I hate it when trailers spoil a film’s big twist.
There have been times when I have sworn off seeing a movie in theaters because the spoilers ruined the surprise for me.
Abigail was one such film.
After watching the first trailer, I had no interest in it.
Not because I thought what I saw was bad, but because it felt like I had seen most of the movie just from the trailer.
What ultimately changed my mind about seeing Abigail in theaters was that a lot of reviewers I trusted said it was fun.
That, and it had been months since I watched the trailer and I had forgotten everything it revealed, except for the big twist.
Having now seen the film, I am so glad that I changed my mind.
Abigail is a twisted, gory and, above all else, fun movie. 

Directed by Radio Silence, the film follows six criminals played by Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, and Angus Cloud.
Cloud tragically passed away in 2023, so this will be his final film role.
These criminals are hired to kidnap a little girl, the titular Abigail, played by Alisha Weir, and hold her in a labyrinth-like mansion for 24 hours until her rich father pays the ransom.
However, this seemingly perfect crime quickly goes off the rails as disturbing events unfold, and the criminals quickly begin to suspect this kidnapping may have actually been a trap.
Now, I will be talking about the big surprise the trailer spoiled.
If you have somehow not seen the trailers yet, then I would highly suggest stopping right here and returning once you have seen the movie.
Trust me, Abigail’s twist is better left unspoiled.
If you have continued reading, I will assume you already know the twist or have seen the film.
So, Abigail’s a vampire. 

What made the trailer revealing this so frustrating is that the movie clearly intends this to be a surprise.
The first half-hour to forty-five minutes of the movie is spent building up the mystery of what’s going on until Abigail’s vampiric nature is revealed.
If the trailer had kept this a secret, it would have made this part of the movie much more satisfying.
This is not to say I did not enjoy this first section, though, because the writers do an excellent job of introducing us to the criminals and making them entertaining.
These are people who kidnapped what they thought to be a normal little girl, so I was definitely wanting Abigail to kill them at the beginning.
That being said, there are sympathetic members among their number, such as Melissa Barerra’s Joey, seemingly the only one of the criminals with a moral compass, who proves herself to be a vital strategist once Abigail’s true nature is revealed. 

Then there is Dan Stevens’ Frank, who is delightfully unlikeable throughout, with Stevens delivering a very different performance from the one he gave in Godzilla x Kong.
The final criminal I want to mention is Kevin Durand’s Peter, who got the most laughs in the film as the dumb muscle of the group.
But I saved the best performance for last, and that title undoubtedly goes to Alisha Weir as Abigail.
She had to pull off playing both a frightened girl in the first half, and a sadistic vampire playing with her food in the second, and she nails both roles.
Hell, there were times when both those styles of acting merged and I could not tell if Abigail was being genuine in her interactions with the other characters or not, which made her even creepier. 

Speaking of creep-factor there is a lot of it in this movie, with plenty of disturbing scenes.
There is also a lot of great humor as well, like one particular gag about the characters gathering things they think will kill a vampire.
And then there is the ending, which I found surprisingly touching for a movie about a murderous vampire child luring her victims in by having them literally kidnap her.
Probably the only thing I did not like about this movie, apart from the trailer spoiling the twist, is that Dan Stevens’ character makes an odd decision to do something in the third act of the movie.
It’s not that I found this choice to be unbelievable for the character, it just felt like there needed to be a few extra steps for him to reach such a conclusion.

Otherwise, this movie was a blast.
It’s scary, it’s hilarious and, above all else, it’s a bloody good time.
Abigail is probably my second favorite film of 2024 behind Dune: Part Two.
I can easily imagine myself rewatching it in the future.
If you have not watched Abigail yet, be sure to check out.
And if, like me, you got spoiled by the trailers and are now reluctant to see it, I would still urge you to give the film the chance.
I did, had a lot of fun, and now have zero regrets about it.