Abigail Film Review...

“Keyser Söze!” Wait…wrong film. But there’s a reason I’m mentioning this cinematic monster, alluding to The Usual Suspects (1996). 

I went into watching Abigail (2024) from a comment I overheard last weekend at BaltiCon 60. The congoer alluded to the film, especially the ending, hinting that Krystoff Lazar (Matthew Goode, Watchmen) is a monster, a classic monster, the classic monster, in his own right. 

Also, knowing what it was about—and this is another example of a film where I wished I was completely ignorant of its premise—going in I thought it would include one of those "SURPRISE!" plot twists that changes the film from what it originally contended to be to a supernatural horror thriller, à la Sinners (2025) and From Dusk Til Dawn (1996). 

And I hated, just hated those films. To me, films like this seem confused, and the suspension of disbelief is hardly present. 

Furthermore, since this is a horror film, I wondered if the old and stale horror film trope of “all the victims have to act stupid before they die” would also be a factor here. 

And I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with Abigail. For the most part. None of the above issues I dreaded occurred in this film. The story itself was smartly conceived, with all major plot elements tidily resolved, and even the characters had distinct personalities—i.e., they were not stereotypes. 

And the horror element, Abigail (Alisha Weir, Matilda: The Musical) revealing herself as a little monster, acts as a twist but does not annoyingly turn the tide of the film’s plot, like the films I mentioned above. 

I mentioned The Usual Suspects above because both movies focus on an unsuspecting "victim" who is actually the mastermind and the deadliest monster in the room. The similarity, if not the valentine, worked well. Also, it mirrors TUS because all of the characters—who were at first hired to do a job and did not know each other—were brought together by the mastermind for the purposes of revenge and payback

All in all, this film is a good one-off, and I recommend it to horror fans. But it is not worth multiple viewings, because the twists only happen once and stick in your mind. I would say that TUS falls under the same judgment, but I’m planning to watch that film again. So we’ll see.