Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I was really looking forward to seeing a Protestant exorcism. Had this movie actually been shot as intended that is what would have been displayed. At first blush this movie seems to indicate that the Black Baptist Bishop has a much easier time vanquishing Satan than the Catholic priests did in the original Exorcist movie. The priests in the original Exorcist sweated, bled, questioned their own faith and ultimately one of them died-sacrificing himself to beat Satan. Here William Marshal (Bishop Garnet Williams) did not even break a sweat as he maintained ultimate control from the start of the exorcism to the finish.But in a weird twist it is revealed that Abby is not possessed by the devil but rather by Eshu, a minor God from the Yorba (African) religion. Then it is revealed that Abby is not even possessed by the real Eshu, but rather by an even less significant spirit pretending to be the minor God, Eshu. And "Bishop" Williams does not banish the insignificant spirit in the name of Christ, but rather in the name of the main Yorba God, Allron and ultimately traps the spirit in Eshu's idol with help from Eshu. A rather anticlimactic exorcism.Why was this twist done at all? My research indicates that William Marshall only agreed to do the movie if he had some script control. William Marshall, the actor, was very interested in the Yorba religion and studied it intensely. In fact, William Marshall, the actor, lectured in several universities in the early 1970s about the Yorba religion. It is widely reported that William Marshall was unhappy that promised script revisions were not made. Ultimately, I believe that William Marshal himself ad-libbed the lines about it not being the real Eshu that possessed Abby. I also believe that William Marshal ad- libbed the lines about Allron being of equal power to the Judeo-Christian God and that the exorcism was being performed in Allron's name (later he calls upon the power of Eshu as well). Otherwise, the rest of the script does not make sense. William Marshal, the actor was promised script revisions that were not delivered, so he took matters in his own hands and changed the dialogue on the fly.Lots of gratuitous shots of fried chicken; literally served at every meal. Also bonus points if you can find the Shlitz beer product placement.

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.

Though I knew there were some DVD copies around, I guess I should thank YouTube for finally being able to watch this movie since that's where I discovered it. Having seen it, I can see why Warner Brothers sued and won their lawsuit against American International for blatantly copying WB's hit The Exorcist. Sure, the differences are that one involved a girl child and the other a grown woman but they both have shaking furniture and demonic possession in which they both say very vulgar things involving sex. Okay, with that out of the way, let me say what I think of it. I thought it was hilarious whenever the title character played by Carol Speed had-through the voice of Bob Holt-said all those blatantly provocative remarks to various people but after that, I managed to also find some genuine scares and thrills. Both Ms. Speed and William Marshall as Bishop Garnet Williams who tries to get the demon out of her provide great presence in their scenes together. But the supporting players of Terry Carter (Rev. Emmett Williams, Abby's husband and Garnet's son), Austin Stoker (Abby's brother Det. Cass Potter), and especially Juanita Moore (Miranda "Momma" Potter) also hold their own against them. If there's one thing I have a beef with, it's the print I watched. Perhaps because of that lawsuit, no one's bothered to restore it. So the one I saw looked washed out. Still, the sound wasn't bad so that's a plus. Really, all I'll say now is if you get the chance to watch Abby, go for it! P.S. How interesting that after not sharing a scene in The Mack, Ms. Speed and Ms. Moore played daughter and mother in this. And nice to hear Carol's writing and singing skills with the song "My Soul is a Witness".

Although it's a kind of movie that's more interesting to talk about than actually see, ABBY isn't too bad at all. A blaxploitation knockoff of THE EXORCIST, it rings some interesting changes on the subtext, becoming more a kind of muddled musing on the sexual revolution than anything else. The acting is reasonably good -- Marshall, always fine, is very commanding in the Von Sydow role, and Carol Speed runs a thin edge of hysteria here and there. The best thing in the movie are the scenes of the men shaking their heads, trying to figure out what happened to the sweet wife they thought they knew.Movie suffers from a low budget, and shows every cheap cent of it. Plus it doesn't even attempt to be scary, which doesn't help. But it's worth seeing for the performances, for the Girdler connection, and for it's status as one of the more thoughtful blaxploitation ripoffs.