Quick Reviews: Abigail, Godzilla X Kong, Monkey Man, The First Omen
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Abigail I went into this movie thinking I would enjoy it for the sheer absurdity of the premise (a pre-teen ballerina vampire terrorizes her kidnappers in a mansion). And I did, but I enjoyed it far beyond what I anticipated. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett helmed this feature, and I was really impressed with their film “Ready or Not” and their work on the 5th and 6th “Scream” movies I also appreciated. “Abigail” is very close in tone to the former, with horror elements often followed by moments of finely-crafted comedy, and Abigail I would argue is probably funnier and unquestionably bloodier than “Ready or Not”. This flick is very fun and very funny, and honestly much of that credit should go to Alisha Weir’s performance as the pre-teen fanged terror. I often find child performances to be somewhat of a mixed bag in terms of quality, though admittedly it’s not like many screenwriters look to write a truly challenging juvenile role that often. Weir’s performance in “Abigail”, on the other hand, is far more dynamic. She nails the choreography, she delivers some delightful lines of dark comedy throughout, she can balance displaying emotions in a manner that at different times frightening and hilarious, and let’s be honest, any film where a 12 year old vampire ballerina is terrorizing a group of adults while frequently shouting expletives is comedy gold. The supporting cast comes through here as well; it felt like just about everyone had a true character and it made each character demise more impactful overall as a result. This is a loose remake of “Dracula’s Daughter”, but other than that DNA, this felt like an original and refreshing spin on the vampire subgenre, and thank goodness because vampiric cinema has certainly been saturated with a lot of repetitive content. Abigail is one of those movies that you feel energetic exiting the theater because it gave you things you wanted that you would never think to ask for.
Quick Reviews: Abigail, Godzilla X Kong, Monkey Man, The First Omen
Quick Reviews: Abigail, Godzilla X Kong…
Quick Reviews: Abigail, Godzilla X Kong, Monkey Man, The First Omen
Abigail I went into this movie thinking I would enjoy it for the sheer absurdity of the premise (a pre-teen ballerina vampire terrorizes her kidnappers in a mansion). And I did, but I enjoyed it far beyond what I anticipated. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett helmed this feature, and I was really impressed with their film “Ready or Not” and their work on the 5th and 6th “Scream” movies I also appreciated. “Abigail” is very close in tone to the former, with horror elements often followed by moments of finely-crafted comedy, and Abigail I would argue is probably funnier and unquestionably bloodier than “Ready or Not”. This flick is very fun and very funny, and honestly much of that credit should go to Alisha Weir’s performance as the pre-teen fanged terror. I often find child performances to be somewhat of a mixed bag in terms of quality, though admittedly it’s not like many screenwriters look to write a truly challenging juvenile role that often. Weir’s performance in “Abigail”, on the other hand, is far more dynamic. She nails the choreography, she delivers some delightful lines of dark comedy throughout, she can balance displaying emotions in a manner that at different times frightening and hilarious, and let’s be honest, any film where a 12 year old vampire ballerina is terrorizing a group of adults while frequently shouting expletives is comedy gold. The supporting cast comes through here as well; it felt like just about everyone had a true character and it made each character demise more impactful overall as a result. This is a loose remake of “Dracula’s Daughter”, but other than that DNA, this felt like an original and refreshing spin on the vampire subgenre, and thank goodness because vampiric cinema has certainly been saturated with a lot of repetitive content. Abigail is one of those movies that you feel energetic exiting the theater because it gave you things you wanted that you would never think to ask for.