23 Things We Learned from the ‘Abigail’ (2024) Commentary

A new Radio Silence film is always reason to celebrate. The pair of co-directors know how to deliver fun, violent action filled with practical FX. So what happens when you throw a vampire ballerina into the mix?

Plot Synopsis: A “Rat Pack” of six thieves are hired to abduct Abigail (Alisha Weir), the daughter of a wealthy and powerful man. Unbeknownst to them – but fair knowledge to the audience – is that Abigail is actually a vampire who enjoys playing with her food.

Film Verdict: While Scream (2022) and Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, working from a script by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick, clearly think half of the fun is delaying the vampire reveal, it does make the first hour of the film a bit draggy. The vampire action is fun, however, and the cast is game. 3.5/5

• For a more comprehensive review, listen to the Horror Queers Patreon episode.

Credit to Rob Hunter (Film School Rejects) for the template for this piece

---

Abigail (2024)

Commentators: Bettinelli-Olpin, Gillett and editor Michael P. Shawver

1. Abigail’s opening ballet number was shot at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin. Originally the script called for a dance studio, but when the Theatre became available, the ballet number was made substantially larger.
2. Weir did not know ballet, so she had to study with choreographer Belinda Murphy. Murphy also worked with Kathryn Newton (Sammy) for the “puppeteering” sequence and has high praise for both actresses.
   • An extended, uninterrupted version of Abigail’s performance can be seen in the “Deleted/Extended scenes” featurette.
3. All of the shots in the van were done on a sound stage because the summer nights in Dublin only last 4 hours.
4. Abigail’s bedroom is actually the dining room of the house.
5. Shawver edited the entire first two acts of the film during the 2023 writers & actor’s strike before production resumed. Universal was so impressed with the footage that they gave Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett more time and resources to “blow the roof off.”
6. Matt and Tyler met everyone in the cast – minus Melissa Barrerra, with whom they’d worked on the Scream films with – only one week before filming began. They’re very complimentary of everyone, stating “the movie lives and dies by [the casting].”
7. All of the scenes in the house except the kitchen and the cellar are part of the same house. Production designer Susie Cullen steered the look away from the original conceit of an abandoned hotel and closer to the hunting lodge look of the finished film. She and her team also hand painted all of the murals in the film.

8. Originally Abigail’s hands were supposed to be handcuffed behind her back the whole time, but the blocking facilitated that they move the handcuffs to the front or else Weir would have to be shot on her side for the whole film. Keeping the handcuffs in the back would have also made the blocking for Abigail and Joey’s pinkie-swear promise very awkward.
   • The pinkie-swear and Dean (Angus Cloud)’s penis drawing on Peter (Kevin Durand)’s face were the two things that sold Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett on the film.
9. On the subject of the penis: Cloud had to draw a series of dicks beforehand so that the directors could sign off on which one they wanted in the actual film.
   • Originally the penis was only going to be in one scene, but they liked the idea of Peter trying to wipe it off (unsuccessfully), so a blurry VFX rendition can still be seen later.
10. Radio Silence love unusual “isms and things” in films (ie: elements, objects or character traits that make audiences question “why are these here?”) because they feel that “straightforward is boring.”
11. You can see the filming style switch to handheld after the vampire reveal, which the pair prefer to what they call “studio mode” (dollies, tracks, etc). Handheld allows them to shoot faster.
12. The hardest sequence to film was Abigail dancing with Dean’s corpse because the longest take was 50 seconds to 1 minute long. That means a lot of set-up and, because Weir is a minor, they were only allowed to use her for a specific amount of hours per day.
13. It was Weir’s idea to wipe her face with blood and stare longingly into Dean’s neck stump. 
14. The word “fuck” is said 212 times in the film (give or take).
15. After Weir delivered her profanity-laden rant at the bottom of the stairs, everyone had a good laugh and she said “Sorry mom!”

16. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett (as well as everyone else) offer high praise to Weir for her professionalism and preparedness. The scene when she reads everyone while trapped in the elevator is an 11 page scene (meant to echo both Hannibal Lecter and Keyser Soze) and Weir could pick up the scene on any line.
17. Dan Stevens‘ character Frank is really Adam Barrett, which is a shout-out to filmmaking friends Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett.
18. The Rat Pack was jokingly referred to as “the Breakfast Club” on set.
19. As the group recovers in the library, Newton changed the blocking so that Sammy sits beside Joey, which Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett praise for opening up Barrera’s performance in the moment.
20. Sammy’s attack on Peter wasn’t heavily scripted. It was one of the last locked bits that they left open to actors (and then to Shawver in the edit). They consider it “a little music video in the middle of the film.”
    • In the “Hunters to Haunted” featurette, Newton explains that she and choreographer Murphy worked on a three minute dance, expecting Radio Silence would use ~20 seconds in the finished film. The directors loved it so much, they kept the full sequence.
    • Danzig’s “Blood and Tears” was their first choice for the dance scene, but they never thought they would get it.
21. There are two types of vampire teeth in the film. Initially there was only one – made of sharp epoxy – until second unit director Wade Allen declared they needed soft teeth for the fight choreography so that no one got hurt.
    • Matthew Goode, who only came in for the last half day of shooting for his scenes as Lazaar/Father, cut his lips on the hard epoxy teeth.
22. The final library scene between Abigail, Joey and Frank took seven days to film.
    • This is also where the production resumed filming after the strikes.
23. There’s no FX in Weir’s back bend recovery from Frank’s attack – it’s all the actress.

Best in Context-Free Commentary

• Regarding the length of time it takes to get the vampire reveal: “We’re walking two roads: the people [watching] now who know Abigail is a vampire…and the people five years from now who click play on a streamer and don’t know.”
• On always favouring practical FX: ““The practical side of effects always over delivers…It just happens to look better and feel better”
• On having Lazaar/Father show up in the final moments of the film: “Not having him in the film [would make the movie] feel unresolved.”

---

Abigail is now available on 4K, Blu and VOD. Featurettes includes:

• Deleted/extended scenes (7 minutes)
• A surprisingly unfunny Gag Reel (9 minutes)
• Blood Reel – on the film’s use of practical FX, make-up and several blood canons (7 minutes)
• Becoming a Ballerina Vampire – how Weir got into character from ‘Abby’, the human character, and ‘Abigail’, the vampire character (4 minutes)
• Directing Duo Matt & Tyler – kind words for the directing pair and the nice, encouraging, loving environment they create on set (5.5 minutes)