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.’”