‘Abigail’ soaked in blood, humor

Horror movies love to showcase creepy kids.

The titular character in the horror-comedy “Abigail” is more than just creepy. She’s a supernatural killing machine. Papa Dracula must be so proud.

Abigail, played by Alisha Weir (star of Netflix’s charming “Matilda the Musical” from 2022), is an accomplished ballet dancer and daughter to a powerful crime boss. Six criminals kidnap the girl with instructions to take her to an abandoned mansion.

The quest appears simple: Hold the girl for 24 hours and score a huge payday. Unfortunately for the crooks, Abigail is not a normal 12-year-old girl.

With grim humor established near the onset, “Abigail” quickly becomes a gory exercise in schadenfreude. Kidnap a child and you’ll probably get beheaded.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, otherwise known as the directing team Radio Silence (the last two solid “Scream” entries and the similar-in-tone “Ready or Not” from 2019), “Abigail” compensates for its lack of thrills with a steady helping of goofball characters and creative fight sequences. Abigail’s dance skills factor heavily into how she hunts her hapless victims.

Even with hyper-Dracula powers, Weir isn’t exactly an imposing presence in “Abigail,” so the film’s success rests mostly with the vampire’s prey, led by Dan Stevens (doing a totally different type of weird compared to the weird in “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”) as a former cop and Melissa Barrera (the lead of those recent “Scream” sequels) as a recovering addict (with a heart of gold and an estranged son). Other welcome performances include Kathyrn Newton (“Lisa Frankenstein”) as a disinterested hacker and Kevin Durand as the gang’s dim-witted muscle. Giancarlo Esposito pops in for an expanded cameo as well.

Once it becomes “Vampire v. Goons,” “Abigail” delivers one entertainingly bloody sequence after another, and the darkly comic script by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick leans into the ridiculousness of its premise. Just when it seems like it's repeating itself, “Abigail” reveals a new surprise that carries into the next, even-more-ridiculous fight sequence.

As a genre exercise, “Abigail” delivers with practical effects, solid performances and a tone that encourages audiences to revel in the characters’ terrible misfortune. If it makes enough money at the box office, maybe it can be adapted into an actual, bloody ballet.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.

    This image released by Universal Pictures shows Alisha Weir and Kathryn Newton in a scene from the film "Abigail."
  

    This image released by Universal Pictures shows Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens in a scene from the film "Abigail."