Same, Same, But Different is used for lots of ideas; be it a business idea or a story idea. The principle is that you have something familiar to hold onto and then a new or interesting take on the original proposal. Lots of films have been pitched as Die Hard but on a … Boat/Plane/Train; you get the idea.
If you have seen any of the advertising material then you know Abigail (Dir Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) is a vampire movie with a slight twist. It is based on a film from 1936 called Dracula’s Daughter, I think you can figure out the twist.
The film starts with Joey (Melissa Barrera) being picked up by some shady characters Frank (Dan Stevens) and Peter (Kevin Durand) while the rest of the team Sammy (Kathryn Newton), Dean (Angus Cloud), and Rickles (William Catlett) are scoping out a fancy mansion.
A young girl, Abigail (Alisha Weir) comes home to that fancy mansion and the team triggers into action, kidnapping her and escaping to the safe house where they are met by Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito).
To get their money from the job, the team has to stay and look after Abigail for 24 hours, while Lambert secures the ransom from her rich father. While they kill time, they are not allowed to talk about themselves or leave the house.
In typical horror style, there is some animosity inside the team, some information is shared, revelations happen and people slowly get picked off one by one.
Joey tries to make the terrible situation work because she needs the money to look after your son. Family and the role of parents play a role in the film but it doesn’t lean into it enough to make it really thematic. This was a wasted opportunity to make the film feel sameish but different enough by looking at how vampire families work.
Alisha Weir does an amazing job as the scared and vulnerable Abigail and also as the aggressive and bloodthirsty alter ego. She more than holds her own against many talented and more seasoned actors.
The film follows a similar playbook to M3gan where the antagonist is a small and from outward appearance, unthreatening girl. Like M3gan, that is the only point of difference to any other vampire film.
Stevens plays a very punchable faced characters, trying to control the madness that he is facing. The film is pretty paint by numbers with not much new being brought to the vampire genre.
The amount of blood that happens when a vampire is killed is quite delightful and lifts the gore factor.
Abigail is a very serviceable film but it had too much of the same, same and not enough of the different to really make a huge impression.
22 April 2024
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe