Daddy’s Little Vampire
‘Scream’ team Radio Silence return to their original horror roots with ‘Abigail’
The Universal horror movie “Abigail” began as a modern-day twist on “Dracula’s Daughter,” but making a film about the legendary vampire’s blood-sucking scion wasn’t the main reason the filmmaking trio Radio Silence — producer Chad Villella and directors Matt BettinelliOlpin and Tyler Gillett — wanted the project to be their follow-up to 2022’s “Scream” and 2023’s “Scream VI.”
“As freeing as it is to challenge the format of what a ‘Scream’ movie is, you’re playing in a pretty specific sandbox,” Gillett says. With “Abigail,” Radio Silence returned to their roots in original horror, from 2012’s “V/H/S” to 2019’s “Ready or Not.” In the finished film, Dracula’s name isn’t even spoken.
Instead, “Abigail” follows a team of mercenary thieves who hold a wealthy bigwig’s daughter (Alisha Weir) for ransom inside a decrepit mansion, only to discover the titular girl is really a vampire and they’ve been trapped as her latest victims.
“We get to do a heist thriller movie, and then we get to do a monster movie, and somehow make those two things live in one world,” Bettinelli-olpin says.
Adds Gillett: “At one end, you have this little girl in a tutu, and at the other end, you have exploding bodies. What the fuck could this journey possibly be that ends up that way?”
Radio Silence’s ability to deftly steer their projects through multiple genres has turned them into some of the most in-demand horror filmmakers in the industry. They started production on “Abigail” in Ireland just a month after the release of “Scream VI,” which landed the best opening weekend in the franchise’s history. Ironically, Gillett and Villella both say they were very much not horror fans when they were younger, but they’ve come to love how much enjoyment the genre affords them.
“When you’re making horror, every time we say ‘Cut,’ there’s giggles and laughter,” Bettinelli-olpin says. “And it’s infectious.”
That spirit was especially needed after “Euphoria” star Angus Cloud, who plays one of the mercenaries, died weeks after wrapping his role.
“It was just so evident how much fun he was having,” Gillett says. “He kind of gave everyone permission to be a little weird and take some swings that maybe they wouldn’t have otherwise, just because of how natural and charismatic he is in a scene.”
Cloud died while production was suspended due to the labor strikes. When the cast and crew returned to set, “everybody involved really wanted to make sure that we finished the movie strong and did Angus justice,” Bettinelli-olpin says.
Then, during the final stretch of production, the film’s lead, Melissa Barrera — who also starred in Radio Silence’s “Scream” films — was fired from the seventh movie in that franchise over her pro-palestinian social media posts about the war in Gaza. “[It’s] a testament to Melissa that the stress of that never showed up anywhere in the process,” Gillett says. “After losing Angus and the turmoil that the world was in, I think it felt really good to show up on set with friends.”
While the filmmakers don’t know what their next project will be, they are excited about their new horror film production pact with Project X Entertainment and MRC. Their goal is to back two to three horror films a year that “don’t leave you depressed for days,” says Villella. “Even though our characters are going through hell and dealing with the most absurd situations, we want to have that triumphant feeling at the end.”
“As the guys who made ‘Scream 5’ and ‘Scream 6,’” adds Bettinelli-olpin, “we would love to see more original movies with original voices.”
To that end, the Radio Silence team are open to making movies outside of the genre. “But I also can’t imagine us doing a pass on any script,” BettinelliOlpin says, “and not being like, ‘Ooh, what if …’” “‘What if this person explodes?’” Gillett jumps in. As they all start to laugh, Bettinelli-olpin gives a playful shrug. “It’s just what happens!”
“At one end, you have this little girl in a tutu. At the other end, you have exploding bodies. What the fuck could this journey possibly be that ends that way?”
Tyler Gillett, Radio Silence