Abby
I think time has provided enough room for Warner Bros. to
let it go regarding Abby and the supposed “copyright infringement” that
supposedly resulted in how this film is considered a direct copy of The
Exorcist. When watching it, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how much I
enjoyed it. First, the cast is equipped with some good African-American actors
more than capable to hold a straight face and keep the material from totally
becoming a laugh riot. That could have been a difficult task but Girdler actually
doesn’t necessarily shoot a film that turns into a mess of bizarre ideas or
wacky characters. The Manitou remains one of the most bizarre films—along with
Xtro—I have ever seen, so Abby could have easily wound up a more obscure,
harder-to-locate demonic possession version of that. Girdler’s passion to make
films (and cut short of ever quite making his “masterpiece”) seems to eke out
of each individual film before his death in 1978. Over his short-lived tenure
as a filmmaker, Girdler was indeed able to equip his films with some cool
names: Andrew Prine, Christopher George, Leslie Nielsen, William Marshall, Richard
Jaeckel, Tony Curtis, Austin Stoker, Susan Strasberg, Michael Ansara, Burgess
Meredith, and Stella Stevens. Carol Speed is the one possessed, a minister’s
wife (the minister’s father is in Nigeria “excavating”, accidentally releasing
a type of demon that makes its way to Louisville to occupy the woman) unable to
abstain from what it so desires…to use her body as it so wishes. Soon the demon
forces her to murder and the police become involved in the story (Austin Stoker
of John Carpenter’s masterpiece, Assault on Precinct 13, is one of the cops).
The way the demon is released and how it journeys to a young woman (not a girl,
and this detail is actually a benefit in the film’s favor as it removes a
direct link to The Exorcist) is a little too close to The Exorcist, but there
are slight differences that separate the two films from each other. The type of
demon, how it invades the wife of a man of “positive” spiritual faith, and the
blaxploitation elements that provide a certain uniqueness to Abby are enough,
in my opinion, to distinguish this film from The Exorcist. It’s too bad that
Abby seems lost for the exception of a poor copy that deserves a respectful
remaster by a studio like Shout!Factory that would provide a blu-ray release
certain to call attention to it. When seen now, I think the details dissimilar
to The Exorcist might in fact cause a bit of disdain by fans raising some vocal
critique to the accusation of a total rip-off. A “direct copy” of a film would
indicate a shot-for-shot remake; if Psycho (1998) can exist, why isn’t Abby
allowed to have such a luxury? Admittedly, the finale does mimic The Exorcist a
bit too closely for its own good: the eye contacts, levitation, mouth oozing
goo, demon face showing itself, ugly mouth towards the heroes, and the exorcism
itself (with lots of damage to the club room) do resemble what made The
Exorcist an impact with audiences (except with a lot less money). Seeing the
bar just decimated, big guys tossed around the place by little Carol Speed, and
William “Blacula” Marshall authoritatively taking control of the situation using
his spiritual combative techniques was a good deal of fun for me. However, I
like demon possession movies, and the setting within the context of the
blaxploitation genre was really appealing to me. The beam of light immersing
Marshall was a bit unexpected and goofy but the disco ball used as wrecking
ball had me in ribbons. I think it is good fun; only if the film could get a
decent transfer and release.
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