Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin’s horror comedy Abigail prepares to sink its vampire teeth into an even wider audience when it drops Tuesday, Nov. 19 on Prime Video. The must-see film is helmed by the directing duo known as Radio Silence, and it’s being praised by both critics and audiences alike. Now even more cinephiles will have access to what is clearly one of the best-reviewed scary movies of the year, which will continue streaming exclusively on Peacock until next week.
Abigail currently registers an impressive 83% on the Tomatometer against 222 reviews posted to Rotten Tomatoes by the critics, and it has fared even better with the fans. Radio Silence’s tale of the ballerina vampire holds an 84% rating on the Popcornmeter, formerly the RT audience score, at the time of this writing.
Plus, Abigail received a “B” CinemaScore, which is almost unheard of for most horror films. For those who are still on the fence about whether to watch it or not, check out MovieWeb’s review (3.5/5 stars), which reveals just how bloody and gory things can get when little Abigail (Alisha Weir) starts playing with her food:
“Weir doesn’t exactly sing like Matilda, but rather dances through this twisty, often laugh-out-loud horror feature from the filmmaking collective known as Radio Silence: producer Chad Villella and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Just to paint a picture of how gory it gets: The directors had to apologize to the cast for how much blood they used for Abigail. Oof. In this day and age, that’s saying something.”
‘Abigail’ Compares Favorably to 2024’s Best Horror Titles
Certainly, there are those who will argue that Abigail is the best Radio Silence film released to date. And while the horror comedy’s Tomatometer rating (83%) is better than either Scream 2022’s 76% or Scream VI’s 77%, Abigail didn’t win the fans over the same way Ghostface’s last big-screen appearance did: Scream VI is “Verified Hot” on the Popcornmeter at a whopping 91% (5,000+ verified ratings). But when it comes to 2024’s scary titles, Abigail compares much better.
For instance, Abigail’s Tomatometer is comparable to that of A Quiet Place: Day One (87%), but Radio Silence’s cool and creepy vampire ballerina scores much better with audiences on the Popcornmeter at 84% compared to Day One’s 72%. Abigail’s RT score also holds up well when placed side by side with the best horror films of the year, including Smile 2 (85%), I Saw the TV Glow (84%), Speak No Evil (83%), The First Omen (83%) and the $100+ million Longlegs (86%). Now, it’s worth mentioning that Late Night with the Devil still ranks atop the crème de la crème with its almost perfect Tomatometer rating of 97% — no 2024 horror flick has caught David Dastmalchian yet.
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Abigail also performed well enough during its theatrical run to almost make back its $28-million production budget domestically alone. Radio Silence’s latest film made $25.9 million here at home and $16.9 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $42.8 million (per Box Office Mojo). And Prime Video subscribers will soon discover just how charming, bloody, and unabashedly gory the little vampire ballerina’s misadventure gets when Abigail starts streaming on Nov. 19.
- Release Date
- April 19, 2024
- Runtime
- 109 Minutes
- Writers
- Stephen Shields , Guy Busick
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures