Abigail is an original horror film from the directing duo, Radio Silence, with compelling characters and twists! The horror aspect of the film unfolds, spoiler upcoming, but it is really a character study of who can be trusted, and the tension of who can survive the night! The directors are Matt Bettinelli-Opin and Tyler Gillett who also directed Scream VI (2023). The movie is written by Stephen Shields, the co-writer of the horror picture, Hole in the Ground (2019), and Guy Busick who worked on the directors’ films including Scream (2022). There is a rumbling and then we get footsteps as tiny ballerina slippers are seen. This is to the gentle theme of Tachaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
We see a dark-haired woman (Melissa Barrera), she is later called Joey, takes out a lollipop. Barrrerra starred as Sam Carpenter in Radio Silence’s Scream movies. It is at night. The young ballerina, Abigail (Alisha Weir) twirls onto an empty stage. Weir played Siobhan Callahan in the horror movie, Don’t Leave Home (2018). She turns in a brilliant performance at what seems like an innocent, 12 year old girl, but with something sinister. A driver, code named Frank, played by Dan Stevens waits in a van. Stevens is having an incredible year also starring in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Joey takes out a handheld case with two syringes. These scenes are intercut with Abigail dancing around the stage lights.
A young woman who is given the name Sammy (Kathryn Newton) uses her keypad to deactivate house cameras. Newton is also in this year’s horror comedy, Lisa Frankenstein. A man called Don Rickles! (William Catlett) is on a rooftop taking out a sniper rifle to scan the area with the scope. Catlett is in the sci fi show, Constellation. A chauffeur opens the door for Abigail in a coat over her white ballerina tutu. Underneath the car, a device blinks. A young, bald-headed man, code named Dean (Angus Cloud), asks the hacker if she has a boyfriend. Cloud played Robert DeWitt in the drama, The Line (2023). This is his last film and the movie is dedicated to him. The van pulls up and the hacker opens the gate of a house for the trio, Joey, Frank, and an intimidating man called Peter (Kevin Durand). Upcoming, Durand plays Proximus Caesar in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
They enter a wealthy house and Sammy says over their communication earpieces that the driver is arriving. The others enter a child’s bedroom and Joey says, “No one said it’s a kid”, her reluctance is brushed aside by Frank. The trio take cover around the room as Abigail sits on her bed answering a phone call. She talks about her performance, but hears a door. creak! Suddenly, her mouth is covered, but Frank is knocked back. Peter holds Abigail down as Joey injects Abigail with the syringe. A car arrives at the house. Abigail is stuffed in a black storage bag by Peter and she is carried away. They sneak out the front as a man calls out for Abigail. The house lights tun on as Abigail is taken into the van and they drive away.
Joey checks Abigail’s pulse and puts a blindfold on her. They reach a mansion secluded in the woods and drive up next to statue of a stag. The group is met by their boss, Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito), their boss. Esposito was in the “Gray Matter” (2019) episode of the horror series, Creepshow. He tells them to find a room to hold the girl, set up a lookout, and tells them to not use names. So he dubs them after the Rat Pack; Frank (Sinatra), Sammy (Davis, Jr.), Joey (Bishop), Dean (Martin), Peter (Lawford), plus Don Rickles! It is clever and also keeps them anonymous. He collects their cellphones and Joey hesitates with a photo of herself and a boy on he phone. She pops in a pill.
They are to hold Abigail for 24 hours so they can split the ransom money, $50 million, with $7 million for each of them! Lambert tells them not to let Abigail see their faces. At the recreation room, Peter is behind the bar, the others are seated, and Dean goes around the room telling his colleagues about their backgrounds Joey says he is wrong about all of them. She is shown a hunded dollar bill to say something about Frank. Joey says he is a cop from his stance and Glock pistol. Then, she works out that he is a detective from Queens. He is threatened by her observation and acts ready to be violent. Joey determines that Peter is from Quebec. Peter is the muscle, slower than the others, but there is a kind of Lenny from Of Mice and Men quality about him that becomes funny.
Joey is bet twenty dollars that Sammy comes from money and is hacking just for fun. Rickles doesn’t have any money, but Joey says to him, “Semper Fi.” She tells Dean that he is not a professional criminal. Frank walks up to Joey and counters her observations saying that she is a junkie. Joey constantly eats candy and covers her arms. She is the only one appointed to check on Abigail and walks up the stairs to the room. Abigail is handcuffed and chained to the bed. Joey pinkie promises that Abigail won’t be hurt. She admits that she has a little boy. Abigail says to her, “I’m sorry what’s going to happen to you.” Ominous.
Later, Frank walks into the room without his mask, so he lifts up his jacket to cover his face. He has his gun on Abigail to force her to reveal her father. She says he is Kristof Lazar. Frank returns to the group and explains that they kidnapped the daughter of the head of a notorious criminal empire! He says they should go and leave some food for Abigail, but they convince him to stay. In a dark hallway, Joey has a flashlight and discoves an atrium with a statue of a man in robes with a hat next to girl also in robes. Rickles finds Joey and they agree to watch each other’s backs. Sammy is in a room watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon with a ghost. Dean surprises her with a mask and she throws him out of the room.
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