Dancing fiend: Abigail (Alisha Weir) is not just good at ballet.
BEFORE THE TRAILER dropped for the new film from impish horror filmmaking duo Matt Bettinelli- Olpin and Tyler Gillett (collectively known as Radio Silence), precious little was known about it, other than it was a monster movie made by Universal Pictures. Which got tongues wagging about the nature of said monster. Was it a werewolf ? A Creature From The Black Lagoon? And then, about a minute into Abigail’s preview footage, the matter was somewhat settled as its seemingly sweet title character reveals a mouth filled with fangs. “We kidnapped a fucking vampire,” says Melissa Barrera, before Kathryn Newton’s character adds the all-important capper: “A ballerina vampire!”
Yes, folks, Abigail is about a young ballerina —played by Matilda’s Alisha Weir —who turns out to be a vampire, much to the chagrin of the criminals who are brought together to kidnap and babysit her for 24 hours. “In the opening scene she was at a ballet class,” explains Bettinelli-Olpin of their protagonist’s favourite pastime, “and it was kind of a part of the character. But once we met Alisha, she was like, ‘I’m really good at dancing,’ and it became, ‘Ooh, let’s steer into that. Let’s make that part of the identity of the movie.’”
And so now Abigail is in full-blown ballerina garb for the entire movie, pirouetting her way through the gang with wild abandon. “It just felt like, ‘This is the iconic feel of the movie,’” adds Gillett. “The imagery is this young girl, in a tutu, covered in blood because she’s been on a killing spree. Our goal is always to find and design a character that feels like, ‘Ooh, fuck, that’s gonna be a cool Halloween costume.’”
As well as Barrera, reteaming with Gillett and Bettinelli- Olpin after Screams 5 and 6, and Newton, the kidnappers who find themselves on Abigail’s menu include Dan Stevens, the late Angus Cloud, and Giancarlo Esposito. The directors are loath, this far from release, to say too much, but they promise more than mere cannon-fodder. “Everybody in this movie has done a bad thing,” says Bettinelli- Olpin. “There are no good characters. But there are different moments where your allegiance might shift.”