The screenplay by Guy Busick and Stephen Shields boasts an original approach and even if in some points the narrative coherence is shamelessly and conveniently set aside and the development becomes awkward, convoluted and dilated (about twenty minutes less would have helped), the result It’s up there with the best recent horror films. Abigail drips with humor, a macabre and eccentric humor, cheeky and provocative which is the recognizable signature of the production company Radio Silence, founded a dozen years ago by Gillett, Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez and Chad Villella. They are part of his stables Till death do Us part and the last two chapters of the Cravenian slasher Scream. The production company specializes in mixing ostentatious gore with bizarre humor and with Abigail achieves the ideal balance between black comedy and horror.
Melissa Barrera as Joey in Abigail, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett.Bernard Walsh/Universal Pictures
The interpretations of Abigail they are definitely good. The characters, morally grey, are anything but mere two-dimensional pawns; rather, they are archetypal figures of the genre which are deconstructed to be recomposed, redefined and given depth, also through the development of a significant background for each of them. In particular, Stevens’ hateful and diabolical Frank shines, resorting to his typical eye rolling (if you’ve seen Legion, you know him) as a transition element to transform his angelic face into a diabolical one. “Kathryn knows how quickly I can go from lovable to creepy” admitted the British actor launched by Downton Abbey and seen, in the role of the maniac, in TheGuest. “I think it’s fun to jump from one to the other, that’s why I love acting”. However, the revelation of the cast is Alisha Weir, a very young actress prodigy who manages with disconcerting naturalness to embody the duality of her character, managing to be credible both as an innocent and frightened victim and as a feral, perverse and cunning predator.
