Get ready to scream.
Kidnapped ballerina and, unbeknownst to her captors, very hungry vampire Abigail is out for blood. Don’t miss this bloody feast when “Abigail” premieres in cinemas on April 17. And if you’re not the type who scares easily, dare to catch “Abigail” at midnight on opening day.
From Radio Silence, the directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (“Scream” 2022, “Scream VI”), “Abigail” begins with a high-stakes heist, a dangerous mission that, if all goes according to plan, could net six strangers a staggering $50 million. Recruited for the job by a mysterious fixer, the team comprises the driver, the sniper, the medic, the muscle, the hacker, and the thin man, aka head of operations. Their real identities are kept secret from each other as a kind of insurance; should one of them be caught, that person would be unable to implicate her or his co-conspirators. Together, they must infiltrate the well-appointed home of a reclusive kingpin who presides over a vast criminal empire. After sedating and abducting his pre-teen ballerina daughter, Abigail (played by Alisha Weir), the crew must safely transport the girl back to a remote mansion, then settle in to wait for the sun to rise and the cash to turn up. But once inside the isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.
Says co-director Gillett: “It’s really through horror movies that you get to do all those things in one story. There’s just nothing quite like the experience of being in a crowded theater, having a shared catharsis, being scared together, laughing together. What we want is for people to leave having had a great time.”
Meet the heist crew and the young ballerina vampire out for bloody vengeance in Abigail.
Abigail (played by Alisha Weir)
The daughter of a wealthy kingpin, Abigail is a pre-teen ballerina and the frightened kidnapping victim of the heist crew – before she reveals herself to be a centuries-old vampire who enjoys chasing and feasting on her prey. “Our goal was to make Abigail as strong and specific as possible, then add the monster window dressing,” says co-writer Guy Busick. “The producers and Radio Silence and I had a blast figuring out which ‘traditional’ vampire powers and weaknesses she should have. Can she turn into a bat? No, but she can fly. Does garlic affect her? No, but sunlight does. We wanted her to be terrifying, intimidating, and manipulative whether her fangs were out or not.”
Joey (Melissa Barrera)
A skilled medic with combat training, Joey administers the tranquilizer that sedates Abigail, allowing the team to extract the child from her securely guarded home. Trouble is, Joey never would have signed up had she been made aware that the target was a child. Her innate empathy and compassion mark her as the closest thing to a conventional hero in a film filled with monsters, both literal and metaphorical. “This is the most that I’ve ever been covered in blood, and I’ve been covered in blood a lot,” Barrera says. “We’re going all out in this movie.”
Frank (Dan Stevens)
If Joey is the closest thing to the group’s moral compass, Frank is its ethically compromised leader. “I saw him very much as a bigot, probably racist and very ripe for corruption, which puts him right where we want him for our story,” says Stevens, who was eager to play the disgraced detective in the film.
Sammy (Kathryn Newton)
Recruited to the team for her unparalleled tech savvy, hacker Sammy easily sneaks past the sophisticated computerized defenses protecting Abigail’s home. But unlike the other kidnappers, Sammy joins up for the mission not so much for the ransom – rather, she’s looking for cheap thrills. “Sammy’s a little bit of a mystery,” says Newton.
Peter (Kevin Durand)
Physically imposing, Peter serves as the muscle on the job, but he’s far from a simple brute. For Durand, Peter is a man wrestling with a guilty conscience who’s doing what he must to survive. “Peter wants to go in and do the job – he doesn’t really need or want to know the specifics,” Durand says. “That’s the only way he can justify his means of making a living.”
Rickles (Will Catlett)
“Rickles is a person you want on your team,” says Catlett, who plays the film’s skilled sniper, a career soldier who lives by his own moral code. “Rickles is very loyal, but he’s a guy that you don’t want to cross.” He’s also a guy with finely honed instincts that tell him something is amiss at Wilhelm Manor.
Dean (Angus Cloud)
Dean is a supremely talented wheelman, a seemingly unflappable figure whose heart rate hardly flutters even when he’s fleeing a cluster of squad cars. The key supporting role went to Euphoria actor Angus Cloud, who passed away July 31, 2023, at the age of 25. Abigail is one of his final screen appearances. “Dean is just in it for the money, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get paid,” Cloud said in an interview during production. “He’s a crazy guy, kind of fried out, but he’s good at driving getaway cars.”
“Angus really was a special soul,” says producer William Sherak. “He’s amazing in the movie, but stepping back from that, the levity he brought to the set, the humor – he was a guy you just wanted to be around. He was a magnet for good vibes. I’m grateful that we had this moment in our lives that we got to spend with him.”
Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito)
“He is an organizer,” says Esposito, who took on the role of the behind-the-scenes power broker. “He’s a businessman who is on the shady side of things, but he gets things done.”
Fang out and get ready for a bloody time at the cinemas when “Abigail” opens April 17. Book your tickets now! #AbigailMoviePH
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