MovieChat Forums > Abigail (2024) Discussion > This movie is OK

This movie is OK

posted 12 days ago by redban (5290)
5 replies | jump to latest

Spoilers:

I don’t agree with the 85% in Rotten Tomatoes. But 55-60% sounds fair. The movie isn’t a hard watch, and there are some fun moments. The way the movie goes from crime to horror was a little like From Dusk till Dawn

Some parts though were bad. I think they overdid it with the comedy, or they misplaced jokes at certain spots, particularly with the dumb French muscle guy. The scenes with the little girl doing ballerina, especially when the blonde girl was mirroring Abigail’s moments, didn’t look good. The part where Melissa Barrera is getting beat up by Frank and then says, “you want to play, let’s play” while she throws up her fists was more eye rolling than badass

there was some predictability. You can sense, from the very start, that Melissa Barrera and Frank would be the final two.

At the end, they actually try to make Abigail appear good, but how are we supposed to forget that she massacred so many people (remember the pool scene with bodies piled up). After all that horror, we end with Melissa Barrera’s casually having a lollipop and driving away calmly

Not excellent. But not horrible.

B+

[–] pastover (51) 12 days ago

bad analysis

the "let's play" line was part of the comedic deconstruction: stating the badass tagline then proceeding to immediately get beaten up. ..flew right over your head

and so did you also sense that frank would willingly be turned into a vampire by the organizer to power play the syndicate, only to then backstab him then try to kill joey and ballet vampire by turning joey into vampire to mind control her so he could also force her to kill her own son? yeah sure dude. pat yourself on the back for your coinflip "senses", but dont quit your day job, peter parker

abigail did not appear "good". she held up her part of the bargain after killing frank together, and she recognized a similar joey/son relationship as that of herself/father (which she told willfully told the truth about upon first meeting joey, so if anything that so called "good" was already present since the beginning). anyway how is it possible for a massacrer to feel that empathy (for her food) without a contradiction? maybe the same way people eat slaughtered farm animals without a second thought, but dont like seeing fake animals harmed in movies....and on top of that probably think of themselves as "good" people. there's plenty more examples of internal contradictions of real people in the real world than this fake vampire. regardless, there's no indication that she's supposed to be "good" by the end of the movie. she had specific reason to treat joey differently by the end - nothing more

incidentally from dusk till dawn was probably just as comedic but maybe with less explicit comedy, and arguably ended similarly with the sudden matter of fact calmness - in keeping with the overall irreverent tone

[–] redban (5290) 12 days ago

Firstly, I don't know why you take this criticism so intensely. Is it your movie?

The "comedic deconstruction" is a stretch. The "let's play" line wasn't spoken comedically or uttered in a comedic context. What they were trying to do is make Barrera's character appear to be some kind of badass; they wanted the audience to think, "Man, she's fearless against that powerful scary vampire." But the actual effect was cringe

The predictable part was that Barrera and Frank would be the last two standing, in some way. We could predict the others would die before them, leading to something involving Barrera and Frank at the climax ... you mention the scenario with Gustavo Fring, yet his offer was also a bit random and out of nowhere (they could have tried foreshadowing more). It seemed more like they were straining to find a way to turn Frank into a vampire, so they wrote that part in

They definitely tried to make Abigail appear good. See, in particular, the pinky promise gesture: they were trying to make her seem like an innocent child, looking to save the maternal figure Melissa Barrera; yet the audience knows that Abigail is centuries-old vampire who has brutally killed many (and will continue to kill many in the future)

[–] pastover (51) 12 days ago

it's called being curt

ok so i think i'm understanding what you're trying to get at here now that you've changed things.
fearless and badass are separate, but perhaps related, things, fine. still wrong:

1. dry humor essentially defines this movie; it's filled with it.. possibly by every character at some point.
2. numerous time throughout, joey does or says something 'fearless' followed by active progression to either positive or mixed results, but with good effort by her. by this point we are already familiar what 'trying to look fearless' looks like and how that proceeds
3. this scene at issue is only time she ever appears to do so only to have immediate (and effortless by the antagonist) negative result
4. by trope trend, the last act in horror movies is a time when, after being beaten down repeatedly by the antagonist, the protagonist suddenly rises to the occasion, getting the upper hand or even outright defeating the antagonist - and often after verbalizing something 'badass'
5. after previously running scared for her life from him, literally trembling in fear while facing him down, and easily losing each of numerous physical conflicts with him, this was that obvious 'badass moment'. here she's meant to do that classic turnaround

it doesn't materialize of course. instead we enact point 3 above - getting situational subversion (immediately, not 2 seconds after the line in the next cut, part of point 1 above) - and do so in conflict with our expectation of points 2 and 5 above, and in direct contravention with point 4 above. altogether, these provide corroborative evidence for point 1 above, as humorous interpretation (like say monty python black knight 'it's just a flesh wound'). attentiveness, familiarity with horror tropes, and understanding comedic subtlety are required. so yes, it still went over your head

[–] pastover (51) 12 days ago

if you want to continue to claim you it actually played out as you predicted "the last two standing" go right ahead i guess. it's like wanting to claim the billion dollar powerball lottery prize by getting 2 of the 10 numbers. whatever, have at it

and again the 'good' analysis is nonsensical. yes it's already shown -etremely explicitly- by that point not to be an innocent child (and even showing the vampire to outright admitting to putting on the innocent act at one point). therefore whichever behavior it's meant to be exhibiting there, it's not to seem like an innocent child. now as a viewer if you have amnesia you might think that, but because you forgot by the end, does not mean the general audience is meant to. the promise gesture is merely the emotive vehicle through which joey can remember her promise and understand the vampire's intent. they both know it has nothing to do with actual innocence (we can assume joey does not have amnesia). the supposed conveyance of 'childlike innocence' -if there would be any- would be directed specifically at joey, presumably to help emotionally compel her as the vampire desperately needs immediate help. such would not be directed at the audience. the audience knows better. thats your fundamental mistake. so whatever 'mercy' the vampire shows it is for joey and joey alone (not for humanity for example), and it's transactional mercy, bypassing any requisite consideration of ethics; good/bad doesn't even enter the equation.. much less get presented

but if thats what you saw, then thats what you saw. what can i say

[–] moviebuff00 (445) 10 days ago

it's 85% rotten tomato because of vagina. that's it. movie's plot was boring and full of holes.