Abigail (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-Ray]

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton

Release Date: July 9, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Radio Silence, the filmmakers behind the horror hits Ready or Not, Scream (2022) and Scream VI, bring a brash and bloodthirsty new vision of vampires with Abigail. 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.

‘Abigail’ follows a group of criminals who are hired to pull off a heist, but soon discover that the real purpose of their mission is to kidnap a young girl and hold her for ransom; all they have to do is settle in at an aging mansion and babysit the girl for twenty-four hours until the deal can be completed. Or at least that’s what they initially believed. When the team begins to die in gruesome fashion one after another they begin to realize that they aren’t dealing with an ordinary little girl at all, but something far more terrifying and surviving the night might not be as simple as they thought.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready Or Not, Scream VI) from a screenplay written by Stephen Shields (The Hole in the Ground) and Guy Busick (Ready or Not), Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett do a fantastic job at the helm of ‘Abigail’ expertly guiding along the bloody fun and chaos with a humorous edge. The film’s notable cast includes Melissa Barrera (Scream 2022), Dan Stevens (The Guest), Kathryn Newton (Lisa Frankenstein), Will Catlett (The Devil You Know), Kevin Durand (Primal), Angus Cloud (Your Lucky Day), Alisha Weir (Wicked Little Letters) and Giancarlo Esposito (Money Monster) who provide capable and fitting performances for the most part in each of their respective roles and help contribute to the fun throughout.

‘Abigail’ is a wildly enjoyable and blood drenched ride from the Radio Silence team that’s as humorous and at times goofy as it is gruesome and brutal, while providing audiences with a unique villain that’s awfully fun to watch go crazy. The majority of the film is largely relegated to an ancient mansion where all of the chaos plays out and curiously the entire location is so expansive that instead of offering a claustrophobic feel, it actually feels endless at times leaving the characters unsure of what to expect from one room to another, not to mention having no idea what corner, room or hallway the evil little ballerina might launch an attack on them from at any point; a vibe more similar to a horror film set in the open woods than one limited to a specific location.

Radio Silence definitely has a talent for making horror films that are incredibly bloody and graphic with a serious undertone and story, yet balanced with a darkly humorous edge that when done right only makes the ordeal all the more fun along the way. ‘Abigail’ is certainly no exception to this and they repeatedly finds clever ways to leave the viewer grossed out or shocked by the carnage only to have us laughing from some twisted gag or situation a moment later, while always keeping the level of insanity and fun turned to high in the best way possible. The film also benefits tremendously from a stellar cast that includes many familiar faces who each play their part beautifully and help to keep the ride running smoothly at nearly every turn.

Overall, ‘Abigail’ is a massively fun, bloody and darkly humorous ride that starts off strong and only continues to pick up the pace along the way until it finally reaches a level that’s fitting of the over the top gore fest it is. Radio Silence once again hits genre gold and traps viewers in a degrading mansion with multiple thieves and one little girl, yet the little girl is the only true threat within and horror fans are the real winners here because ‘Abigail’ is another unique offering from the team that only exceeds expectations and never loses its edge or sense of humor, dark as it might be. If you’re a fan of the Radio Silence team’s work or are just excited about this film alone but haven’t yet had a chance to give it a watch, then ‘Abigail’ is definitely highly recommended and well worth checking out.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Abigail’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks great overall and offers a clean, colorful and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that holds up capably and never suffers from any notable issues to be uncovered along the way. Detail is solid throughout and characters, carnage and the expansive, seemingly never-ending maze of the mansion offer crisp specifics that look very nice at every turn. Colors are rich and bold, especially noticeable on the wealth of blood spouting around throughout, while black levels are deep and rich. Overall, this is a pretty great High Definition video presentation that does its job well and should leave viewers satisfied.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack delivers a crisp, clean and fairly aggressive audio presentation throughout that does a nice job of contributing to the fun on screen. It consistently utilizes all seven available channels in order to send music, some action and gore related effects along with a fair amount of other tidbits and effects zipping throughout the various speakers when appropriate, while still ensuring that any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously with one another remain clean and fully audible at all times. Overall, this is a solid 7.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that sounds quite good throughout and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘Abigail’ features some fun extras that fans of the film should enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett and Editor Michael P. Shawver’, in addition to a few ‘Deleted & Extended Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 7 minutes in length combined) and a ‘Gag Reel’ (running approximately 10 minutes). Also included is a collection Behind the Scenes Featurettes that include interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Blood Bath’ (running approximately 7 minutes), ‘Hunters to Hunted’ (approximately 5 minutes), ‘Becoming a Ballerina Vampire’ (4 minutes) and ‘Directing Duo Matt & Tyler’ (6 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Abigail: Collector’s Edition’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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You can purchase ‘Abigail’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

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