Girls, I am telling you, if you thought "Black Swan" was extreme, "Abigail" goes it so further it is beyond belief. Not that it is a good film; in simple terms it is about a group of highly despicable people who are deservedly gaslit.
The film begins with Abigail (supposed to be 12, but played by 15-year-old Alisha Weir, in a hilarious performance I wish Margaret O' Brien had had the chance to do back in the nineteen-forties) dancing by herself to an empty theater. Very much like a shout out of 1977's "The Turning Point". I knew in advance she was a vampire, but I expected the entire story to take place within the world of ballet.
How wrong I was. Because as Abigail leaves the theater, she is kidnapped by some group of amateur thugs who don't know each other but have orders to take her to a remote house outside the city. That city happens to be Dublin, since the film was shot in Ireland. And, yes, there are some nice location shots.
But the whole thing turns out to be some scheme concocted by Abigail and her father to acquire victims they can feed off of. I did not care if any of them survived, so little character development is explored in the script, and I am not a prude, but I have to say the "f" word is used more times here than in David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross." Only there it had a purpose.
There is no purpose here except for Weir to steal the show by showing her fangs, and doing ballet pirouettes mixed with kung-fu moves. Oh, that reminds me. In the real world of dance, would a girl this young be doing pointe work? Somehow, I don't think so.
Weir makes the film a campy delight; unfortunately, more screen time is devoted to her alleged captors, whom nobody cares about.
I have no doubt there will be a sequel. "Abigail Goes To Juilliard?" "Abigail Goes To ABT?"
Stay tuned, and find out, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so poignant now that Angus Cloud is no longer with us.
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
ReplyDeleteYes, and I did not know that till the end, when the screen said,
"In Memory Of Angus Cloud." He plays his role well, but the character is despicable.