Summary

• Abigail takes a fresh comedic spin on vampire mythology, promising a unique blend of horror and humor.
• The movie's approach to characters discovering vampires mirrors real-life reactions, adding comedic and meta appeal.
• Star Melissa Barrera explains to Screen Rant how the comedy and horror mix in Abigail.

The vampire movie Scream actor Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Giancarlo Esposito, and Alisha Weir.

Following up with Screen Rant's Abigail set visit to Ireland last year, our own Rob Keyes recently spoke with Barrera about how she loved finding a comedic side to the vampire mythology. She explained the approach the movie takes to its characters discovering a vampire for the first time, and how she believed this would mirror real-life reactions, adding to the comedic and meta appeal. Read her full quote below:

I think my favorite part about this movie is that it's a movie where, like, in our world, vampires don't exist. So all of a sudden, you guys go to a party, and like you see a vampire. And you're like, everything that I know about this earth now is challenged, because now there's a vampire. And so they're dealing with that's part of the comedy. And I think that that's so genius.

What anyone in the audience would say if they all of a sudden saw a vampire in real life, and you were like, "That's not real, like, no, vampires aren't real." You go through all the stages of like, denial, grief and anger and all those because all of a sudden, we live in a world where vampires exist. And we have to use the knowledge that we know of films to know what to do, that kind of thing. So it's very funny in that way, and kind of meta in that way.

Will Abigail Be A Breath Of Fresh Air For The Vampire Genre?

Abigail Could Find Success Blending Horror And Comedy

Universal has already revealed that they view the movie as a fresh direction for a classic character, and this could represent something the vampire genre hasn't seen much of in recent times.

Vampire movies have been around since the dawn of cinema in one form or another, and they have typically focused on the supernatural and horror elements. Though Abigail is billed as a monster horror film, Barrera's comments confirm there is going to be plenty of humor on offer, and the Renfield received mixed reviews, and this was a film that also used large amounts of comedy within its storytelling.

Related: Read our Complete Abigail Set Visit Report!

Universal has already revealed that they view the movie as a fresh direction for a classic character, and this could represent something the vampire genre hasn't seen much of in recent times. Bettinelli-Opin and Gillett have been open about the amount of blood and gore in Abigail, and the hope will be that this will appeal to horror enthusiasts, while the comedic elements will also make the movie accessible to a wider audience. The studio is looking to reboot its Dark Universe once again, and, if successful, Abigail could prove a strong starting point.

While it's unlikely the movie will be reinventing the wheel, it could prove to be a breath of fresh air for the vampire genre, which has stagnated in recent times amid a string of box office flops, including the Marvel movie Morbius and the aforementioned Renfield. The horror-comedy approach is typically the most accessible for movies like this, and with a strong cast and plenty of blood, there is bound to be hope that Abigail will be a movie audiences will want to sink their teeth into.