Movie Reviews

New Vampire Movie Abigail Continues Rotten Tomatoes Trend For Acclaimed Horror Directors

alisha weir baring her fangs in abigail in front of a rotten tomatoes logo

Abigail has continued a positive Rotten Tomatoes trend for its directors. The new vampire movie, which is a reimagining of the Universal classic Dracula’s Daughter, stars an ensemble cast that includes Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir, and Giancarlo Esposito. It is the latest outing from the filmmaking collective Radio Silence, which includes Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, and Chad Villella. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, who co-directed Abigail, have previously collaborated as directors on titles including Ready or Not, Scream (2022), and Scream VI.

Rotten Tomatoes has aggregated an initial critic score out of 22 reviews for the movie just a few days ahead of the official Abigail release. While this score will fluctuate as more reviews are added, at the time of writing it is a solidly Fresh 82%. This continues a string of Fresh scores for the directing duo, who haven’t earned a Rotten score on the platform since their 2014 found footage movie Devil’s Due, which earned 19%.

While these Abigail reviews provide the directing duo with their latest critical win, Radio Silence itself has had a similar hot streak. Aside from the Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett-helmed productions on their roster, the group has also had a hand in horror outings involving other directors including several installments in the V/H/S found footage anthology franchise as well as the unrelated anthologies Phobias and Southbound. Below, see how every movie the group has had a part in has been received on Rotten Tomatoes:

From their entire roster so far, only their first two movies received Rotten scores. This means that overall, this critical hot streak has lasted 10 years and nine movies, though it does remain to be seen how far the group can carry it before receiving another Rotten score. Radio Silence already has a few officially announced movies in development, which could either extend or end their streak after the critical success of the Kathryn Newton horror movie.

After Abigail, the next Radio Silence production to be released will likely be the Apple TV+ movie Fountain of Youth, which teams stars John Krasinski and Natalie Portman with director Guy Ritchie. Other projects that are reportedly in development include a remake of Escape from New York and the Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett projects The Ice Beneath Her and Reunion. While the scores for the original titles are difficult to predict, the team has already proven their ability to revive critically acclaimed IP with Scream, so their Escape remake might have a chance to continue their streak as well.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes