Spring, a time known for its overwhelming sunshine, flowers and warm weather, ironically introduces Abigail. The movie infiltrates the serene season with fears and frights, taking audiences back to October for a duration of an hour and 49 minutes.
The film stars 14-year-old Alisha Weir, as the title character, horror veteran Melissa Barrera as the main protagonist, Joey, the late Angus Cloud as Dean, alongside four other actors playing amateur criminals. Centered around a group of stereotypical antagonists, but not portraying them as the villains of the story, this movie is unconventional in some aspects, but many others are nothing new to the horror genre. The creepy kid premise, a common cliché, was the foundation of the film, and drew similarities to the 2023 movie M3GAN, one scene of the titular characters dancing in each movie even resembling one another.
The character dynamics in this movie simply made sense, as they were built to complete the missing pieces of characters. In its theme, it demonstrated how people with different life stories can manage to end up in one place, one wrong place, and an unforeseen consequence can follow your actions.
Though Abigail is Rated R, its scarce jump scares were outweighed by the more abundant tame moments, making it feel otherwise. The fear factor simply didn’t reach the audience. While the characters themselves may have heard their own hearts beating in their chests, their own hairs standing on their arms, these unsettling feelings didn’t emit through the screen, like other horror movies often successfully do, being the cherry on top for them. Without it, there’s disconnect. There’s nothing for people to think about, or ever so slightly fear, once the screen fades black, the lights turn up, and they exit the theater.
Abigail did utilize gore, however, and also consistently played into the ballerina motif, keeping elements of it present throughout to contrast the false childlike innocence of Abigail with her true persona. This concept is its main unique component that can discern it when compared to other horror movies.
Utter silence versus piercing screams, a paradox, put together in multiple scenes to illustrate things are to be feared in both extremes. In some moments, no sound was made other than voiceless vibrations, leaving the audience dreading for the moment that silence would be broken and what the end of that silence would bring.
Another aspect of the film that kept my eyes glued to the screen in its two hour entirety was its constant plot twists. While suspenseful build ups and rattling jump scares were minimal, changes in the direction of the film were not. There were numerous times I found myself pondering where the film was headed, what the climax would soon be, and how it would resolve, that seemed to make sense following the progression of the story. Then, all of a sudden, a new component came to light, pivoting it into a new direction entirely. I was kept on my toes if nothing else. This did become slightly redundant, however, as it was done so many times throughout the movie that the significant moments in the end lost their impact.
While nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking transpired, Abigail is a logical choice if you’re looking to go out and watch a movie that will undoubtedly keep you entertained. The film made its debut to theaters April 19th and has since earned $34.9 million at the box office, along with an 84% Rotten Tomatoes score.
