In her Abigail review, Lisa Johnson Mandell writes how a spoonful of humor helps the mayhem go down, in the most frightful way. The game cast and directors sell it to a broader audience.

Although I don’t hate them, I’ve never had a passionate penchant for horror films—with a few exceptions. M3gan is a recent one fun one that comes to mind. I like my frights served with a heavy helping of humor.

So I was actually looking forward to screening Abigail. The fact that it’s directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, best known Ready or Not and the latest Scream movies, showed promise. This directing duo doesn’t take their movies too seriously—another feature I like in a horror film.

Abigail tells the story of a group of somewhat inexperienced criminals hired to kidnap the ballet dancing daughter of a legendary, uber powerful and vicious underworld king pin. 

But they have no idea who her father is when they sign on to take the job. All they believe they have to do to get their incredibly generous share of a $50 million ransom is snatch the 12-year-old and babysit her for 24 hours in an eerie gothic mansion. They’re not the brightest bulbs in the marquee.

As expected, the better they get to know Abigail, the more complicated (and bloody) things become. As the trailers indicate, Abigail is no helpless kid, but a powerful, bloodthirsty vampire.

Of course there’s gore galore, but it’s comic book stuff, and it’s mostly the bad guys who explode into gallons bloody oatmeal, so it’s not that traumatic. But the surprise and gross out level of those scenes never gets old.

Abigail Review — Toothsome cast

The clever cast is able to gleefully pull it off. It includes one of my all time favorite villains and super nice guy in person Giancarlo Esposito, Melissa Barrera who was so good in In the Heights, and the actor who I will always think of as Lady Mary’s first husband Mathew Crawly in Downton Abby, Dan Stevens.

William Catlett, muscular Kevin Durand, Kathryn Newton and the late Angus Cloud round out the kidnappers, while Alisha Weir is the toothsome kidnapee. I confess it’s the particularly amusing cameo by Matthew Goode, that really tickled me. Anyone who watches the “A Discovery of Witches” series is accustomed to seeing him as a vampire, but I’ll always remember him as Lady Mary’s second husband in Downton Abby. Both her first and second husbands are onscreen together here. It’s just something fun to watch for.

All in all, if you’re not a horror fan, but your bestie or your significant other is, Abigail is a film you can enjoy together. Remind him/her of your compromise when Wicked comes out.

Rated R

1 Hour 49 Minutes

If, after reading this Abigail review, you’re ready to run over to the cineplex and check it out, get times and tickets on Fandango.com.

In her Abigail review, Lisa Johnson Mandell writes how a spoonful of humor helps the mayhem go down, in the most frightful way. The game cast and directors sell it to a broader audience.