Violent R-Rated Horror Thriller On Peacock Is One Of The Year’s Gems

In Abigail, a group of kidnappers soon find themselves over their heads in deep water after their target turns out to not just be a teenage girl (which is terrifying in and of itself) but a bloodthirsty vampire.

The team attempts to survive the night in a locked-down house with the menacing presence to earn their chunk of money only to be knocked off one by one when their prisoner becomes their hunter.

Absolutely stacked with a call sheet filled with some of the biggest names of today, Abigail features performances from Melissa Barrera (Scream), Dan Stevens (Legion), Kathryn Newton (Lisa Frankenstein), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Kevin Durand (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), Will Catlett (The Devil You Know), and Angus Cloud (Euphoria) in a posthumous release.

In the role of the blood-sucking villain is Alisha Weir who audiences will recognize from her starring appearance in Matilda the Musical.

Considered to be a passion project for Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, Abigail was one of the deciding factors that went into the collaborative duo’s exit from the Scream franchise. The pair reinvigorated the film series made famous by Wes Craven with 2022’s Scream before returning to the helm for 2023’s Scream VI.

While they were expected to continue carrying the torch that has illuminated Ghostface for all these years, they stepped down from the seventh installment to make room in their schedules for Abigail.

Aside from their offerings to the slasher franchise, Radio Silence has largely stayed involved in the horror genre, having previously worked on movies including V/H/S, Southbound, and Devil’s Due.

Their real breakthrough came in 2019 with the Samara Weaving and Adam Brody-led film Ready or Not which fully fleshed out the comedic and meta leanings that have served them well in all of their other projects. Abigail is no different with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments piled on top of jump scares and complete gross-out situations. 

At the box office, Abigail feasted on a successful run, earning $42.4 million against its $28 million production budget. For the most part, audiences and critics embraced the latest Universal Monsters flick, putting it up there with the success of Leigh Whannell’s 2020 reimagining of The Invisible Man. 

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From our perspective, there’s little not to love about Abigail. The film’s writing and plot are superb with a few twists that audiences won’t see coming until it’s too late.

And then there’s Weir’s background in classical dance, which the filmmakers used to their benefit, weaving in some out-of-control choreography in parts where you’d least expect.

You can see what the hype is all about now as Abigail is streaming on Peacock.