Abigail gives you two modern takes for the price of one. Firstly, it is a curious reimagining of the 1936 Universal horror film Dracula’s Daughter in which Gloria Holden stars as Countess Marya Zaleska. In that one, Drac’s kid is all grown up. Dracula’s daughter here, a fantastic Alisha Weir as Abigail, is only 12.
Abigail is also a retelling of The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry which has been redone a zillion times and so many different ways. In that story, two crooks kidnap a kid hoping to ransom him off. The tables are turned on though when they realize what a horrendous pain in the ass the kid is and desperately want to send him back where he belongs.
That’s the story of Abigail in a nutshell. A group of criminals kidnap a rich kid only to discover that she is a vampire. Scream star Melissa Barrera, who is well on her way to becoming a modern “scream queen”, is a former army nurse who is in charge of keeping Abigail comfortable until daddy forks over the cash. Obviously, it is just a matter of time before the kidnappers realize they have literally bitten off more than they can chew. “Obviously” is the word of the day for Abigail as everything unravels as you think it would including a convoluted last act which would have been better off if it didn’t stray from the established path. I also wasn’t a fan of Abigail incorporating her ballet moves as she stalks and fights her prey. A few cool kicks are okay but things get way out of hand making her look more silly than sinister.
Abigail has some decent kills and performances from everyone involved. Its ending is just very draining when it didn’t have to be.
Watch on: In theatres, On Demand.
Baghead is a different kind of supernatural horror movie that stands above today’s glut of haunted house and possession movies that have been literally recycled to death at this point unless they are made in Korea, China or Japan. Freya Allan (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and The Witcher) is Iris, a down on her luck woman who inherits a dilapidated pub from her estranged father (Peter Mullan). Iris decides not to immediately sell it to an overly anxious buyer. She instead wants to spend some time there and learn more about her dad. Iris is unaware that the pub has a dark past and that living in the basement is a gruesome yet prized creature (‘Baghead’) who has a shocking and miraculous power that would be dangerous in the wrong hands especially if ‘Baghead’ were allowed to escape into the outside world. There are many twists and turns in this unconventional story. Some will find it incredibly refreshing while others will certainly see it as a scatterbrained mess.
Watch on: Shudder
I have no idea why the Soka Sisters, the Twisted Twins, are a thing. It is probably because they are novelty sister act. They have 11 films to their credit and none of them are very good or even unique. They produce fairly competent, paint-by-numbers, unimaginative horror without any identifiable style or trademark touches. Bloody and bland is the best way to describe their work.
Festival of the Living Dead is no different despite Ashley Moore and Camren Bicondova as friends Ash and Iris. They are really good here. It is a shame Festival is not. The movie is touted as a “spiritual sequel to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead”. It has more in common with Zach Synyder’s lifeless Army of the Dead than the stellar Train to Busan though.
Ash is the teenage granddaughter of Duane Jones’ character from NOTLD. Although she is supposed to be babysitting she is convinced by her friends to attend the…get this…Festival of the Living Dead, the undead version of Glastonbury or Coachella. Faster than you can say…Send more cops!…a rogue meteorite revives the dead. Ash, Iris and their pals have to hack and slash their way to freedom. Unlike NOTLD’s the garden trowel scene, the shock ending, chase scene at the start, etc, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, memorable or impressive about Festival of the Living Dead. Even the kills are as generic as a throat being cut in a slasher flick. From beginning to end, Festival’s ride is on cruise control just like careers of the Soka Sisters.
Watch on: Tubi.
Not sure what the deal is with filmmakers but there are a lot of ‘attack of the spider’ movies on the horizon. This is surely the best one of the bunch. It is Australian so what do you expect. In this creepy monster movie a very small object from outer space crash lands in a New York City apartment building. An adventurous girl naturally named Charlotte (Alyla Browne) finds a spider during one of her Newt-like journeys through the vents of the complex. Charlotte keeps the spider as pet and develops a close, almost too close, relationship at times with Sting but that’s to be expected as her mom (Penelope Mitchell as Heather) and her kind of stepdad (Ryan Corr as Ethan) are trying their best to keep their makeshift family together in the shadow and mystery of Charlotte’s missing father.
Sting gets into lots of gruesome mischief and as he does he eats and eats and grows and grows to the point that he is able to escape the jar that is his home. Thankfully and coincidentally, there is an egghead, science dude living upstairs (Danny Kim as Erik) who is able to provide some insight. He warns the family just as all hell to break loose including a scene torn right out of Alien.
Alyla Browne, who at 14 has already starred the soul-crushing and inspirational The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, The Secret Kingdom, Nine Perfect Strangers and the cruddy Children of the Corn remake, steals the show as the rebellious and frenzied Charlotte. Her slow change from a fragile and sensitive kid to being slightly unhinged and manic is a wicked reveal. The running gag about the missing exterminators is as funny as the cop gag in The Return of the Living Dead.
Watch on: In theatres, On Demand.
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