Dreadfully Boring

A Disappointing Continuation

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

For a good while after it was first released, ABBY was a difficult film to see: that's because Warner Bros, the producers of the THE EXORCIST, sued AIP, the producers of ABBY, claiming that it was nothing more than a cheap rip-off of their classic horror film. Well, they were right. ABBY is a rip-off, and that's obvious right from the very beginning; both films are about possessed women and the exorcist attempting to save them; both have similar scenes of mini-hurricanes tearing up the inside of the rooms, and even the demons sound alike. Still, most of the B-movies I watch are rip-offs of one film or another, so I didn't let this fact bother me too much.ABBY starts off on a good footing. This time around, the demon is an African one, accidentally released on an archaeological dig by the exorcist himself. I liked this angle; it worked well. Early scenes of Abby suffering possession are genuinely creepy; there's lots of saliva and an excruciating moment when she self-harms. However, about halfway through the movie, the plot seems to lose momentum; this may be because the production was interrupted by severe tornadoes and the bad luck that apparently plagued it thereafter. The last half of the film has Abby going on a rampage through town, making love to unsuspecting guys and killing them (although we never see what happens). This latter part of the film is quite dull, padded out with endless scenes of disco dancing and bad acting from some extras, and it only picks up in the last ten minutes for an exorcism that promises more than it delivers.Essentially, the low budget is what hampers this film. Carol Speed, who is quite effective as the possessed woman, doesn't wear any make-up towards the end like Linda Blair did; she has a pair of scary contact lenses, but otherwise it's all down to her fierce expression. The supernatural stuff is limited to furniture and people being thrown around rooms which quickly becomes tiresome, although there's a hilarious aside in which a limo starts smoking which didn't make much sense; more stuff like that would have made this a better film. Director William Girdler, whose short-lived '70s career produced half a dozen cheapie horrors, works hard at instilling atmosphere and dread, and he succeeds in disturbing the viewer with some subliminal inserts of a rubbery demon head. But that's about it.The cast is decent for a low-budget '70s blaxploitation movie. Headlining it is William Marshall, well-known of course for his turn as BLACULA, who puts in another good turn as the commanding exorcist. Carol Speed, as Abby, is very convincing, and outdoes what Linda Blair did; while Blair's horrific performance relied on special effects, Speed's relies on her acting ability, and she comes up trumps. Also along for the ride are Austin Stoker (ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13), playing a hard-ass cop who may well be a forerunner to his character in the John Carpenter film, and Terry Carter, giving a strong performance as Abby's put-upon husband. For fun, I spotted British character actor Don Henderson as a sleazy nightclub patron, just before he appeared as the titular menace in the Peter Cushing flick THE GHOUL.If the second half of this movie had been as strong as the first half, I would have enjoyed it far more. But I can't help thinking that the behind-the-scenes troubles succeeded in scuppering this film's promising aspects.

A possession film about a marriage counselor who becomes possessed by a Demon of Sexuality, when her father in law, an Exorcist, freed it while in Africa. He returns home, along with his son and a policeman to perform an African Exorcism on her.One of the better blaxplotation flicks to come our of the 70s. The story is OK, and the acting is decent and although a low budget movie, the special effects are sort of kewl.I'd give it a solid 5. It's worth watching id you are a fan of the genre.

Bishop and Archaeologist Garnett Williams (BLACULA's William Marshall) unleashed a demon in Africa and it travels all the way to the US to possess his daughter-in-law Abby (Carol Speed). Things move quickly as Abby starts cursing, vomiting, abusing her husband Emmett (Terry Carter) and attacking an old lady. Garnett returns to the US to exorcise this demon but he, Emmett and Abby's detective brother Cass (Austin Stoker) must find her first as she has disappeared into the city.This is pretty cheaply made but entertaining as hell. Speed is quite over-the-top at points but it all works. Hearing the deep base voice throwing obscenities is both hilarious and shocking. The rest of the cast handles it all well, keeping a serious face during the absurd proceedings. Director William Girdler wastes little time (the film runs 85 minutes) and delivers a few atmospheric bits, like when the entity is first released in a cave and when it enters the Williams' house. Warner Bros. apparently successfully sued AIP and got this pulled from theaters. A shame really because, outside of a foul mouthed demon, there is very little similarity and I doubt WB owns the copyright on films about demonic possession.

I had always heard of this 70s film, since my childhood in the late 80's. I had seen that it was seen on television, always missed it... even in Mexico , I had seen movie posters of it being shown years after its release from the 70s. About two years ago, through Cinefear, I finally got a DVD print of it.I actually had many expectations from it and also considering it low budget history. I had certain expectations upon viewing it as home entertainment. Now, this film back then had caused many problems from Warner Bros. I actually thought it was shame that this film was not allowed to have its official release.It does not compare to the high budget of the "Eexorcist", and riding on its antics belonging to Black exploitative cinema, "Abby" stand on its own and it's main actor, Carol Speed actually delivers although it's a little over the top acting, but she definitely owns the character. For me, its most interesting scene, Abby (Speed) who seems to be choking during a church mass. As the preacher is delivering his ceremony, Abby's choking worsen and causes a distraction in the church. I like it because it seems real, no special effects. I had read of possessions of people during church masses, people reacting to physical conditions.Of course, this film by no means is genius at work, but one can appreciate filmmakers like Girder to produce movies out side of the Hollywood environment. Abby's demonic possession are "ghetto fabulous" creating a climatic situation that would have never happen with Linda Blair.