Are you ready to sink your fangs into a bloody good new horror legend?

Abigail is the latest of Universal’s classic monster movie slate, following Renfield and The Invisible Man, and, like those, it’s a ripper of a good time!

We sat down with some of the stars and the directing duo of Abigail, to talk about genre mashups, which cast member was the most scared, and how to craft a truly terrifying atmosphere on film.

*Light spoilers ahead for the story and tone of the film, so if you want to go in completely blind, you’ve been warned*

Abigail is an inspired mashup of heist films like Ocean’s Eleven, and classic horror movies. A crew of career criminals think they’re in for an easy job with kidnapping a rich businessman’s kid for ransom, and end up getting more than they bargained for, when they’re the ones locked in with a monster… actors Kevin Durand, William Catlett, Kathryn Newton, and Dan Stevens share their thoughts on the novel premise.

Sammy (Kathryn Newton), Frank (Dan Stevens) and Peter (Kevin Durand) in ‘Abigail’

As Durand, who plays Peter, the muscle of the group, tells it, the genre interplay was what really caught his eye.

“That was the most brilliant part for me when I read the script, ’cause I thought I was reading Reservoir Dogs, and then it took that really hard turn, and it was exciting! The idea that you have these five hired guns, people who are all like these dangerous, faulted people who have major issues, they could probably all be the bad guys in any narrative, but then we face the ultimate bad guy.”

Stevens, who plays Frank, the take-charge, ‘keep-everybody-in-line’ type, continues, “That is part of the fun of the movie I think, is seeing these characters that we think we recognise, and almost all of us represent a character from totally different worlds, and then we’re quite literally thrown into a blender, with very bloody results.”

For directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the genre smashup was a very important aspect of the film to them.

Directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin on the set of ‘Abigail’

As Gillett says, “I think you just distilled what, for us, was the beating heart of the tone of this movie in so many ways; taking characters that belong in one genre but putting them in an entirely different one. That was the concept that was alive and well in the very first draft of the script we read, and we felt there was so much opportunity in it.

“There were so many opportunities to design interesting, fun, full characters, and to design a monster that felt different and unique. And then I think in the mashing up of those two worlds, there were tonnes of opportunities to subvert audience’s expectations every step of the way. For us, it felt like a blueprint for a really good time at the movies.”

The setting of Abigail is also a key part of the film. The creepy, dilapidated manor is really a character itself; its narrow, ‘claustrophobic corridors, wrought iron gates, crumbling, cracked facade, and flickering lights set the mood perfectly, and it’s all filmed on location for real, in Dublin, Ireland! 

According to Catlett, the stoic Rickles, the mansion’s oppressive atmosphere helped him really tap into his performance.

William: “The environment really adds to the performance. I remember when I first walked into the mansion, you feel the coldness, you’re like, ‘This is creepy…’ We walked down to one place in the basement, and we were just like, ‘What was going on here? What were they doing in this place?’ So you really feel the environment.”

Abigail (Alisha Weir) and Sammy (Kathryn Newton) in ‘Abigail’

Durand also had a love/fear relationship with the spooky set: “It was like 10-15 degrees colder in that house than it was outside. There’s a scene in the movie, up in the top of the house, where the hallways are so much narrower and the ceilings are so much lower, and you just felt like you were trapped, so it was easy to wanna just scream as loud as you can and run for your life. The mansion is a great character in this movie.”

Newton, playing the zoomer hacker Sammy, shared the most spine-tingling story of the house…

“I was always a little freaked out, in general. Definitely haunted, I don’t care what anyone says. Something happened, on this very big staircase, with at least three floors. We were on the second floor, I had my book on this shelf, and I came back, it was in the same position, on the lower floor. I asked everyone [if they moved it]! I get chills thinking about it, but it helps put you in the mood. Helps you stay in character, I think. It’s a character on its own.”

Bettinelli-Olpin absolutely loves filming on location, to him it’s crucial to the art of filmmaking.

“Whenever we can, we do. It makes the experience really special and memorable, and really heightens the movie and makes it really tangible and real. Suzie Collins, our production designer, and her team did so much to make the house look the way it did in the movie, without losing the natural creepiness that existed in it from the first time we went on location scout.

“It informs the movie. We go through and say, ‘Oh, this can take place here, maybe this scene isn’t that anymore, let’s change that scene because we have a giant pool here, what can we do with that, let’s let the story evolve around the house and vice versa,’ it’s so integral to the whole process.” 

The crew in Abigail is a bit like the Rat Pack from Ocean’s, mixed with the Scooby-Doo gang, so we had to ask everyone, which member of Mystery Inc. would each of their crew be?

Durand, with no hesitation at all, says: “I’m Shaggy. Or I’m Scooby-Doo (turning to Catlett) – you might be Shaggy. But you’re so in control, you could easily be Fred.”

Catlett adds, “But I think the great thing about being in control and then losing control, that’s the heist feel, you have an assignment to complete, but then when things take a turn, who’s really in control?”

Newton continues, “I’m obviously Scooby-Doo, give me the Scooby Snax. I got that dog in me.”

Directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, observing the four on set for the longest, gave their take.

“Frank is definitely Fred, right? Velma is Kathryn? I can see Will being Fred. Kevin is Scooby for sure.”

“I think Kathryn is actually Shaggy. There’s a shot of Kathryn’s head popping around a corner, and we joked about that moment as a direct Scooby-Doo reference!”

“We’ve essentially made Scooby-Doo four times [in our careers],” they laughed.

And lastly, why should everyone be extremely pumped to see Abigail?

Stevens puts it best: “I think it’s always exciting to see another Radio Silence movie out there, I love their style of horror comedy, where the gore is turned up to 11, it becomes ridiculously fun and silly, and this one is no different. It’s a big, bloody good time.”

Abigail is in cinemas right now, and you really don’t want to keep her waiting… 

LEAD IMAGE: (from left) Dean (Angus Cloud), Sammy (Kathryn Newton), Abigail (Alisha Weir, back to camera), Peter (Kevin Durand), Frank (Dan Stevens, background), Joey (Melissa Barrera) and Rickles (Will Catlett) in ‘Abigail’, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett