Review of Abby (1974) by Joe A — 22 May 2012

Released Christmas day 1974, Abby was A.I.P.'s blaxploitation answer to The Exorcist, so much so, that Warner Brothers sued and got the film pulled from release. But, not before it made a ton of cash on it's low budget investment. Abby tells the story of a holy man (the great William 'Blacula' Marshall) who, while investigating an archeological dig in Nigeria, pertaining to their ancient Yoruba religion, accidentally releases the evil entity Eshu. The vile spirit shows it's gratitude by possessing his daughter-in-law Abby (Carol Speed). As the spirit takes hold and Abby becomes more and more vile in her behavior, Dr.Williams (Marshall) returns home to do battle with the demonic entity. Abby is played very straight despite delivering some unintentional laughs. It's low budget so it's FX are limited to blowing wind, bizarre sounds and throwing furniture around while Abby speaks in an almost comical dubbed man voice complete with echo. Exploitation filmmaker William Girdler writes and directs and, despite trying to play it straight, most of possessed Abby's vulgar talk and behavior just elicits laughs not chills. I do give credit to Carol Speed for just going with it and giving it her all despite how silly some of this comes off. And, of course, William Marshall who, once again brings a power and nobility to his role and maintains it despite how ridiculous things get. Still, you gotta like a movie that stages an African themed exorcism in a bar. And in Abby's defense there is some nice 70s nostalgia and unintentional laughs are a form of entertainment so, Abby is by no means a boring movie, it's just not very scary or chilling. With a few beers it can be a hoot to watch and that's just fine. Also stars Austin Stoker(Assault On Precinct 13) as Abby's police officer brother.

EXTRA TRIVIA: Again actor William Marshall was involved in adding African culture to a film as he did with Blacula. It was he who added the use of the Yoruba religion in the film, though he apparently was still unhappy about the film's final script. I don't blame him. Not sure how some of this stuff didn't appear silly from the get go. Rating based purely on a camp/nostalgia level.