse. There is no queering in this particularly and, if you want a reinvention of Dracula’s Daughter I suggest you look to the under rated Nadja.

Melissa Barrera as Joey

So, the film starts with Abigail dancing in an empty theatre, the implication of her coming from money and renting the stage. Meanwhile a young woman, who will later be given the fake name Joey (Melissa Barrera) and I’ll name the characters via their code names, waits in an alley and pops a lollipop in her mouth. Her ride picks her up (she checks her revolver before getting in) and there are two others in there, Frank (Dan Stevens, Vamps & Apostle) and Peter (Kevin Durand, Dark Angel: Love in Vein, the Mortal Instruments: City of Bone & The Strain). In another van Sammy (Kathryn Newton) takes down cams at a house and Rickles (William Catlett, Lovecraft Country) takes sniper position. Sammy continues hacking to open the gates, distracted by driver Dean (Angus Cloud) turning the radio on. Abigail leaves the theatre, and a tracker goes off on her chauffer driven car.

Giancarlo Esposito as Lambert

The gang are there to kidnap Abigail when she gets home, in order to extort money from her father. They have been picked for the job and do not know who the father is. The job goes fairly smoothly, Abigail struggles but is soon drugged by Joey, and though the father gets home unexpectedly they get out safely, despite the alarms being tripped. Escaping, Dean shows he has at least street smarts as he keeps on a fast route but avoids street cameras. They take her to a rendezvous house, the rambling gothic pile where they are to hold up. At the house they are met by the mastermind of the job, Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito, the Hunger: Fly by Night & Chupacabra Terror). Lambert takes their phones, gives them fake names and stipulates only Joey should enter the room where Abigail is held. Otherwise there is plenty of food and drink and they should only be there 24 hours.

the gang

So, we get to know more about the characters mostly through Joey, who can read people well and intuits some of their backgrounds – Sammy is a rich, bored hacker and Frank an ex-cop for instance. We get to know more about Joey when she checks on Abigail and tries to reassure the girl – for instance that she has a son about the same age – though Frank identifies her as a junky who is currently clean. Something Abigail says, delivered innocently but with a clear threat undertone, spooks Joey and soon they have discovered that her father is Lazar – a notorious crime lord. Frank is for leaving at that news but is persuaded to stay. Soon they are being picked off – they assume by Lazar’s infamous enforcer – discover they are trapped in the house and eventually discover that it is Abigail, the vampire, doing the killing.

Alisha Weir as Abigail

I made mention in my first impression that this shares some similarities to the much lesser known Blood Trap and it does but the vampire in this was turned very young (the vampire in the earlier film is adult and looking to breed) and this has a lot of class. Alisha Weir is able to inject a believability into this young girl who is hundreds of years old, likes playing with her food and is ultimately killing enemies of her father to regain his affections thus seeking his approval.

hand exposed to sunlight

The lore is interesting, especially in a visual sense. Vampiric death is explosive – be it sunlight or stake the vampire explodes in a mass of goo and gore. When sunlight strikes Abigail's hand there is no smoking or flames, it literally explodes as though blown off, but it also quickly regrows. Abigail can fly and is incredibly strong, a bullet to the head simply heals but she is susceptible to the drug used to “kidnap” her. Interestingly she maintains breathing and a heartbeat. A bite will turn, though killing the biter will prevent this, but a vampire can control the one they turn like a puppet.

Matthew Goode as Lazar

The setting was a nicely ramshackle Gothic mansion that offered a good backdrop for the action and the film is orientated to horror/action as the “And Then There Were None” trope plays out. All the cast fit well, though there is perhaps less menace than there might have been in Lazar when we finally meet him, but Goode had little time to do anything more with the character and a more developed look at him would likely have carried an undercurrent of danger better, but the film does not call for a longer appearance. Having watched this more than once now I do have to say I am still rather taken with the film. 7.5 out of 10.

Edit 25/8/24: The question around Dracula now seems to have been answered. In an article on SyFy wire we are told: "While the ambiguity surrounding the character works to the story's benefit, the co-directors did consider making Lazar — already a feared figure in the criminal underworld — even more of a terrifying badass. In other words, they nearly went the "bigger fish" route by having Lazar admit to killing Dracula long before the events of the film. "There was ... a version where he said, 'Oh, I killed that motherf—er 200 years ago. Dracula's nothing!'" Gillet remembers." (my emphasis). Of course that line was not put in dialogue but it does seem to show the directors' direction of travel,   

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK