Abigail (Blu-ray Review)
Horror films are like preschoolers. They’re likely to test your limits and may even make you scream. The analogy is my own and it hits home for me. In my day job as an early childhood educator, I find myself in this predicament especially at the beginning of a new school year. When I approached Abigail for the first time, I wondered if the story of a captive child in danger would test my patience or test my jump-scare readiness. Did I hide my face in horror or balk at the silliness of it all. Read more on Radio Silence’s newest scare show below, and don’t forget to click the cover art at the end to order yourself a copy of Abigail on Blu-ray! Ballerinas be damned!
Film: 
A heist team is hired by a mysterious fixer to kidnap the daughter of a powerful underworld figure. They must guard the 12-year-old ballerina for one night to net a $50 million ransom. As the captors start to dwindle one by one, they discover to their mounting terror that they’re locked inside an isolated mansion with no ordinary little girl.
Those familiar with the Radio Silence style will be pleased to know that their signatures are all over this film. Right from the get-go, we are in on the fact that the young “mark” of this kidnapping caper is not quite ordinary. She is picked up from ballet at night in a Bentley. She is all alone and the setup seems way too easy. After the crew, led by Marissa Barrera, brings the captured Abigail to the sketchy mansion they’re to be holding her at, they’re asked to stay with Abigail overnight, waiting for the ransom money they all seem to need. Among the kidnappers is Joey (Barrera) who is a recovering addict, a corrupt cop (Dan Stevens), A sniper (Will Catlett), A hacker (Kathryn Newton), an enforcer (Kevin Durand) and a getaway driver (Angus Cloud).
Things are off to a sketchy start as the group was not expecting to kidnap a child are now stuck in the house. Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) leaves them with a promise of payout by the morning. Joey is sympathetic to Abigail, which works to keep Abigail trustful, getting Joey to take off her blindfold and her handcuffs. Of course, then we get the “all hell breaks loose” moment, and Abigail shows her true self — She is a vampire. Now the group must find out how to survive the night as Abigail hunts them through the house.
The scenario isn’t as evident to everyone, and so we see some of the group being picked off quite easily. Then we have smarter folks like Joey and the corrupt cop Frank who have different survival methods. When things change dramatically in the climax, Joey herself is at a crossroads as to who she should trust – Her groupmates or Abigail?
Abigail is a film that is all about mood and tone. Taken straightforward the film could’ve been a little more taxing and duller. The atmosphere of the film makes it much more palatable. As we’ve seen in other Radio Silence films though, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gilett shine in bringing humor to the grim horrors we want to see. Whether it’s a humorous kill or a light moment after something heavy, we are lulled into comfort zones that then make the grimmer moments easier to take on and therefore the film becomes more entertaining. I enjoyed the films’ ability to have wide tonal shifts without sacrificing storytelling or making scenes less compelling. The other fun aspect of Abigail comes with the plot making the house a part of the fun. Like a vampiric Home Alone there are tricks and gizmos and setups to turn everyone upside down. That is when the real fun of the film sets in.
In the end, Abigail ends up being a fine diversion from your standard horror faire. Much like Ready Or Not, the film uses the big house, wealth at stake tropes and freshens them up. Humor is welcome and the acting here is also game. We will unfortunately never get to see what could’ve been, but Angus Cloud showed a lot of range in his small role as the slow-seeming sociopathic getaway driver. Barrera has a mild coolness to her that works to keep her character unpredictable and as Frank, Dan Stevens is charismatic and snarky!
My colleague Brian White also viewed Abigail around the time I did, and here, I’ll share his quick take!
“I watched Abigail last night in a huge theater all alone and it was a fun vampire time! I would describe it as The Lost Boys meets Home Alone. It had that kind of vibe with comedy going for it. Dan Stevens steals the show with his charisma and Melissa Barrera brings the beauty. It was horrific at times, but more reminiscent of dark comedy with plenty of vampire tropes to go around. There is more than meets the eye to Abigail – What starts off as ‘predator-take-me-out escalates into something much more grand. Most of the rules of vampire slaying apply too and you’ll see red… Oh, you’ll see red.”
Video:
Note: Stills are provided for promotional use only and are not from the Blu-ray
Encoding: MPEG-4/AVC
Resolution: HD (1080p)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Layers: BD-50
HDR: N/A
Clarity/Detail/Depth: Abigail takes a bite out of Blu-ray with an excellent HD transfer. Armed with a 4K digital intermediate and downscaled for home media, there is a nice sharpness to the overall look of the film. Textures on costuming and decor look phenomenal and depth are handled beautifully as well. One does expect an inevitable 4K release later on down the road, and that release will no doubt only improve upon the perfect HD presentation.
Black Levels: Darkness enshrouds Abigail a great deal of the runtime. There is no evidence of crush at any time that I noticed, and excellent shadow detail also.
Color Reproduction: Wide color spectrum is not the focus of Abigail, but when they’re called for in detail, they look wonderful. The film is naturally a darker one, and seeing the deep reds of the many bloody scenes, shows a care to how colors translate to the disc.
Flesh Tones: From stubble to makeup, Abigail serves solid flesh tones. Nothing looks artificial and the overall look of characters is sumptuous and accurate
Noise/Artifacts: Clean.
Audio:
Audio Format(s): English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 , French Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
Dynamics: Abigail sports a busy 7.1 TrueHD mix. The heft of the bass and the surrounds working to make the big house alive, Abigail presents a reliably creepy soundscape with great sounding music cues and enough heft to make those jump scares really get under your skin!
Height: N/A
Low Frequency Extension: Bass digs deep in active sequences and with some of the music and does not shy away from going for a solid rumble – especially in a latter scene where there is an explosion I can’t detail here without spoiling it for you guys!
Surround Sound Presentation: Surround channels work to keep an atmosphere about the location of the film. The house is big and imposing and creepy on its own, but when Abigail turns the house into her super fun killing ground, you really do notice a lot going on around you.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue always sounds solid and intelligible.
Extras:
You will not be spoiled for choice extras wise for Abigail. Presented as a “Collector’s Edition”, the film comes to Blu-ray with a bundled DVD and Digital Code along with a slipcover. Extras are in depth, from some actually decent deleted and extended scenes, an interesting commentary, a funny outtake reel, and even some great interviews with cast and crew, you won’t want to miss the extras!
- Deleted & Extended Scenes
- Gag Reel
- Blood Bath – Soak up the slaughter alongside the cast and crew with this dive into the deep end of Abigail’s body pits, where practical FX reign supreme and there’s no such thing as too much blood.
- Hunters to Hunted – Get up close and personal with Abigail’s abductors as the cast divulges the details behind how they got into character to collectively create a unique crew of criminals.
- Becoming a Ballerina Vampire – Abigail actor Alisha Weir, choreographer Belinda Murphy, and more members of the creative team take up the task of transforming a seemingly sweet little girl into a vicious vampire.
- Directing Duo Matt & Tyler – Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett lead this look at the actors, ideas, and environment they put together to create a set that’s fun while still being fearsome.
- Feature Commentary with Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett and Editor Michael P. Shawyer
Summary:
Abigail does not reside in the traditional horror spectrum whatsoever. It’s a little ballsy because it chooses to give the tone some humor, not spoiling the gore and scares a bit. The film borrows quite a bit from Dracula lair at times, and it’s not an entirely original film, but it’s a funhouse of horror for fans of the genre. Boasting a great set of extras and an excellent HD presentation, this is worth a pickup for horror buffs, and if you’re not holding your breath for a 4K disc, this is a great choice!
