Kidnappers Battle A Vampire Ballerina In The Trailer For New Horror Movie Abigail

The death of the (to put it mildly, short-lived) Dark Universe was painful for those who saw its potential but a boon for Universal's larger monster horror franchise. Three years after the studio's 2017 "Mummy" crashed and burned at the box office, "Saw" and "Insidious" creator Leigh Whannell delivers a bold new take on "The Invisible Man" that reinvented the classic property while also establishing an exciting director-driven approach for future Universal monster re-imaginings. Whannell will try and repeat that success later this year with his "Wolf Man" reboot, which (naturally) made /FIlm's most anticipated movies of 2024. Before that, though, it turns out we're getting a seemingly brand-new and perhaps even more intriguing Universal monster flick titled "Abigail."

Universal's previously untitled film hails from Radio Silence, the filmmaking trio — comprised of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and producer Chad Villella — behind the low-budget horror-comedy hit "Ready or Not," as well as the fifth and sixth entries in the "Scream" series. Written by Stephen Shields ("The Hole in the Ground") and Radio Silence's frequent collaborator Guy Busick, the movie centers on a group of would-be crooks who are hired to kidnap the 12-year-old, ballet-loving daughter of a rather wealthy, powerful figure, and keep watch of her overnight in a decidedly creepy, isolated mansion while they wait for her dad to cough up the $50 million ransom. 

Except, to borrow a turn of phrase from Rorschach in "Watchmen," the law-breakers soon come to realize their captive isn't locked in there with them; they're locked in there with her. For more on that, check out the "Abigail" trailer above!

For a long time, rumor had it "Abigail" was a remake of Lambert Hillyer's extremely queer-coded 1936 Universal monster horror classic "Dracula's Daughter." However, assuming that was ever the case earlier on in its development, it appears the movie has since taken on a life of its own and evolved into an entirely original story about the blood-thirsty daughter of, presumably, an older creature of the night. Or maybe this trailer is holding back more information than it seems and Abigail's old man will, in fact, turn out to be Count Dracula himself. Either way, the preview's "Ready or Not" vibes have left me wanting to get this thing into my eyeballs as soon as possible.

Melissa Barrera, who previously anchored Radio SIlence's "Scream" films before she was removed from the franchise for allegedly sharing an antisemitic post on social media, stars in "Abigail" opposite Scream King Dan Stevens and up-and-coming Scream Queen Kathryn Newton, as well as William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Giancarlo Esposito, and the late Angus Cloud, with Alisha Weir ("Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical") rounding out the ensemble as the titular vampire. We'll see what these folks have cooked up when "Abigail" sinks its fangs into theaters on April 19, 2024.