Last year’s M3GAN proved that not only are murder dolls never going out of style in theaters, but horror-loving audiences cannot get enough of monster children one-upping adults who make terrible decisions. The upcoming Abigail fits the latter bill and also happens to be the former Untitled Monster Movie from Universal Pictures that features a final performance by late Euphoria breakout Angus Cloud.
Let’s talk about what we know about this upcoming summer horror movie.
Plot
The premise of this film might make you think of Home Alone, given that inept criminals chose to pick on the wrong target before finding egg all over their faces. However, Kevin McCallister never (that we know of) turned into a vampire or even a truly deadly threat. In contrast, Abigail revolves around some dumbass kidnappers targeting the daughter of an underworld kingpin. They gamely haul off the ballet-loving hostage, who of course turns out to be bloodsucking monster. At that point, the criminals are for some reason locked inside an isolated structure with this monster, with whom they supposedly must endure 24 hours, so let the bloodletting begin.
This movie is reportedly at least partially based upon on Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and sure looks like it ups the ante on M3GAN in terms of complicated dance movies from homicidal, doll-like villains.
However, has Abigail been in on the plan to trap the idiot criminals from the start? The below trailer suggests as much, and she does, after all, crack a joke about loving to play with her food. From the synopsis:
In the movie, a group of would-be criminals are set to collect a $50 million ransom if they can watch the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure overnight at an isolated mansion. The catch? Yep, turns out the kid is a bloodsucker.
Abigail re-teams ousted Scream franchise actress Melissa Barrera with Scream directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence. Fortunately for that trio, Scream 7 is being directed by Christopher Landon, so any potential awkwardness of an Abigail press tour won’t be quite as pronounced. For his part, Gillet previously revealed that he and his directing partner were “so damn excited to get to work with Melissa again.” He added that this film definitely “a crime movie that gets hijacked by a monster movie. It’s going to be a bloodbath.” Meanwhile, cast member Kathryn Newton has called the movie “like M3GAN on steroids.”
Cast
The Universal Pictures film stars not only Melissa Barrera, Angus Cloud, and Kathryn Newton but also Dan Stevens, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, and the often-menacing Giancarlo Esposito.
Release Date
Abigail vamps out in theaters on April 19.
Trailer
The trailer promises a bloody good time for the audience, not so much for any of the characters.