Abigail's Achievement Is An Unexpected Reminder To See This 2010 $96 Million Superhero Film
Critics found horror comedy Abigail to be popular because of its violent and subversive content, which is similar to that of another popular film.
Abigail: A Novel Approach to Vampire Films
The vampire comedy Abigail successfully combines a number of genres and clichés, yet despite its uniqueness, it shares some startling parallels with a 2010 film that belongs to an entirely different genre. The film is only one of several excellent horror Movies that were released in 2024, demonstrating how the genre is one of the most exciting sources of unique narrative in the whole film industry. However, while Abigail's daring narrative and subversive characterization merit acclaim, it wouldn't be accurate to call her method fully novel.
Abigail gives a unique take on the vampire subgenre despite being a vampire movie. While other new vampire novels, like The Last Voyage of the Demeter, give fairly conventional depictions of the mythical monster, Abigail's success is largely down to the brilliant choice to have its beast be a 12-year-old girl. This results in the somewhat odd scene of a young child wreaking immense havoc on a group of grownup adults while taking great pleasure in the destruction she's causing. It's startling how much purity of childhood is subverted. Even if it works exceptionally well, Abigail is not the first movie to use this idea.
Abigail And Kick-Ass Have An Unexpected Connection
A rather surprising bond exists between Abigail's titular small vampire and Kick-Ass's Mindy MacReady (a.k.a Hit-Girl), as they both have a deadly ability, a love for violence, and a readiness to dismember adult characters on a whim. Both Abigail and Kick-Ass, who were published fourteen years apart, are joyously irreverent, flaunting their most subversive aspects and shocking the spectator by contrasting horrific gore with youth. The box office success of both Movies attests to the continued viability of this approach.
Abigail and Kick-Ass are quite distinct movies in certain aspects. Kick-Ass is a "superhero" film, yet despite this, it's actually rather grounded, as none of the characters have any real superpowers. Abigail, on the other hand, is obviously fanciful, as seen by the appearance of several otherworldly beings during the narrative. The two movies, however, are about a young female character who uses violence to defy audience expectations, even in spite of these variances. The fact that Kick-Ass and Abigail both possess an unquestionable ability to shock indicates how daring they both are, with a protagonist who can pull off a surprise.
With their ages, Abigail and Kick-Ass both subvert audience expectations.
The shocking effect of seeing children act out acts of severe violence persists even after blockbuster films such as Kick-Ass. Ultraviolent moments, like Mindy's attack on the drug den and Abigail's assault on Frank, Sammy, and Peter, become more effective in Kick-Ass and Abigail because they so contradict the stereotype of children that most viewers hold. Alisha Weir and Chlo Grace Moretz both give outstanding performances that add even more value to the two movies.
Interestingly, albeit in very different ways, both films examine the concept of lost innocence. Hit-Girl is portrayed as a tragic figure who lost her youth while becoming a living weapon as a result of her father's desire for vengeance. Kick-Ass 2 centers on her struggle to adjust to a normal life following Big Daddy's passing. Abigail's misfortune, on the other hand, is that she has lived a lengthy 200 years but has been unable to mature because she has been stuck in a 12-year-old's body. Despite the buckets of blood, these two approaches show different sides of the same thematic coin and make Kick-Ass and Abigail surprisingly deep.
Kick-Ass Is Even More Audacious In Its Hit-Girl Characterization
Even though Abigail contains some unquestionably shocking material, the film is arguably more conventional than Kick-Ass. Considering the immortality vampiric cliché, viewers have seen childlike monsters before, even in previous films. For example, Kirsten Dunst plays Claudia, a youthful vampire whose primary narrative goal is to face the difficulties of never aging, with devastating consequences, in the film Interview With The Vampire.
Kick-Ass, on the other hand, takes a direct shot at the superhero tradition of having young vigilantes take on the criminal underworld in Hit-Girl. She is about the same age as a character such as Miles Morales, but she has a whole different perspective. She is not only unrepentantly brutal, but her whole demeanor exudes an unsettling maturity. She blows Dave a kiss after their first encounter, which is very out of character for a typical preteen.
One of the most obnoxious characters in the entire film is Hit-Girl, perhaps most famously. Even though Grace Moretz was just 12 years old when the filming took place, her famous phrase, "Okay, you cnts, let's see what you can do now," infuriated a number of advocacy organizations. The fact that the outcry over Abigail was not like as intense as it was for other reasons reflects both the subsequent film's less provocative treatment of its child lead and the growing acceptance of the horror subgenre.
The Future of Abigail Is Concerned By The Kick-Ass Franchise
The future of the film is intriguingly poised after Matthew Goode's appearance as Abigail's father in the Abigail ending. Not only did Melissa Barerra escape, opening the door for her to appear in a sequel, but the appearance of the enigmatic Lazaar reveals fascinating new facets of the tale's mythology. Even though Kick-Ass was a hit film and had a great main character in the petite vampiress, it's evident from the film that any sequel must be cautious if it is to be as successful as its predecessor.
Similar to Abigail, Kick-Ass had positive reviews from critics and even outperformed the horror movie box office. Reactions to the sequel, however, were not as favorable. Everyone agreed that the first film's shocking and novel elements had grown stale in the follow-up. Kick-Ass 2 tried to up the stakes by adding more violence and crude humor, but the results were less satisfying. As a result, it received a far less favorable critical review and did poorly at the box office.
Since Abigail shares many of the same elements that made Kick-Ass so successful, any 2024 film's sequel must avoid repeating the same flaws. The film must avoid abandoning plot and character development for superficial shock value after establishing a humorous and terrifying villain. Whether there is a true Abigail sequel is still up in the air. But if it works, there are some obvious things to take away from it.
