Do you want to know if Abigail has a post-credits scene? We’ll tell you right here: No, there are no scenes after the credits.
Warning: Spoilers follow from here for Radio Silence's new horror film!
Ever since we saw the absolutely bonkers trailer for Abigail earlier this year, we've been salivating at the thought of Radio Silence's heist horror. And this weekend it's finally been unleashed on unsuspecting audiences.
Starring Melissa Barrera along with a stacked cast including the late Angus Cloud, Kathryn Newton, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, and Giancarlo Esposito, the film follows an unlucky crew of kidnappers who end up stealing the wrong — possibly vampiric — kid. It's a gory thriller that will sate horror fans' appetites and got an impressive 8/10 from our reviewer, who called it "a lethally funny tale of bad parents and vampires." But if you got to the end and were wondering "WTF just happened?" – and whether that final cameo really was one of the most famous Universal Monsters of all time – we're here to break it down, guts and all.
Abigail Ending Explained
After the kidnappers are picked off one by one, we learn that it was Abigail (Alisha Weir) who arranged her own kidnapping and that she's done it many, many times before. Not only that, but Lambert (Esposito), who Frank (Stevens) and Joey (Barrera) believed they'd been hired by, is actually working for the ageless vampire child, bringing her food to play with in the guise of desperate criminals who think they're there to kidnap her. It's a way for Abigail to stay entertained after her gangster father and feared crime boss Kristof Lazar (Matthew Goode) abandoned her to the strange old house where we find her, Wilhelm Manor.
With no way out, the pair are suddenly shocked by the appearance of a secret doorway that leads them to Lambert, who's been turned by Abigail — yay vampire Giancarlo Esposito! — and has a deal for Frank. If he joins Lambert and gets turned, the pair can kill Abigail and her crime boss daddy, and take over the whole business for themselves. Frank agrees — yay vampire Dan Stevens! — but immediately drains Lambert for setting him up in the first place. Soon he's chasing down Joey and Abigail and the pair have to team up, eventually killing Frank and coming to an uneasy truce. Bonding over their extremely weird night together, the pair awkwardly say goodbye when...
Just as Joey walks out the door, who should appear than Goode’s much-worried-about Kristof Lazar. Looking every bit like a modern Dracula, the patriarch sweeps into Wilhelm Manor ready to gobble Joey up, but his daughter begs him to show mercy and reveals that her would-be kidnapper actually saved her life. Luckily, her dear old dad listens and Joey is able to drive off into the night to hopefully reconnect with her son and start a new life. Though if we get a sequel it's easy to imagine how Dracula or Abigail might call on Joey again in the future…
Does Abigail Have a Post-Credits Scene?
Abigail doesn't have a post-credits scene, but that's likely because the final couple of minutes of the movie really sets up the larger possible connections to the Universal Monsters franchise if directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and the studio want to embark on more bloody adventures in this world.
Is Abigail a Remake of Dracula's Daughter?
Throughout the production and reporting on the film, there were rumblings that the newest Radio Silence film was in fact a secret Universal Monster movie akin to Leigh Whannel's fantastic standalone feature The Invisible Man. When originally announced, the film was described as "an untitled monster thriller at Universal Pictures."
Later, The Hollywood Reporter said that at one point the film had been titled Dracula's Daughter, after the 1936 Universal Monsters film of the same name. That film is a very loose adaptation of the gothic novella Carmilla, which also inspired a ton of great lesbian vampire movies including the legendary and racy Hammer Horror Karnstein trilogy. But in 1936 under Hollywood’s self-censoring Hays Code, Dracula's Daughter was more atmospheric than explicit. It follows a young countess who is revealed to be the daughter of Dracula. She wants to free herself from vampirism, but ultimately succumbs to the curse bestowed upon her by her father.
After watching Abigail, we can confirm that this is in no way a straight remake of that film. It shares little in common with it, but in a recent interview with Screen Rant, co-director Tyler Gillett did comment on the connection to the original: "I will say that just in terms of its connection to Dracula's Daughter, I know that there was an inkling of that in the early Stephen Shields draft. I think that was definitely part of what was cool in the hook of the movie." But as the vastly different plot of Abigail reveals, that original inkling didn't really end up shaping the film. "I think for us, we wanted to take that idea and to find a way to sort of untether it from the rules of maybe an existing character or an existing franchise,” Gillett added.
So with all of that said, now on to a very important question, even if the movie isn't a remake of Dracula's Daughter...
Is Abigail Dracula's Daughter?
While it isn't confirmed, it is heavily implied that, yes, they are father and daughter. Not only was the film originally called Dracula's Daughter *cough cough* but Matthew Goode's Lazar is a more traditional-looking vamp. Plus, when Joey, shocked out of her mind, calls him Lazar, he replies with the phrase "I've had many names." That of course makes us think that, yes, this is Dracula, which makes Abigail constantly asking everyone if they know who her dad is way funnier and more important than we at first realized.
Whether or not we'll see Goode's Dracula and his daughter again likely depends on just how well Abigail performs at the box office this weekend and beyond. Universal has been looking for a monster hit, so perhaps this familial reimagining could be it!
What did you think of Abigail? Do you think Lazar is actually Dracula? What's the next Universal Monster you want to see reimagined for the big screen? Let us know in the comments!
