The Reel Rejects - ABIGAIL (2024) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

THIS ONE WENT HARD!! Abigail Full Movie Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Follow Us On Socials: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  https://www.tiktok.com/@thereelreje...cts?lang=en Now that Roxy & Tara have conquered the Friday the 13th Series, mixing it up this Horror Thursday as John Humphrey & Roxy Striar (aka RonJoxy) reunite to give their FIRST TIME Reaction, Commentary, Analysis, Breakdown, & Full Movie Spoiler Review for the Vampire Horror / Thriller from V/H/S & Scream Directors, Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpi& Tyler Gillett) starring Melissa Barrera (Scream VI, In the Heights), Dan Stevens (Godzilla x Kong, Beauty and the Beast, The Guest, Eurovision), William Catlett (Black Lightning), Kathryn Newton (Freaky, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), Alisha Weir (Matilda: The Musical), & Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), & the late Angus Cloud (Euphoria) as a group of criminals who kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, only to discover she's much more than she seems... Alisha Weir (Matilda: The Musical) stars as the titular Abigail along with Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian), and MORE! John & Roxy REACT to all the Best Scenes & Scariest Moments including Melissa Barrera's Epic Vampire Fight Scene, Giancarlo Esposito: Vampire Scene, Kathryn Newton's Hilarious Vampire Dance Scene, Matthew Goode Is Dracula Scene, This Ballerina Vampire Has Me SCREAMING! Scene, Creepy Little Girl's Headless Dance Scene, & Beyond! Follow Roxy Striar YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TheWhirlGirls Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roxystriar/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/roxystriar Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:05 Yeah, buddy You got anything else to tell the people Before we roll this thing Abigail, let's go Abigail, let's go Roll the bump We abigailed Yeah, we did
Starting point is 00:01:21 How you feeling? I mean, the movie's awesome They did such a great job with it And the cast rocks too It was pretty sick. It was pretty sick. Yeah, I have like so many thoughts right now. I mean, I'm a huge Angus Cloud fan.
Starting point is 00:01:35 So that was so sad. It turned me into an Angus Cloud fan. He's amazing. He was such an unbelievable talent. And it just was so, so sad. So even just at the end, in memory of, it's surreal to see when people are that young and have that much talent and potential. This is the last time we're going to see him in something new.
Starting point is 00:01:55 Yeah. That's just crazy. And he's got such a natural like that. late back presence at least i don't know how he is in euphoria but like here i was like man like the he just seems so plucked out of the moment like in a yeah great way yeah rest of peace i mean he's he's my favorite performance in the movie i just think and they were in a movie with a ton of great performances yeah he did such a great job but i think this is really cool it's like i almost i we're gonna unpack it but it's almost something that i don't know how much i want to unpack
Starting point is 00:02:28 because when you start to think about the vamp rules or like why Dan Stevens' character really does turn on her but he also kills Jean Carlo Esposito's character and it's like so the vamp hasn't fully taken over or like how long it took Catherine Newton to turn versus how long it took him to turn and then like Mosa Barrera
Starting point is 00:02:45 like if she's not really a vamp now or what the deal is because he died but then when we saw Jean Carlo Esposito died he didn't die or he didn't not become vamp Dan Stevens was he already a vamp though I feel like good.
Starting point is 00:02:59 But then why was it because she said he turned because he had had blood maybe just there's so many Charlo was turned like two years ago
Starting point is 00:03:06 right they said at least that was that was yeah and then I feel like Dan Stevens probably killed Jean Carlo
Starting point is 00:03:15 because blood less power struggle well he says you know like you screwed me over but then his like
Starting point is 00:03:24 he spurs tells most of her to run but the whole point that I'm saying is that like the movie was sick and part and I think because it's so sick it excuses parts of it that are like hmm you know yeah I mean this is one of those yeah like the plan goes to shit movies where part of the point is like yeah we're watching everybody be whittled down and then there were none or at least there was one and uh yeah I get you it's like there's certain little rules or little motivational details it would be I would like to go back for.
Starting point is 00:03:59 But yeah, as like a ride and as like an isolated vampire story. Really the only thing I wish about this was that because I did see like when the movie was coming out, you know, they advertised this a lot and like I think even the posters make it pretty clear that Abigail is going to be a vampire of some kind. I had no idea until Greg's text today. I should have stayed that way, I guess. Because that's the one thing is this does feel like it wants to operate. Oh, Larry Fessenden got a thanks.
Starting point is 00:04:31 That's cool. Who's that? He's a kind of cult film writer-director. He also has a small cameo in Killers of the Flower Moon. He pops up in small roles in like, you know, more notable director stuff. And then he makes his own stuff. So this seems like the kind of thing he'd be thanked on. But, yeah, this was niff.
Starting point is 00:04:52 and punchy in much a similar way that without as much of like a supernatural twist as this reminded me. I believe that is also a movie by these, this crew, these directors, radio silence or whatever you want to call them. And so this kind of had some of those earmarks on it for me along with, yeah, all the vampire goodness. And yeah, I guess that's the thing is the movie does seem to operate in a way where for the first, you know, third at least, it seems like they want you to buy that Abigail's a normal
Starting point is 00:05:27 little girl. Right. But even despite that, even knowing that there's a shoe about to drop. It's like, it's like hearing from dusk till dawn's a vampire movie before you watch it the first time. And then you're like, oh, what? You know. The little actress that played Abigail is beyond wildly impressive. She had a lot of heavy lifting to do. She was unbelievably believable. And that is just such a hard role. I know the character's 12. but I don't know how all the actresses, but she really nailed it. And if she hadn't,
Starting point is 00:05:57 it wouldn't have been as good as it was, like not even close. She reminded me of the girl and the orphan. Yeah, a little bit. It just really dialed in and creepy. Yeah. But even at the end, when Melissa Barrera goes to help her,
Starting point is 00:06:10 kind of to help herself, but to help her, I bought it. I was like, yeah, she, Melissa has a kid, so she, like, views her differently. Yeah, and it's just enough to where it's not. completely hammy like
Starting point is 00:06:24 why would you have any level of simple like you get what debate she's probably having in her mind of like yeah this is like a hundreds of years old creature but also this still is a little girl who still has like parent drama issues and stuff like that
Starting point is 00:06:40 and so yeah there's just enough there for I feel like their little line of identification to work or to be sold by everything else that's been going on the set was sick the art design was sick uh it was a lot of personality yeah the house looked great you don't want to get bored of a place when you're going to be there for an entire film and we didn't like every room uh just had
Starting point is 00:07:04 such attention to detail they did a great job with that i really like the lighting in this movie um i feel like they usually movies like this they go way darker because they don't have the budget to show what she looks like yeah but they didn't they let us really see it but it's still eerie. I really, really thought that they visually, this knocked it out of the park. And those two songs that we begin with and end with, I thought were dope too. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, like the subtle ways they use like, I do think it's interesting that like ballet is such a integral part of the character of Abigail's just whole motion and physical language. You know, like all of her performance is very kind of imbued with that. And yeah, it's like,
Starting point is 00:07:49 Those are the sort of magical things that it's like there are certain logistical things about the Lord that you want to ask questions about to clear them up. And then there are other things where I'm just like, oh, you know, if you have a particularly vested interest before you're turned, you know, does that become sort of a part of your overall personality in this new form? Yeah, you just become more extreme. I do like that they did take the time to show us which vampire things don't work. Like the garlic. That was a cool sequence of they bring a bunch of stuff. And like she ends up staking them and the garlic doesn't work and the crucifix doesn't work. But then we see the sunlight, we're wondering, is that going to work?
Starting point is 00:08:27 But it's like, then it does. And you're like, okay, those are vampires and there's different rules and different things. So I did like that they set their boundaries there. That was really cool. Yeah, it was a conscientious way to go. And I like that you have, you know, any vampire, any new bit of vampire storytelling or lore, you know, is going to. to have people going like what are the rules and i like that yeah you have i thought the way they handled ruling out certain options was conscientious and then also to take at least one vampire
Starting point is 00:09:01 trope and go like full hog wild with it like not only is sunlight a detriment they just explode on sight i thought made for just like a fun you know added element of schlock and gore because it it almost takes on like I don't know you haven't you haven't started the evil deads yet haven't no well I can't tell there's an there's a certain quality to like evil dead movies in particular where they're like constantly just like bombarding their actors with goo and sludge and blood and it's just like it seems like if you're going to be in one of those movies you're just going to get covered in viscera and this kind of brought some of that spirit out and I mean vampires and in you know movies and such are often, you know, vindictive and and are gleefully mean and maniacal, you know,
Starting point is 00:09:52 and certainly I thought everybody seemed to be having a lot of fun playing those notes. But yeah, I also just kind of had had fun with the fact that at a certain point it does become like so carnage heavy. And you have little things like they find that, uh, that big pool of bodies in the basement. That was crazy. That was visually so disgusting. Yeah. And it's only like one scene, one, one brief moment.
Starting point is 00:10:14 but it does like just add yeah and i like too that like with the house the house feels like a character and you're not always stopping to like oogle the house or be like here's a bunch of just atmospheric shots of corridors or stuff but i thought they still managed to make it feel like a living place that we pretty thoroughly explored and destroyed by the time this was done is your understanding when the guy with a lot of freckles loses half of his face and dies that she had broken out of her room and done that and then is your understanding when she was in the cage
Starting point is 00:10:48 that she could have gotten out at any time but she was choosing not to because she was still toying with them I don't know about the cage I guess why was she able to get out finally yeah I would have to go back
Starting point is 00:11:03 and he like pretends he's like what do you think I'm really going to like oh she yeah she just pushes it forward right throws the door I guess yeah she I guess we're going to chalk that up to her playing the part or whatever because yeah with the cuffs at least they established that so all i can assume is that
Starting point is 00:11:18 yeah she must have broken out unless were to assume that jean carlo just stayed on hand and was quietly murking people but yeah i assume that was abigail could have an explanation they just don't tell us all the explanation so it leaves you your mind to wander which is kind of cool i think they leave a lot of it up to the idea that she likes to play with her food and they all seem to like to play with their food. But then the fact that at the end, she doesn't kill Melissa. Yeah. Well, I think it's that. I do think it is that like, again, as much as she is like vindictive and maniacal, I think it's that last scrap of humanity and the fact that like I'm sure she would rather have a dad who cares. And so if there's a chance for this mom to get back to her kid and
Starting point is 00:12:05 maybe break this cycle of anguish, you know, maybe there is some like ounce of, you know, maybe there is some like ounce of humanity there for them to kind of you know at least come to like a mutual respect over or something why do you think that they cast matthew good i well yeah i wonder that too i mean certainly i feel like he brings a certain amount of baggage where you see him now he's played enough roles it's funny i was seeing there because i i usually think of uh ozimandias when i first or ozumandias however you say it uh when i said that way you said it the first time um what's that movie though where he's like I can see the poster
Starting point is 00:12:43 it's a romantic comedy and he's like on a scooter and it's like the president's daughter and he's like a guy who's like tasked with driving her around but then they fall in love maybe is that the one that he's in I don't know the only thing I recently saw him in the offer
Starting point is 00:13:00 I guess that wasn't that recent but it was very good I've seen him in a bigillion things though he's just a very very he's a big actor and so I guess that's why they wanted him in the last But I wanted more I was like oh are they doing this because they're shutting up a sequel They could be
Starting point is 00:13:17 I mean I feel like this is the kind of thing where It seemed like this did well So I'm While this doesn't necessarily say like Definitely know what direction a sequel would head into That isn't just like an episodic revamp of this concept No but like what if Melissa Brer and her son come Here
Starting point is 00:13:35 If they be if she raises him to be a vampire hunter I don't know And they come back to settle the score with Matthew Good. Or if she comes back to try to save Abigail from the dad or something or try to convince her to be good because she let her go. And then her son followed her on accident. Like she didn't know her son was following her. And then Matthew Good keeps them all.
Starting point is 00:13:54 And they have to kill Matthew Good. I don't know. I'm just pitching sequels. You check your shoes. You might have just stepped and hit. You should start writing that spec, all right? Let's go. Yeah, they did a really good job with this.
Starting point is 00:14:07 Really good job. It's hard to make vampire stuff original. And they did. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what to make a Matthew good. I wonder if he's part of their troupe. But I really like the ensemble of this a lot. I thought Melissa Barrera, especially since she's come a long way in these couple of movies since Scream 5.
Starting point is 00:14:24 I remember a big part of the conversation is like, oh, I don't know if this movie supported her that much. And then Scream 6, she really kind of leveled up. And in this, I thought she held down the sort of central, you know, the central, steadiest character role pretty well. There was a couple, like, lines where she was the only one who there was a couple of lines that I felt like she was trying to be cheeky and it wasn't landing for me because it didn't feel like the character. But I think it's probably really hard when you're playing against Angus Cloud and Catherine Newton and like everything they're doing is cheeky. Well, and people are on different heights, I think, a little bit because like Kevin Durant I thought was like really in the mannerisms. I loved him. He was so great at this.
Starting point is 00:15:09 So great. Like, I really enjoyed the whole cast. But Kevin Duran was probably, him and Angus were probably my favorite. It's him and Angus Cloud. Yeah, me too, me too. Because, like, yeah, it's like I, this was fun because I'm used to seeing Catherine Newton most in Supernatural. So this is sort of almost like an elseworld's version of that with her for me. And then Dan Stevens feels like, of all the Dan Stevens' roles I've seen, you know, certainly this one feels like they kind of let him off the leash to just chew the scenery.
Starting point is 00:15:37 This was very different. it was very different for him yeah and he is definitely one of the more like larger than life more peacockish colorful characters and whatnot um i like the guy who played rickles a lot too uh and even to wait i gotta find what his name is because i know him from a bunch of stuff and i was like what is his name and even Giancarlo like as much as he's not like a huge character in here it was fun to at least get to see him play a vampire you know play at least somebody who isn't just another Gus fring or another That's what I just saw him in. His name is William Catlett. Okay. And I just watched him in this show. The show actually was not very good, but he's good. Constellation.
Starting point is 00:16:18 Have you heard anything about that on Apple TV Plus? I know nothing about it. You're the only Apple subscriber right now. Wow, he was good in that. But he also plays Lala in Black Lightning, who he's so good in that room. He's so good as Lala. Damn, was he in season one? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:36 He was in, when? did he get introduced it was either season one or season two no season one yeah all uh episode one two seven eight 10 12 okay so i've definitely seen him before yeah he's like awesome as that character he's just so so good hell's yeah been in a bunch of stuff that i know but i was like i definitely recognize him oh he's an episode of insecure too yeah i love insecure our friend be booking but that is i was like i know him what do i know him from this girl Alicia where is the name of Abigail Let's go let's get some facts
Starting point is 00:17:10 Oh she played fucking Matilda bro In the musical I haven't seen it yet All I've seen of the Matilda musical Is people keep taking one specific stretch of it And then replacing the music with Dragula And apparently the timing still works Wait have we covered that on the channel Because you and I should request that
Starting point is 00:17:31 Because I want to see Yeah come on I've seen every musical that exists same I've seen, yeah, the OG Matilda, the Danny DeVito, but not the new one, not the musical. Wait, this is this little girl, the star of Matilda, come on. Oh, my God, it is. She is such a stud. Wow, look at this little Chica go.
Starting point is 00:17:51 I'm obsessed with that for her. Well, she must be a dancer. Like, I thought her physicality was good. Like, for a young actor such as this, like, I got to imagine this was an absolute blast for her getting to swear up storm and, you know, do blood gags and gymnastics and stunts and wirework and all sorts of stuff. Do you want some trivia? Let's get some trivia, Roxanne. We'll start with Ingus Cloud stuff.
Starting point is 00:18:17 So one of Ingus Cloud's final roles before his passing in July 2023, although production wasn't completed until months after his death due to the sag after strike, Cloud had filmed all of his scenes before production was shut down. He had signed an autograph, the Cloud drawing, scene above the dedication, for a crew member during his time on set and Melissa Brera had it printed on t-shirts for the cast and crew when filming wrapped. That is lovely. That's a really nice memorial. The directors were so impressed by Alicia Ware's dancing that they added more dance sequences to the film. Sweet. Kevin Durham was able to change his character's origins and use his native Quebec, Quebecus accent. Quebecua. Quebecua. Thank you. Is that
Starting point is 00:19:01 Quebec? Quebecua accent. It's that French-Canadian accent. Thank you. It's his real accent. I said Quebec's accent, quibiquot accent, something he's never done on film before. When he pitched this to directors, it was a no-brainer
Starting point is 00:19:15 and all the cast were able to help design the look of all the characters develop and alter their backstories. Co-director Tyler Gillett even said, of course, like why would you say no to that flavor? It makes it so interesting
Starting point is 00:19:28 and so specific. Yeah. It really was. That's an actor's dream right. I wonder if the fake back or when they're doing the whole like hundred bucks thing i wonder if all the the wrong backstories were the original things they wrote and then the real backstories was everything the cast came up with something like that's interesting but that's a while because i've
Starting point is 00:19:46 never heard Kevin durant no me neither with an accent like that at all you were like what's that and if that's his real accent that's so beautiful to me that is so great in an interview with total film the directors felt they needed to apologize to the cast for the volume of blood they used on set they said all our movies are bloody but i would say that this is definitely the most bloody we spent a lot of time apologizing to our actors on this movie i mean blood is in the DNA of a vampire movie and the amount of blood is in the the amount of blood in this one it's pretty extreme but it's still fun absolutely i mean again i'm glad that they care about the well-being of their cast but part of the fun of a movie like this is again just slathering
Starting point is 00:20:29 everyone in blood yeah more blood explosions the better i say absolutely i'm with you directors refer to the film as Ready or Not on steroids. It really, of all the stuff of theirs that I've seen, and I haven't seen all of it, but this definitely felt the most akin to that, certainly because you're mostly spending time in one luxurious house, but I don't know,
Starting point is 00:20:53 I almost feel like these could share a slightly adjacent universe because Ready or Not has a supernatural element, and so does this. So, like, I could easily see these being some kind of, like, backdoor shared universe with each other. A couple interesting things here. I guess that they considered, when they
Starting point is 00:21:12 were making this movie, it was filmed on the working title Dracula's daughter, and then they considered a loose remake of Dracula's daughter, which is 1936 film. What? Abigail is a Hebrew name for my father's joy. That's kind of interesting, because she is certainly not her father's joy. Did you feel the Hebrew
Starting point is 00:21:28 vibes during the movie? No. This isn't the most Jewish horror movie you've ever seen? No, it certainly wasn't. It certainly wasn't. Okay. That is some of the good stuff that we got. That's that good stuff. Not bad at all.
Starting point is 00:21:45 This is one of those movies. It's like lean and mean. It's kind of straightforward. And that's sort of all you need sometimes. You know, it's got a couple nifty ideas. It's got some punchy effects. Fun cast, fun premise, you know. I'm with you.
Starting point is 00:21:59 I thought it was really, really excellently done. Yeah. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. What did you guys think? leave us your thoughts on abigail is your favorite horror film of 2024 is your favorite 2024 film leave us your thoughts down below leave a comment like subscribe all that good stuff hit up reject nation shop dot com for teas like this and your sheject reject reject crewneck yeah we'll
Starting point is 00:22:27 catch you on the next one recommend us some more vamps some more romance some more spookums do you want to see us do Matilda the musical? Should we do Matta? I love a musical. Don't even tempt me right now. Well, anyway, leave us all that stuff and we'll catch you on the next one. Much love, party, people. Whoa. Annie. Annie. Annie.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Annie, Gail. You know what? I would love to see happen. Lay it on me. I would love for Annie to sink her teeth into Aaron Alexander's neck Yes, yes, I like it
Starting point is 00:23:06 Make him bleed out And then watch him turn into a vampire You'd be the maker He'd be his sire And then he'd be the bitch You'd be queen of the dam The official term And Aaron is the bitch
Starting point is 00:23:21 Maker and the bitch Queen of the bitch And then Aaron you could just ask Aaron to do whatever you want Yeah, he's you're familiar But also vampire like You know, he's your dependent How cool would that be, Annie, if you had that ability?
Starting point is 00:23:36 I feel like Annie would just be such a beautiful vampire. You know, that's part of the thing about being a female vampire. You also got to be hot. Yes. And I don't know what Annie looks like, but I get hot vibes from her name Annie. Oh, yeah. Annie's probably the hottest patron. I think about Annie.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Here, Annie, you think... It's like a timeless hotness. You think supermodel. Absolutely. Just like a primordial ineffable. hotness. Yeah, oh man, no, it's a given. Like, if a guy's named Ashton, you know he's hot. Oh, he's the hottest guy. Same thing with annies. The jaw lines are hot. Annies are hot. And, uh, in a hard-knock life for any of you. So, you're a hot vampire. I'd let you clench your...
Starting point is 00:24:19 Why does Aaron get all the fun? You should just bite all of us, right? We will all be privileged for you to be our... We will be your bitches. You are this pageon's vampire moving forward. That's right. Happy birthday. Thank you. Thank you.

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