Summary

• Abigail flips genre expectations from heist to monster movie, offering surprises and a gory, terrifying experience.
• The stacked cast, including Kathryn Newton and Dan Stevens, shines in this fresh take on vampire horror.
• Characters like Frank and Joey add layers of mistrust and tension in a house filled with bloodthirsty monsters.

Abigail follows a crew of criminals who kidnap a 12-year-old girl in order to collect a $50 million ransom from her father, a powerful figure in the criminal underworld. However, as tensions rise, they discover that there is more to Abigail than they anticipated. Trapped in the house with a bloodthirsty monster, they will do whatever it takes to survive as their prey-turned-predator hunts them down.

Abigail is helmed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the brilliant directing minds behind Ready or Not, Scream, and Scream VI. With their signature tone of terrifying horror and tension-breaking comedy, Abigail plays with expectations of the genre when what begins as a heist film shifts into a blood-filled monster movie. Abigail has a stacked cast, bringing together pillars of the modern horror age, including Melissa Barrera, who is reunited with Radio Silence after Scream and Scream VI.

Screen Rant interviewed stars Kathryn Newton and Dan Stevens about their new horror movie, Abigail. The duo discussed playing with genre and audience expectations and Stevens explained how his character, Frank, fits into the team of criminals. Newton teased a character unlike any she has played before and praised the collaborative nature of Gillett and Betinelli-Opin.

Abigail Is "Constantly Playing With Your Expectations"

Abigail plays with genre throughout the movie. At its core is the balance of horror and humor that Radio Silence has become known for, but where it seems to begin as a heist movie, as the crew kidnaps Abigail, it soon takes a turn into a monster movie, with the criminals no longer being the predators and instead being revealed to be the prey.

Kathryn Newton: Wow, that's such a good question. I love all those genres, right? We love genre films, and my favorite thing about ours is that you flip it. You flip the genre, you flip the tropes; you think you know who Sammy is, and then you definitely don't by the end. And that's why I love horror. There are a lot of surprises in this movie [thanks to] Matt and Tyler and the whole [of] Radio Silence. I have never seen such a gory film in my life. 30,000 liters of blood.

Dan Stevens: It's a lot of blood. They are very, very playful filmmakers, Matt and Tyler. Radio Silence, that's their hallmark. You're going have a great time, you're going to laugh, you're going to scream — and they really turn it up with this one. They are very playful with their audience.

The first few seconds of the movie, you think you're watching a beautiful ballet movie. It's very atmospheric and calm, and then that changes into a heist movie. Then we're sort of locked in this house, and then really weird s--t starts to happen. It's just constantly playing with your expectations and taking you for a ride.

Newton has become well known in the horror space starring in Freaky and Lisa Frankenstein. Each character she plays in this genre feels vastly different, although she couldn't fully explain what sets her Abigail character apart. She did tease that this is completely different from any other character she has played before. She also praised the collaborative spirit of Gillett and Betinelli-Opin's directing style.

Kathryn Newton: I can't really talk about it without spoiling anything. But if you watch this movie, I've never played a character like this before, and I would like to do it again. I think when I read it, it was such a great opportunity as an actress because it's a huge arc. Then when I met Matt and Tyler, I could tell that they were so loving and supportive, and I just wanted to do a good job. As a horror fan, you see what's in the script, you see what's in the trailer, and you know what's coming for you. Yet I had no idea that this was going to be such a good opportunity.

Even the dance! That was [small gesture] this big in the script. The boys said, "Yeah, whatever you just showed us, we're doing that. We're going to teach it to Alisha, and it's going to become a real thing." And that's an ode to their filmmaking quality. It's art; it's a film. We're making a movie, and the best idea wins.

Dan Stevens' Abigail Character "Doesn't Trust" The Rest Of The Crew

The heist crew offers an interesting dynamic, with each member keeping closely guarded secrets about their identity. Trust doesn't come easily to a bunch of criminals, especially as they are trapped in a house with a bloodthirsty monster. Stevens offered insight into his character, Frank, the role he has in the crew, and why he butts heads with Barrera's character through Abigail.

Dan Stevens: Frank hates everybody, it seems — especially Sammy. But he's very suspicious of Melissa's character, Joey, from the beginning. And you get the sense that he's kind of pulled together this team. I don't know how one pulls together a heist team in real life, but anyway, these characters have been thrown together. He doesn't trust any of them and doesn't like any of them, but there's a leadership jostle with Joey.

Joey has the privilege of this contact with Abigail. She develops this special relationship with her, which kind of gives her the upper hand by the end of the movie very much. I think it's that. Joey is really kind of challenging him for the Alpha Dog top spot, and that really pisses him off.

When asked about Big Little Lies season 3, Newton remained tight-lipped, joking that she couldn't risk spoiling anything.

Kathryn Newton: No, of course not. [Laughs] What do you mean? What do you think you're getting out of me? I can't even tell you what happens in the movie I'm talking to you about. How do you think I could talk to you about something else? What's up with that? All my career. It's just secrets, secrets, secrets. And all I do is spoil everything! I'm not doing it today. No spoilers.

About Abigail

After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an 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.

Check out our other Abigail interviews:

• Screen Rant's Abigail set visit
• Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin at WonderCon
• Dan Stevens at CinemaCon
• Melissa Barrera & Alisha Weir
• Tyler Gillett and Matt Betinelli-Opin
• Kevin Durand & William Catlett

Abigail hits theaters on April 19.

Source: Screen Rant Plus