One of the core franchises of the entire horror genre isthe Universal Monsters. Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, and the Creature From the Black Lagoon have all wreaked havoc on their fictional worlds and audiences for over a century. King among these beasties is the original vampire,Dracula. But Universal does not get the credit for creating the Count. That honor goes to the Irish writerBram Stoker, who penned the novel in the late 1800s.So, what better way to give the world another Dracula tale than to bring it home to the story’s birthplace?
The latest Universal Monsters movie,Abigail, is atotal reimagining ofDracula’s Daughter,the direct sequel to their seminal horror film 1931’sDracula, starringBela Lugosias the titular Count. Bringing the monstrous nepo baby into the 2020s is the pairing ofTyler GillettandMatt Bettinelli-Olpin, known as Radio Silence. The duo has given us some of the most beloved and immediately iconic horror pictures of the last decade, from the bloody survivalist filmReady or Notto the last two Scream movies, which successfully (both financially and critically) proved that the series could survive past its creatorWes Craven(whether that can still be said today… is another story).
After a group of criminals kidnaps the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.
Who Stars in ‘Abigail’?
AbigailstarsMatilda the MusicalbreakoutAlisha Weiras the titular vampire, who unleashes bloody carnage on the team of misfits who have been hired to kidnap and hold her hostage for a ransom. Weir’s co-lead isMelissa Barrerawho worked with Radio Silence on the last two Scream films as the franchise’s new Final Girl, Sam Carpenter. They are joined byDan Stevens,Kathryn Newton,Kevin Durand,Will Catlett,Giancarlo Esposito, and the lateAngus Cloud. Last summer, a group of journalists and I traveled to Dublin (well, they did; I hopped on a bus) and visited the formidable Glenmaroon House, the manor in which most of the movie was filmed.The house is the bloody, beating heart of the entire production, and using as much of the premises as possible was of the utmost importance to the crew.And for the perfect house to be nestled in the very city that the novel that started this all was written in… there’s just one word for it: serendipity.
I say serendipity for two reasons: Number one, that’s how Bettinelli-Olpin described it, and secondly, they did not choose the city simply becauseDraculawas written by an Irish writer. Rather, it seemed that all paths led to Dublin — its central character is played by a child actor who grew up in the city, as did the film’s co-writer,Stephen Shields(The Hole in the Ground); they also got attractive tax incentives, and Ireland is known for its professional film crews. The country also offers shorter days of work, and Dublin city, interestingly, passes for a Boston substitute, as the film’s producerRon Lynchlikened the docklands of Ireland’s capital city to New England. As Dublin has become more and more of a tech city, with skyscrapers right beside the river, it was a believable fill-in for Boston.
Most of ‘Abigail’ Was Filmed in Glenmaroon House in Dublin
Out of the entire film, just two sets were constructed in the studio, including the finale’s set piece. Glenmaroon House, however, is a Victorian home nestled in a Northern suburb of Dublin. It was built in the 18th century and was a former weekend home of the Guinness family (yes,thatGuinness family). One of the subsequent owners had a secret entrance put in so his “ladies of the night” didn’t have to use the front door. Our guide, Joanne Byrne, observed that they didn’t have to do much to the house to make it scary. In short, it’s a home thatMike Flanaganwould drop to his knees before and kiss the ground of. It might not be as opulent or large as the castles you’ll find in a British period drama, but for a house pretty close to the center of a capital city, it’s huge. And inside, it feels like it’s neverending. It opens to a huge foyer with a central staircase.We observed the filming of one of the earlier scenes in the film here, as Esposito’s Lambert is providing instructions to the team of kidnappers.He confiscates their cellphones and informs them of their seemingly simple task — lock down the house and keep the girl isolated.
We also got a first-hand look at Abigail’s bedroom and her ballet theater. The centerpiece of her bedroom is a four-poster bed, like something out ofBeauty and the Beast. The attention to detail of the sets is astounding, with blankets in wardrobes that are never opened, and a careful balance between the innocence of Abigail’s “youth” as well as a pervading creepy atmosphere that reminds you that violence and bloodshed are just around every corner. The same goes for the theater room. A large bloodstain lies in the middle of the stage, and from what we see in the trailer,Abigailis going to giveBlack Swana run for its money in its exploitation of something as pure and beautiful as ballet to make it something monstrous.
‘Abigail’ Is Radio Silence’s Bloodiest Film to Date
We were then able to step inside the surveillance room, which seems to be the setting for some of the movie’s eventful scenes.I say that because the floor was almost completely covered in fake blood and guts. The Overlook’s elevators look tame compared to this! The directors have teased thatAbigailistheir bloodiest film yet, and within just minutes of being inside Glenmaroon, you have absolutely no doubt that that is true.
In between shooting scenes, Radio Silence spoke about the film’s gore,adding thatAbigailis “Ready or Noton steroids” in terms of the amount of bloodiness the audience can expect.Via follow-up on Zoom a few weeks ago, with the film’s release looming, I asked if this being their bloodiest film yet was accidental, to which they said a definitive no — and it all comes back to the titular monster. Gillett said that having a 13-year-old vampire as the primary antagonist “felt to us like it just meant that we could go harder and more extreme and have more fun with the gore and the violence.” They wanted to strike a humorous, absurd tone — and what better way to do that than to drench a tutu-clad teenage vampire in copious amounts of fake blood?
‘Abigail’ Is Both a Heist Movie and a Horror Movie
Beyond the red stuff, what drew Radio SIlence to the film wasthe combination of genres. We were told repeatedly throughout the visit that what compelled a lot of the cast and crew to come onto the project was how it tonally shifts genres halfway through.Abigailstarts as a heist film, with a gang of strangers brought together to extort millions out of a wealthy man by holding his daughter hostage. But when they realize that she is, in fact, a bloodthirsty vampire, the horror sensibilities take over.
Abigail’s directors summed it up perfectly by saying, “It’s a heist movie that gets hijacked by a monster movie.”They were drawn by the opportunities this dichotomy of genres could provide for fun character development as well as the ability to see the characters go through “the most insane and absurd situation.” This central idea extended to casting: it was imperative for all the performers to understand this assignment, and be able to approach the movie through both genres. For all youDraculapurists, however, don’t expect to see much dedication to the original text; Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin say that “It’s a bit of a fuck you to the lore.”
‘Abigail’ Is an Apex Predator in New Image From Radio Silence’s Universal Horror
The movie scares in the theatres on April 19.
Almost every person we spoke to raved about the terrifying abilities of young Alisha Weir.Despite making her name in the world by playing aRoald Dahlheroine who fervently believes in doing the right thing, we can expect to see her rip her co-stars to shreds. As Radio Silence put it, “She has blown us away every step of the way.” And Weir is perhaps the performer with the most pressure on her, as Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin point out that the film “lives or dies by how that role is performed.” But from how her colleagues speak about her,Abigail’s pulse is pounding along.
‘Abigail’s Characters Are Just as Important as the Blood and Gore
William Sherak, the producer ofAbigail,and past Radio Silence films such asReady or Notand the previous two Scream films, emphasized the importance of characters — not just inAbigailbut in all of his collaborations with Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin: “You wanted Samara [Weaving] to live through the night [inReady or Not] … it mattered.”
The concept ofAbigailat its heart is “What happens when you take real characters and put them in the craziest situation”said Sherak. We can expect to see very real characters having very authentic reactions to some otherworldly situations. Just like in Scream andReady or Not, it’s essential to create characters that the audience will invest in and care about their fates. Whether we’re rooting for them to survive or waiting for them to get an ax in the head, it doesn’t matter as long as the viewers want to see what happens to them in the end. “Take that and add a 14-year-old girl who is tearing people limb by limb,” Sherak added.
Kathryn Newton Says Making ‘Abigail’ Was “Traumatic”
Actor Kathryn Newton also took time to chat with the group for a few minutes in between scenes in Glenmaroon House’s very own church — complete with a confessional box — and compared being in Glenmaroon House toAlice in Wonderland, with the house full of new worlds to explore. Like her co-stars, she was quick to compliment the directors on their openness to collaboration, “They say yes to everything.” Her evidence of this is one of her character’s many tattoos, which plainly states: “Fuck Mom.” She also claimed that herAbigailcharacter, Sammy, “has the best transition of any character I have ever played in my entire life.”
Sammy is involved in a lot of the action in the trailer, with one scene seeing her navigating a pool full of dead body parts. While Alisha Weir had no issue with the excessive blood in the film, this set piece was a different story — “that definitely freaked me out and threw me.“Newton said thatAbigailhas been “the most traumatic experience I’ve ever had in the best, coolest way” and that making the movie was a much bigger challenge than her work in the MCU.We can also expect Newton to join Weir in the film’s dance sequences,which she told Collider’s Perri Nemiroff are like “M3GANon steroids.”
The ‘Abigail’ Actors Loved Shooting in Ireland
Will Catlett plays Rickles in the film, a character he described as “the one that keeps everything grounded.” What impressed him the most while makingAbigail? The crew. “Everyone is mindful of people’s time.” He later went on to describe the production as feeling “like artists have come together to try and create something magical and something worth viewing.” Meanwhile, Canadian actor Kevin Durand inhabits Peter, the muscle of the group, who takes a gentler approach to Abigail (until she reveals herself to be a flesh-eating monster, probably). This is the third time he has worked in Ireland, and he even wrote and finished a script during filming. In Durand’s own words, it “always feels like there’s a little extra magic” when filming in Ireland — though he joked that the country “makes me a crazy person, or it gives me a heightened clarity.” The backstory of his character was a huge part of Durand’s process, and the actor wrote his own history for Peter.
In a separate interview via Zoom, as he was preparing not only for the release ofAbigailbutGodzilla x Kong: The New Empireas well, Dan Stevens was quick to sing the praises of his young co-star, Weir, who he called “one of the most professional people I’ve ever worked with.” He also spoke highly of the late Angus Cloud, who tragically passed away just weeks after our set visit. Stevens said that Cloud was “just a joy to work with and really was like a sweet little brother for us all on set.“He also teased what seems to be an insane finale — “The whole crew gathered around to watch it like a fireworks display or something, this mad culmination. It was really fun.”The most surprising thing we learned from Stevens was that his character’s look of slicked-back hair was inspired by…I Think You Should Leave. Gillett confirmed this by saying “90% of our text chain with Dan Stevens is justI Think You Should Leavereferences and memes.”
Alisha Weir and Melissa Barerra Talk ‘Abigail’s Gore and Working with Radio Silence
In a separate Zoom follow-up with Barrera and Weir, both were noticeably excited to talk about the film and speak to each other’s talents. Barrera was adamant that filming in Ireland informed her approach to theDraculalore. Filming on location helps to bond the cast, which seems to be a priority on a Radio Silence production. Barrera added that on all the films she has done with Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin, the cast all live in the same building to create a “make-shift family.”
Moving onto the gore, Barerra reaffirmed her director’s and co-star’s claims — this movie is going to be an absolute bloodbath. “We had blood canons— that says a lot.” Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin were constantly asking for more blood, which she says was similar to her experience working on the Scream films. While filming anAbigailscene, it got to a point where Barerra was so drenched in blood that all you could make out of her face were her eyes and teeth. They had to remove fake blood just to give her face dimension.
It’s clear that after three movies together, Barerra, Gillett, and Bettinelli-Olpin have a close working relationship. Barrera said that their work ethic has become intuitive and that it’s a “privilege to work with friends,”and withAbigail, she reiterated the sentiment that Radio Silence is “going back to theirReady or Notroots — but on steroids.”The reason for their success, in Barrera’s mind? Their unique talent for striking a balance between the blood and gore and the humor.
Barrera and Weir have also clearly formed a strong bond after filming together. They exchanged gifts at the end of the shooting, and to mutual surprise, it was the exact same present: a necklace with their character’s initials on it. Over Zoom, Barrera jumped at the opportunity to compliment her young scene partner. “She never skipped a beat, she never made one mistake.”
Who Is Playing Dracula in ‘Abigail’?
As this is a reimagining ofDracula’s Daughter, you may be wondering:where the hell is Dracula? The identity of the actor playing him and how large a part he’ll have in the film was kept very much under wraps during our set visit. In the film, we know that he is an extremely wealthy underground crime boss, making Abigail the perfect target for a ransom. Via Zoom, Bettinelli-Olpin likened his presence toThe Usual Suspects’ Keyser Söze. “He’s a big part of the story. His presence is like the shadow that kind of just goes over everything that’s happening.” Alisha Weir also teased more details about her character’s relationship with her father, saying that the two have a complicated cast that will unfold over the film’s runtime. Beyond that, Dracula is still kept under lock and key inside a stuffy coffin, and we’ll just have to wait and see. While no one has confirmed the identity of the actor playing the iconic vampire,it’s important to note thatMatthew Goode’s name has appeared on the cast list since our set visit…
