Radio Silence is back! The filmmaking team that has brought us the two most recent entries in the Scream franchise as well as the surprise hit Ready or Not return to the big screen with their latest film Abigail. Reportedly a reimagining of 1936's Dracula's Daughter, Abigail takes Radio Silence into the vampire subgenre, marking exciting territory for their style of fun, bloody horror. While it doesn't quite hit the mark as well as their other recent efforts, this one still delivers a very fun time at the movies.
Abigail follows a group of criminals over one night as they kidnap the daughter of a wealthy man for ransom. The man in charge tasks the team with watching over her for 24 hours in a strange old house, a task that proves much harder than anticipated when she winds up having fangs and an appetite. What prevails is roughly two hours of gore filled vampire fun, great for the whole family.
What makes this film really work is the ensemble. Melissa Barrera takes on the leading role and shows why her firing from Scream 7 was a truly terrible decision. She's just effortlessly cool, playing a character with a clear dark past and allowing that past to propel the character forward. She's tough yet sensitive and it works so well here. Dan Stevens may be the scene stealer though, he's putting on a cool tough guy act the whole time and something about his mannerisms and the douchey glasses he's wearing is simply too fun. Between this and Godzilla x Kong, he seems to just be having a great time in whatever he's acting in lately, and this gives him the chance to deliver some great one liners. The titular Abigail is played by Alisha Weir, who was a delight as the lead in Netflix's Matilda the Musical, and she's terrific here, luring both the characters and audience in with her seemingly sweet innocence before pulling a 180 and being a sassy and deadly killer. The ensemble is rounded out by Kathryn Newton continuing her stamp on fun horror roles this year, Kevin Durand as a hilarious big dumb French Canadian, William Catlett who I really wish we got more of cause he was great, and the late Angus Cloud who hasn't really wowed me in anything but works well in this.
Much like Ready or Not, one of the biggest stars of this film is the setting. Aside from the opening kidnapping scene this whole movie takes place in one house, and I am obsessed with the production design. It's a big dimly lit manor type, with a gothic feel that beautifully fits the vampire genre. There are tons of fun details in the set design, including some props that lead to hilarious jokes, and many nods to where the story is going through the decorative set pieces. From a dialogue standpoint, the script is great. As I said before, there's a ton of great jokes, but I also really liked the banter between all the characters and the general wittiness of it. Where it struggles is in the storytelling and pacing. The film feels a bit too long, and I think that's largely thanks to somewhat clunky pacing that causes lulls throughout the film. As a whole the film is a fun ride but there are moments that just lose steam for a bit before picking back up again. I also wasn't crazy about the opening, it throws you right in without really introducing the characters and that made it take a bit of time to get invested in all of them. I don't really have any complaints aside from those. The movie isn't really scary, but Radio Silence has mastered their brand of fun gore filled horror that seeks to entertain more than terrify and it works really well. The ensemble brings to life a truly fun script and delivers some of the best vampire action we've seen in a while.
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