REVIEW: Vampiric flick ‘Abigail’ is just average

Spring is apparently the new spooky season because this vampire flick is the latest in a string of horror releases over the last few weeks.

The most recent in the genre to hit theaters stars Melissa Barrera as Joey, one of six criminals looking to pull off a kidnapping for ransom. The job is to abduct a young ballet dancer, Abigail (Alisha Weir), who’s the daughter of a wealthy and powerful, but mysterious figure.

Others on the team include former detective Frank (Dan Stevens), a hacker in Sammy (Kathryn Newton), a getaway driver named Dean (Angus Cloud), weapons expert Rickles (Will Catlett) and a mob enforcer with Peter (Kevin Durand). However, what they don’t know is that they’ve kidnapped a vampire.

Blood is spilt, and drank, in “Abigail” so the movie does cover those bases when it comes to a vampiric horror film. It’s what happens in-between the carnage unleashed by the pint-sized creature of the night that is more hit or miss.

The kidnapping is a good enough device to get things started, but as the film goes on it introduces a lot of story elements that just feel like filler and, unfortunately, makes the film overly convoluted. All this needed to be was a vampire girl slaughtering a group of desperate criminals, but that kind of gets bogged down here.

That’s not to say it’s bad to add intrigue or make the characters more compelling. But what’s added to the movie doesn’t really make things much more interesting. By the time the third act rolls around the whole thing starts to get exhausting.

To be fair, the concept is fun and the film definitely uses it for some entertaining results. When Abigail attacks and the group of abductors try to fight back, it keeps a person hooked with plenty of vampire action. It’s helped by the vampire herself, too.

Alisha Weir brings a lot of sass and confidence to the vampire, who’s likely been around a long while. Once her true self is revealed, she is able to put on a serious, mature demeanor. At the same time, she is of course believable as a child and she uses it to successfully draw sympathy in some moments or act playfully whimsical in others.

The rest of the characters are a bit more mixed. Barrera’s character makes for a good, morally grey protagonist and she’s good as Joey. The rest of the characters range from unmemorable to overly quirky or edgy. That’s especially true with Stevens’ Frank. However, this problem more has to do with the material than the acting.

This is the same creative team behind “Ready or Not” and it feels like they were trying to recreate that horror-comedy style again here, but this time, the banter that the characters spout off for nearly two hours just isn’t as effective. One actually wishes the comedic element was toned down and the horror was turned up.

What’s presented is only mildly funny, and with the overfilled story, it’s far from a classic in the genre. But with that said, the cast is fine, Abigail herself is a good character and there are some really solid bloody scenes. 2.75 out of 5.