Rent Abigail Haunting (2020)

A world within a world ... - Abigail Haunting review by NP

In many ways, this is a fairly standard horror film, filled with familiar jump-scare moments and apparitions flecked with the kind of restrained CGI you will have seen before. In other ways though, it’s more than that. The heroine Katie, very well played by Chelsea Jurkiewicz and her friend Brian (Austin Collazo) are a convincing duo – the former, trying to escape her questionable past, the latter quite simply a nice guy.

The sense of unease is a slowly forming thing; Kelly Schwarze’s story is in no hurry to hit us over the head with shock after shock, but the moments are there, and very effective too, for what it a fairly low budget venture.

The standout element for me though, is the setting. I love horror films that present us with a world within a world, normal on the outside but with hidden terrors on the inside. This works really well here, with the contrast between the reality of the dusty, clammy small town and the unknown horror behind closed doors both effectively conveyed. Did the ending make sense? Not entirely sure, but it was an enjoyable journey reaching that point. My score is 8 out of 10.