belgaum movie review rating

Thanks For Rating

Reminder successfully set, select a city.

• Nashik Times
• Aurangabad Times
• Badlapur Times

You can change your city from here. We serve personalized stories based on the selected city

• Edit Profile
• Briefs Movies TV Web Series Lifestyle Trending Medithon Visual Stories Music Events Videos Theatre Photos Gaming

Maidaan Box Office Collection Day 8: Ajay Devgn's film off to a slow start on second weekend, earns just around Rs 1.15 crore on Thursday

Chief of NCB SIT that gave Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan a 'clean chit' in drugs case takes VRS on 'personal grounds'

Alec Baldwin to face trial in involuntary manslaughter case; 'Peacemaker' revolver to be central focus

From Kamal Haasan to Aamir Khan: Bollywood actors who nailed female roles on screen

Taylor Swift's cryptic lyrics in 'The Tortured Poets Department' a love letter to Travis Kelce?

Arhaan shares his favourite memory of mother Malaika Arora, and it is all things funny and adorable

• Movie Reviews

Movie Listings

The Legacy Of Jineshwa...

LSD 2: Love Sex Aur Dh...

Do Aur Do Pyaar

Luv You Shankar

Mamu Makandaar

Detective Nysa

30 Hours Survival: Gau...

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan...

​​Surbhi Jyoti looks heavenly in a graceful salwar suit​

Captivating pictures of Bhavana you can't miss

Tamannaah Bhatia radiates in a captivating light blue saree

​In pics: Silambarasan's stunning fashion game​

Rashmika Mandanna Steals the Fashion Trend in Sleek Black Outfits

Office style essentials ft. Shweta Tiwari

Keerthy Suresh’s cheerful pictures

Aishwarya Rajesh stuns in captivating pics

Bhumi Pednekar effortlessly steals the spotlight in a black saree with pearl drop bustier

Nora Fatehi's 9 Stunning Looks for Every Occasion

Kaam Chalu Hai

LSD 2: Love Sex Aur Dho...

Silence 2: The Night Ow...

Amar Singh Chamkila

30 Hours Survival: Gaur...

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan

City Hunter The Movie: ...

The First Omen

Love Lies Bleeding

Knox Goes Away

Godzilla x Kong: The Ne...

Chabak: Night Of Murder...

Pon Ondru Kanden

Double Tuckerr

Oru Thavaru Seidhal

Boomer Uncle

Varshangalkku Shesham

The Goat Life

Jananam 1947 Pranayam T...

Manjummel Boys

Anweshippin Kandethum

Avatara Purusha 2

Chow Chow Bath

Hide And Seek

Somu Sound Engineer

Bonbibi: Widows Of The ...

Pariah Volume 1: Every ...

Shri Swapankumarer Bada...

Manush: Child of Destin...

Bogla Mama Jug Jug Jiyo

Sarabha: Cry For Freedo...

Zindagi Zindabaad

Maujaan Hi Maujaan

Chidiyan Da Chamba

White Punjab

Any How Mitti Pao

Gaddi Jaandi Ae Chalaan...

Buhe Bariyan

Alibaba Aani Chalishita...

Aata Vel Zaali

Shivrayancha Chhava

Delivery Boy

Sridevi Prasanna

Sur Lagu De

Chhatrapati Sambhaji

Devra Pe Manva Dole

Dil Ta Pagal Hola

Ittaa Kittaa

Jaishree Krishh

Bushirt T-shirt

Shubh Yatra

Your Rating

Write a review (optional).

• Movie Reviews /

Would you like to review this movie?

Cast & Crew

Balagam Movie Review : Ingenuity in telling a natively rooted story is its strength

• Times Of India

​Balagam​ - Official Trailer

Balagam | Song - Ooru Palletooru (Lyrical)

Balagam | Song - Potti Pilla

Users' Reviews

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

Parna Rcp 1 291 days ago

Real emotions

Sapka Nani 1 331 days ago

Suresh babu 57 331 days ago.

Still my eyes carrying tears and Literally crying...... I cant able to write even this review with tears after watching Balagam. Goddd my life is satisfied with this kind of sentiment movie. Each and every character of movie resembles in my family and my grand father. Lot of family must unite after watching this movie. VENU sir you thrashed my heart. Matter Piece of Telegu in 2023. NEED like this movies at least 5 years once. Relations and families always WINs

spandanachukka 2 348 days ago

Venkatramaiah Gidda 1235 366 days ago

cannot recall a better telugu movie in the past couple of years, since mithunam

Visual Stories

Entertainment

Hansika Motwani radiates mesmerizing beauty in red Banarasi suit

8 tips to become irresistibly charming

​Signs of emotional immaturity​

Dia Mirza is a vision to behold in a beige saree embellished with intricate embroidery

Mom-to-be Smriti Khanna’s glowing pictures

Things students can learn from IAS 2023 toppers

​Sanya Malhotra excels in modern sarees​

News - Balagam

Oscars 2024: Telugu films 'Dasara' and 'Balagam' compet...

'Balagam' actor Keesari Narsingam passes away due to il...

Kavya Kalyan Ram denies body shaming allegations: 'Irre...

Did Kavya Kalyan Ram face body shaming by directors in ...

'Jabardasth' fame Shining Shanthikumar takes a leap int...

SS.Rajamouli's next pan-India film 'SSMB29' is to be la...

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Get reviews of the latest theatrical releases every week, right in your inbox every Friday.

Thanks for subscribing.

Please Click Here to subscribe other newsletters that may interest you, and you'll always find stories you want to read in your inbox.

Popular Movie Reviews

Tillu Square

Family Star

Om Bheem Bush

Ooru Peru Bhairavakona

'Balagam' movie review: A beautiful exploration of culture and the human condition

Having watched films like Karnan (2021), Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana (2021), and Angamaly Diaries (2017) I have always yearned for Telugu films to portray and celebrate our culture. My wish has been fulfilled with Balagam . It not only represents the customs of Telangana authentically but is entirely centred around its culture. 

For instance, we know that the interval point of any film is utilised to pronounce the central conflict of the story, and in Balagam , the interval point is built around the custom of offering a feast to the soul of the dead. When a crow doesn’t eat it, it is believed that the dead are yet to find peace, and naturally, it’s not considered to be a good sign.

So the family of the deceased patriarch, Komurayya (Sudhakar Reddy, a wonderful find), make the offering and wait for a crow to come down and have it. When it doesn’t happen, it creates emotional unrest--backed by quarrels in the past and egos--among them. And this conflict around the tradition transforms into the film’s core narrative; on one level, it is about the custom and on another level, it is about the people harbouring the custom. 

Balagam even looks at these people through the lenses of culture; their egos, and flaws. That apart, their personalities stand as reflections of their responses to everything that happens at a funeral. The detailed portrayal is astounding. Also, the song that captures the last rites of Komurayya, which begins as a celebration and ends in mourning, is effectively shot.

Two characters at opposing ends challenge to throw a bigger feast than the other. The bigger the feast, the larger the number of goats required. Minutes into the film, we get a fair idea about the jaunty Komurayya as he nonchalantly goes on with his day, flirting with women of different ages and interacting with the members of the close-knit community of his village. 

The following scene sets up the sturdy character of Komurayya’s angry elder son Aillayya (Jayram, again, great find) and then, his grandson, the ambitious yet unsuccessful Sayilu (a perfectly cast Priyadarshi). Many of Sayilu’s business plans have failed. His external conflict is to repay the load. And even when he learns about his grandfather’s untimely demise, he is more concerned about the possible delay of the engagement with his girlfriend and consequently, receiving the dowry money. The internal conflict is that he is selfishly materialistic at times of great loss. The moment he realises his selfishness and wrongdoings is heart-wrenching and Priyadarshi has effectively portrayed the role. 

One of the fascinating aspects of the film is that almost everyone here is grey, but it doesn’t manipulate you to hate or empathise with any particular character. In fact, it only rightly calls them out for their mistakes and misplaced priorities. 

Despite the despair in its atmosphere—considering the story takes place in a span of 11 days through a funeral—the film finds humour in many odd ways. From a woman crying persistently to another woman feigning sadness, many such rooted instances show the filmmaker drawing inspiration from lived-in experiences.

Balagam is not infallible, though, and it comes with its own set of flaws. The screenplay gets stuck in a tedium of repetitive scenes towards the end. Likewise, when Sayilu breaks into a dance in the otherwise fun ‘Potti Pilla’, you wonder why this character, that has been so realistic until that point, is suddenly behaving like he’s in a Telugu film. However, it lasts only a short while. This reminds me of a beautiful line in the song that goes ‘Kallulotti pakkana kaarappoosa lekka mana jodi mastuntade (Our pairing is as good as a spicy sev and palm wine)’. The film’s love for the lifestyle it portrays keeps popping up in distinct ways. 

The film also doesn’t try to get too inventive with its craft, with the staging and cinematography, despite running the risk of being called too simplistic, serve the story well, although I wish it had played more with the visuals instead of relying much on the dialogues. Meanwhile, the dialogues are the lifeline of the film and they do a wonderful job capturing the life of the Telangana region. 

While Venu Yeldandi paints a beautiful portrait, it’s Bheems Ceciroleo who gives it life with his music. Especially, his collaboration with folk musicians for one particular music piece that sums up the entirety of the film and the character arcs, in the end, is noteworthy. This sequence represents the confluence of two of Balagam’s traits: its urge to preach the importance of relationships and its love for the Telangana culture. And one shot in which we see the hands of this family placed one above the other, as they reach the final stage of the funeral, will be etched in my memory for a long time.  It is the image Balagam  stood for.

Balagam Starring : Priyadarshi, Kavya Kalyanram, Sudhakar Reddy Director : Venu Yeldandi

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp  

Download the TNIE app to stay with us and follow the latest

Related Stories

Updated IST

• Click on the Menu icon of the browser, it opens up a list of options.
• Click on the “Options ”, it opens up the settings page,
• Here click on the “Privacy & Security” options listed on the left hand side of the page.
• Scroll down the page to the “Permission” section .
• Here click on the “Settings” tab of the Notification option.
• A pop up will open with all listed sites, select the option “ALLOW“, for the respective site under the status head to allow the notification.
• Once the changes is done, click on the “Save Changes” option to save the changes.

• Top Listing
• Upcoming Movies

3 /5 Filmibeat

• Cast & Crew

Balagam Story

Balagam cast & crew.

Balagam Crew Info

Balagam critics review, balagam trailer.

Balagam Videos

Balagam Songs

• Ooru Palletooru Singers: Ram Miriyala , Mangli Lyricist: Kasarla Shyam 3.9
• Potti Pilla Singers: Ram Miriyala Lyricist: Kasarla Shyam 4

Balagam News

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Balagam

In this Balagam film, Priyadarshi , Kavya Kalyanram played the primary leads.

The Balagam was released in theaters on 03 Mar 2023.

The Balagam was directed by Venu

Movies like Pushpa The Rule , Roti Kapda Romance , Lucky Baskhar and others in a similar vein had the same genre but quite different stories.

The Balagam had a runtime of 131 minutes.

The soundtracks and background music were composed by Bheems Ceciroleo for the movie Balagam.

The cinematography for Balagam was shot by Acharya Venu .

You can watch the Balagam movie on Amazon Prime Video,.

On 24 Mar 2023 Balagam was released on the Amazon Prime Video, platform.

The movie Balagam belonged to the Drama, genre.

Balagam User Review

• Movie rating

Celeb Birthdays

Movies In Spotlight

Video Title

• Don't Block
• Block for 8 hours
• Block for 12 hours
• Block for 24 hours
• Dont send alerts during 1 am 2 am 3 am 4 am 5 am 6 am 7 am 8 am 9 am 10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm 4 pm 5 pm 6 pm 7 pm 8 pm 9 pm 10 pm 11 pm 12 am to 1 am 2 am 3 am 4 am 5 am 6 am 7 am 8 am 9 am 10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm 4 pm 5 pm 6 pm 7 pm 8 pm 9 pm 10 pm 11 pm 12 am

Avinash Sadhu Kokila Nikhita Bullet Prakash Nandita Shwetha Ashish Vidyarthi

Om Prakash Rao

Recommendations

Advertisement

• ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ ఎన్నికలు
• లోక్‌సభ ఎన్నికలు
• Photogallery
• Telugu News
• Telugu Movies
• ​Movie Review
• Priyadarshi Pulikonda And Kavya Kalyanram Movie Balagam Review And Rating

సినిమా రివ్యూ

‘బలగం’ మూవీ రివ్యూ

విమర్శకుల రేటింగ్, యూజర్ రేటింగ్, మూవీకు రేటింగ్ ఇవ్వడానికి స్లైడ్ చెయ్యండి.

సూచించబడిన వార్తలు

మూవీ రివ్యూ

• తెలుగు

Michael Review: All Style, But Little Substance

Movie: Michael Rating: 2.25/5 Banner: Karan C Productions, Sree Venkateswara Cinemas Cast: Sundeep Kishan, Divyansha Kaushik, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vijay Sethupathi, Varun Sandesh, Ayyappa P. Sharma, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, and others Dialogues: Kiran Chakravarthy Music: Sam CS Cinematographer: Kiran Koushik Editing: R. Sathyanarayanan Producers: Bharath Chowdary, Pushkar Ram Mohan Rao Story, Screenplay & Direction: Ranjit Jeyakodi Release Date: Feb 03, 2023

Sundeep Kishan attempted a pan-Indian project with "Michael" after appearing in many bilingual films. It piqued people's interest.

Let's see if Sundeep Kishan's optimism paid off or not.

Story: It's the mid-'90s, and a young man named Michael has decided to kill his father. Gurunath (Gautam Menon), impressed by the boy's bravery, takes him under his wing. As an adult, the boy proves to be Gurunath's most reliable ally and protector.

When Gurunath’s son (Varun Sandesh) sees how much faith his father has placed in Michael (Sundeep Kishan), he becomes envious.

Gurunath eventually orders Michael to kill Theera (Divyansha Kaushik) and her father in Delhi. But Michael falls for her charm, and this sets off a chain reaction of events in which he is never quite sure who is on his side.

Artistes’ Performances: To look the part, Sundeep Kishan slimmed down. His Michael persona is spot on; he has less to say and more to do with action. The transformation of Sundeep Kishan is good.

Divyansha Kaushik is stunning at first, but her performance fizzles out later on. Vijay Sethupathi plays a small part that serves primarily to increase the film's star power.

Gautam Menon is miscast as a don. Varun Sandesh's portrayal of the jealous son is perfect.

Technical Excellence: The technical aspects of the film are excellent. The cinematography is superb, and the colour palette complements the theme perfectly. Besides the cinematography, the background music score is top-notch. The production values are first rate.

The editing department, however, ruined the mood due to the film's tedious pacing and lengthy runtime.

Highlights: Initial portions Stylized taking Technical and production values

Drawback: Weak story Dull pace Much build-up, less impact The climax portions

Analysis Similar to the opening of "KGF," in which a narrator who witnessed the entire event relates it in detail, "Michael" also begins with a narrator recounting the events he witnessed.

The story opens with the hero in his early years. It takes place in the middle of the 1990s. The visuals, music, and storyline all bring to mind "KGF" and "Vikram" films.

Ayyappa Sharma, who provides the voiceover for "Michael," effectively establishes the tone at the outset. Even though the sequences move at a painfully slow pace, the first interaction between Sundeep Kishan and Gautam Menon, the romantic track between Sundeep Kishan and the heroine Divyansha, and the first twist are all quite interesting.

Ranjit Jeyakodi, the film's director, uses the technique of withholding information and then revealing it in the film's climax. The film is interesting at first, but it quickly becomes tedious. It's easy to see that the director has lost control after a point.

This whole segment with Vijay Sethupathi and Varalakshmi Sarath Kumar, and the subsequent fight scenes, are incredibly tedious. By the introduction of Vijay Sethupathi, it becomes clear that the director lost the plot.

Also, with all this foreshadowing, we anticipate a surprising turn of events. But in the end, it's obvious that it's just a rehash of the "Munna" movie starring Prabhas.

So much buildup for a regular revenge drama!

It would have been different if the director had placed as much emphasis on the story as he did on the style. However, "Micheal" devolves into a futile attempt to tell a standard revenge drama in a stylized manner.

Overall, "Michael" is another example of a film that is more about style than substance. It's a gangster story. Sundeep's makeover, technical prowess, and slick visuals don't add much to the film, which suffers from a lacklustre narration.

Bottom line: Munna Michael

• Geethanjali Malli Vachindi Review: No Scares, Little Laughs
• Manjummel Boys Review: Riveting Survival Thriller
• The Family Star Review: Star Doesn't Twinkle

Tags: Michael Michael Review Michael Movie Review Michael Rating Michael Movie Rating Michael Telugu Movie Review

ADVERTISEMENT

• Movie Schedules
• OTT and TV News

Most Viewed Articles

• Kalki 2898 AD: New release date announcement on the horizon
• Teja Sajja’s adventurous film is titled Mirai – Intriguing glimpse unveiled
• Vijay Deverakonda to sport a swanky new look in his next
• First-time TRP of Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Kaaram is here
• OTT movies and series releasing this week
• Ravi Teja’s Mr. Bachchan- Harish Shankar provides a major update
• Malayalam cinema soaring high; Varshangalkku Shesham crosses 50 crores
• Priyadarshi and Nabha Natesh’s next titled Darling!
• Popular trade analyst reveals why Maidaan failed at the box office
• Article 370 seals its OTT release date

Recent Posts

• వైరల్ : జక్కన్న ప్రాజెక్ట్ కి డాషింగ్ లుక్ లోకి మారిపోయిన మహేష్
• Siren makes its pan-Indian OTT debut
• తారక్, నీల్ భారీ ప్రాజెక్ట్ పై లేటెస్ట్ బజ్.!
• SSMB 29: Mahesh Babu, SS Rajamouli and KL Narayana spotted at Hyderabad airport
• ఇంట్రెస్టింగ్ : ఇండియాస్ బిగ్గెస్ట్ బ్రాండ్ గా ఐకాన్ స్టార్
• Allu Arjun fast becoming the biggest brand in India

We've detected your location as Mumbai . Do you want to switch?

Accurate city detection helps us serve more contextual content

• You are in (Delhi) Change City
• ETimes Home
• Web Series Trailers
• Movie Reviews
• Movie Listings
• Visual Stories
• Did You Know?
• Bigg Boss 17
• Relationships
• Health & Fitness
• Soul Search
• Home & Garden
• Women's Day Special
• Entertainment
• Music Awards
• Bhubaneshwar
• humburgerIcon humburgerIcon humburgerIcon

Upcoming Movies

Gajaraj, Vinoth GD, Jeeva Ravi, Ananth Nag, Harshitha Ram, Malik Rafiq, Balaji Venkatraman, Pooventhan, Fouzie Hidhaya, Sanu Sankar

Abir Chatterjee, Mimi Chakraborty, Swastika Dutta, Kinjal Nanda, Debopriyo Mukherjee

Arokkhoniya

Apalak Jash, Soma Banerjee, Raju Majumder, Biswajit Chakraborty, Tamal Ray Chowdhury, Devashish Ganguly, Anupam Jash

Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha

Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Jimmy Sheirgill, Shantanu Maheshwari, Saiee Manjrekar

Jassie Gill, Amyra Dastur

Abhishek Duhan, Srishty Rode., Avtar Gill, Arti Puri, Abhilash Kumar, Mukesh Bhatt

Juna Furniture

Mahesh Manjrekar, Upendra Limaye, Shivaji Satam, Sachin Khedekar, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Girish Oak, Vijay Nikam, Onkar Bhojane, Medha Manjrekar, Anusha Dandekar, Bhushan Pradhan, Santosh Mijgar

Main Ladega

Akash Pratap Singh, Gandharv Dewan, Vallari Viraj, Ashwath Bhatt

Taman Kumar, M. S. Bhaskar, Vela Ramamoorthy, Gajaraj

Pavi Caretaker

Dileep, Johny Antony, Radikaa Sarathkumar, Dharmajan

‘Abigail’ Review: A Remake of ‘Dracula’s Daughter’ Turns Into a Brutally Monotonous Genre Mashup

It's full of grousing kidnappers and blood-vomiting action, little of which is compelling.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

• Why I Wasn’t Scared by ‘Civil War’ 5 days ago
• ‘Sting’ Review: A Giant Spider Grows in Brooklyn in a Knowingly Cheeseball Indie Horror Trifle 1 week ago
• ‘Back to Black’ Review: Marisa Abela Nails Amy Winehouse in Every Look, Mood and Note in a Biopic at Once Forthright and Forbidding 1 week ago

From the moment the film was announced a year ago, “ Abigail ” has been marketed as a remake of “Dracula’s Daughter,” the 1936 Universal Pictures curio. So it’s no spoiler to say that the title character of “Abigail” is…Dracula’s daughter. Yet if you went in not knowing that, it might be the only real surprise in the movie, apart from what a brutally monotonous blood-vomiting genre mashup it is.  

Popular on Variety

“Dracula’s Daughter,” made to cash in on the original “Dracula’s” success (though it had none of the same actors), was a rather stodgy London-fog monster movie starring Gloria Holden, who plays the title character like Greta Garbo as an aristocratic mesmerist. Yet the film has a cult dimension; there’s a scene with Holden and the woman she fastens on to model for a painting that has homoerotic overtones (at least, for 1936). I hadn’t seen the movie in decades, but it reminded me of something I’ve always liked about studio-system horror films — that there’s a dramatic lightness to them, even when they’re all about the darkness. Whereas “Abigail” is so heavy and excessive that if Sam Peckinpah saw it he might say, “Jesus! Tone it down.”

As played by Dan Stevens, who italicizes everything, Frank, the leader of the gang (though even he’s just a thug for hire), is the most tedious. He’s an embattled yuppie nerd, testy and rancorous, and he never stops yelling. The other characters yell back. I make a point of this because there’s so much oppositional energy in “Abigail” that it tamps down our impulse to identify with anyone. Sammy (Kathryn Newton) the Catholic punk, Peter (Kevin Durand) the sullen hulk who’s like Elon Musk played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Frank the dick — these are characters who seem programmed to annoy us. Angus Cloud, in his final performance, plays Dean, who is blitzed but mellow, a real Cloud combination — you feel the presence that was lost. And Melissa Barrera, from “In the Heights” and the last two “Scream” films, grows more forceful as the movie goes on. She plays Joey, a druggie who is given a maudlin and ineffective backstory (about the son she abandoned), but she’s the one actor on hand who seems to understand the value of toning down the noise.

“Abigail” was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who made those last two “Scream” films, and though I was impressed, to a degree, by what they brought off there, this movie feels like a step backward into overwrought generic schlock. Why does a vampire movie need to be so relentlessly physical, with whacked limbs and decapitations and bodies slammed into walls? Dracula, among other things, is the most metaphorical character in horror-film history, and I guess his daughter could be too, but not in a film that turns bloodsucking into a form of professional wrestling.

VIP+ Analysis: Can ‘Abigail’ Up Horror’s Theatrical Strength?

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, New York, April 17, 2024. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 109 MIN.

• Production: A Universal Pictures release of a Project X Entertainment, Vinson Films, Radio Silence production. Producers: William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, Paul Neinstein, Tripp Vinson, Chad Villella. Executive producers: Ron Lynch, Macdara Kelleher.
• Crew: Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett. Screenplay: Stephen Shields, Guy Busick. Camera: Aaron Morton. Editor: Michael P. Shawver. Music: Brian Tyler.
• With: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir, Matthew Goode, Giancarlo Esposito.

More From Our Brands

Turning point action official resigns after election fraud allegation, a park-view aerie in one of n.y.c.’s buzziest towers lands on the market for $33 million, notre dame athletes cast as employees in new nlrb complaint, be tough on dirt but gentle on your body with the best soaps for sensitive skin, did young sheldon just reveal the premise of next season’s georgie and mandy spinoff, verify it's you, please log in.

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Abigail’ Review: Horror by Numbers

In this cheerfully unambitious vampire movie, a bloodsucker is shut up in an old mansion with some nitwit criminals. Will there will be gore? You bet.

• Share full article

By Manohla Dargis

A cheerfully obvious splatterthon, the new horror movie “Abigail” follows a simple, time-tested recipe that calls for a minimal amount of ingredients. Total time: 109 minutes. Take a mysterious child, one suave fixer and six logic-challenged criminals. Place them in an extra-large pot with a few rats, creaking floorboards and ominous shadows. Stir. Simmer and continue stirring, letting the stew come to a near-boil. After an hour, crank the heat until some of the meat falls off the bone and the whole mix turns deep red. Enjoy!

That more or less sums up this movie, a horror flick that’s serviceable enough to make you occasionally giggle or flinch, yet is also so aggressively unambitious that it scarcely seems worth griping about. It centers on the kidnapping of the title character (a fine Alisha Weir), an outwardly self-possessed 12-year-old ballerina who’s snatched one night by a half-dozen genre types. A formulaically diverse cohort of underworld bottom feeders (played by Dan Stevens, among others), these Scooby-Doo-ish chuckleheads come with divergent skills, histories and expiration dates, and are largely tasked with padding the reed-thin story and dying horribly.

The filmmakers — it was written by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick, and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — have outfitted the story with the usual particulars. Much of the movie unfolds inside a sprawling labyrinthine mansion that looks like it was imagineered by an amusement park designer who scanned some old horror movies while thumbing through picture books on the history of the European aristocracy. There are suits of armor flanking the front door, a bearskin rug on the floor, an empty coffin tucked in a corner and oddly, given the genre circumstances, some fresh garlic in an otherwise derelict kitchen.

There are some tangy bits, including Giancarlo Esposito, who enters, barks some orders and soon leaves the kidnappers alone with Abigail in the mansion while they wait for her father to pay a ransom within 24 hours. Once this narrative stopwatch begins, the crew members — who also include Melissa Barrera, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, an amusing Kevin Durand and Angus Cloud (who died in 2023 ) — banter and pose, grimace and scream while managing to be lightly appealing and entirely disposable. At one point, the filmmakers nod at one of their influences with a shot of Agatha Christie’s 1939 mystery novel “ And Then There Were None ,” about a group of people who are enigmatically offed.

“Abigail” has been described as a take on “ Dracula’s Daughter ” (1936), one of the horror films in Universal’s vault, some of which it has resurrected in some fashion. The press notes for “Abigail” name-check a few vampire titles, but “Daughter” isn’t among them, and for good reason because there’s little to link these two. That’s too bad; the earlier film is a true curiosity. It stars Gloria Holden as a countess who preys on men and women alike, and begs a doctor to help her with her “ghastly” condition. With its lesbian overtones, the movie is a vexed and tasty text — censors urged the studio to avoid suggestions of “ perverse sexual desire ” — and the countess a complex villain in a film that is very much worth a look.

Abigail Rated R for gore and more gore. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

As “Sex and the City” became more widely available on Netflix, younger viewers have watched it with a critical eye . But its longtime millennial and Gen X fans can’t quit.

Hoa Xuande had only one Hollywood credit when he was chosen to lead “The Sympathizer,” the starry HBO adaptation of a prize-winning novel. He needed all the encouragement he could get .

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

Review: ‘Home Alone’ with fangs, ‘Abigail’ is a comedy that goes violently wrong for kidnappers

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

The filmmaking team known as Radio Silence, made up of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, plus producer Chad Villella, struck black (comedy) gold with their 2019 horror-thriller “Ready or Not,” about a young bride, played by Samara Weaving, who has to battle her way out of a murderous game hosted by her wealthy soon-to-be in-laws. The film demonstrated their mastery of coupling an irreverent tone with splashy violence, and netted the team the responsibility of making the next two “Scream” movies, the first without Wes Craven behind the camera.

With their latest feature, “Abigail,” Universal gets into the Radio Silence business, hoping that their brand of female-driven horror can pay big dividends at the box office (and birth a franchise?). With a script by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick, who co-wrote “Ready or Not,” Radio Silence have delivered what is essentially a spiritual sequel to their breakout hit, this time with vampires rather than superstitious old-money sadists, and starring “Scream” queen Melissa Barrera.

Once again, the setting is an old creepy mansion filled with taxidermy and firelight. Once again, our heroine is a steely, scrappy young woman who has a single vice — Weaving’s Grace had a penchant for cigarettes; Barrera’s Joey gobbles hard candy. And once again, a group has been assembled in this isolated location and given a task to be completed within a set amount of time.

In “Abigail,” the group is a band of sarcastic kidnappers who have been hired to snatch and then guard Abigail (Alisha Weir), the 12-year-old daughter of a rich and powerful man. Their boss, Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito), gives them nicknames for anonymity — “Joey,” “Frank” (Dan Stevens), “Sammy” (Kathryn Newton), “Dean” (Angus Cloud), “Peter” (Kevin Durand) and “Don Rickles” (Will Catlett) — then bids goodbye to his “pack of rats.” They assume they’ll drink the night away with their hostage in the other room and collect their fee, but innocent Abigail is much more than meets the eye. She mournfully informs her keeper Joey that she’s sorry for what’s about to happen to them.

If you’ve seen the trailers, you already know that tiny ballerina Abigail is a ferociously terrifying vampire who starts to hunt and feast on each kidnapper. “I like to play with my food,” she taunts, baring rows of sharpened, yellowed teeth. Weir, who starred in “Matilda the Musical,” cheerfully chomps into this role, which requires tremendous physicality, blending ballet and brutal brawls, and she’s riveting, but also quite funny. There’s a grand tradition of terrible little girls in horror, from “The Bad Seed” to “The Exorcist,” and we can easily add “Abigail” to that canon.

The rest of the ensemble also capably pirouettes from jokes to terror, led by Stevens, sporting aviators and a Queens accent as the shifty, untrustworthy Frank. Newton has appeared in her fair share of horror flicks, always flirting with the monstrous side. Durand leans into his French-Canadian roots playing a Quebeçois muscle man who’s more brawn than brains. But Barrera holds the center as the savvy Joey, whose rare vulnerability is her sympathy for kids.

There’s a parent-child theme that doesn’t so much as simmer below the surface as drive the plot along, both Abigail and Joey finding something in each other that they lack. There’s not much subtext, everything remains on the surface, and the exceptionally wordy script relies on exposition dumps to inform the audience about rumors, twists, deals and double-crosses. The characters chatter and prattle about vampire lore and Anne Rice, “True Blood,” “Twilight” and “Nosferatu.”

The 27 best movie theaters in Los Angeles

We’ve mapped out 27 of the best movie theaters in L.A., from the TCL Chinese and the New Beverly to the Alamo Drafthouse and which AMC reigns in Burbank.

Nov. 22, 2023

Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have a gleefully maximalist horror style. The blood is dark and sticky; it doesn’t just spurt, it geysers, projects and splatters. Bodies burst like water balloons under pressure, goopy viscera raining from wall to wall. It’s uniquely them, but they pay homage to the greats: Kathryn Bigelow’s “Near Dark,” the leaping vampires of “Blade” and an oblique script reference to the 1936 film “Dracula’s Daughter,” which offers a layered double meaning to the film.

“Abigail” is at times a bit too flippant, over-the-top and even protracted in its ridiculous Grand Guignol of exploding “meat sacks,” but it’s very much in line with the unique Radio Silence sensibility, en vogue with audiences right now.

The highlight of these films, from “Ready or Not” to “Scream” to “Abigail,” is their ability to tap into an emotional zeitgeist via their working-class heroines, who capture the mood of the moment. Like Grace, and Barrera’s character Sam in “Scream,” Joey is weary and hardened by the world but determined to survive, to make it through the day. Bloodied and battered, she manages to find a shred of solace in this godforsaken world, and that makes her the kind of final girl we can believe in.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'Abigail'

Rating: R, for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes Playing: In wide release Friday, April 19

More to Read

Review: ‘Blackout,’ a new take on one of horror’s oldest myths, is claws for celebration

April 12, 2024

Review: In ‘Housekeeping for Beginners,’ a makeshift family evokes universal pain

April 4, 2024

Neve Campbell will return for ‘Scream 7’; salary dispute is apparently history

March 12, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Sydney Sweeney’s team fires back at producer who said ‘she’s not pretty’ and ‘can’t act’

April 18, 2024

‘Civil War’: What you need to know about A24’s dystopian action movie

Review: In the well-researched ‘We Grown Now,’ a family hangs tough in Chicago’s projects

David Fincher talks us through the off-screen torture of making ‘Seven’

'Sasquatch Sunset' review: You'll wish you never spotted this Bigfoot

Uh uh uh nuh uh uh..

Jesse Eisenberg stars in "Sasquatch Sunset," though you'd never know it by watching the movie. He plays one of four sasquatches in the frustratingly abstract drama, a dialogue-free experiment about a year in the life of a group of Bigfoots.

We track the hairy creatures — they're played by Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Metro Detroit native Christophe Zajac-Denek and co-director Nathan Zellner, all completely unrecognizable — as they traipse through the forest, perform various rituals, mate, grunt, attempt to count, eat their own boogers, trip on mushrooms and smell each other's (and their own) fingers. And you thought your weekend plans were exciting.

They're not cuddly; they're disgusting, feral beings. Any compassion or resignation in their eyes is assigned to them by the human actors, which makes this an entirely odd proposition for a film: Is the point to humanize the sasquatch? Or to empathize with it? Or are were merely observing a year in the life of a fictional beast, so as to better understand ourselves, and what makes us human?

There are more questions than answers in Zellner's film, which he co-directed with his brother David. (David also wrote the script.) We see the circle of life play out, we watch as the group discovers human creature comforts, and we bear witness to all of the sasquatches. (Yes, all of them.) The Zellners present "Sasquatch Sunset" as a kind of riff on a nature documentary, fiction through the guise of a non-fictional lens.

But it's a tedious, patience-trying exercise, and the film's juvenile reliance on scatological and anatomical humor grows tiresome. Does it want to be a deep experience about the world around us, or is it a meta joke perpetrated on the audience? Either way, this "Sasquatch Sunset" fades quickly.

[email protected]

'Sasquatch Sunset'

Rated R: for some sexual content, full nudity and bloody images

Running time: 89 minutes

In theaters

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

'the beast' jumps from 1910, to 2014, to 2044, tracking fear through the ages.

Justin Chang

Gabrielle and Louis (Léa Seydoux and George MacKay) meet in 1910 Paris, 2014 Los Angeles and again in 2044 in The Beast . Carole Bethuel/Kinology hide caption

Gabrielle and Louis (Léa Seydoux and George MacKay) meet in 1910 Paris, 2014 Los Angeles and again in 2044 in The Beast .

There's no easy way to sum up the work of the brilliant and maddening French writer-director Bertrand Bonello. In recent years, he's made a zombie thriller rooted in Haitian voodoo lore and an unconventional biopic of Yves Saint-Laurent. His most controversial title, Nocturama , is a hangout movie about a group of French youth carrying out terrorist attacks around Paris. Bonello's films have a unique way of blurring the intellectual and the aesthetic: Their gorgeous surfaces are often loaded with troubling and provocative ideas.

His latest movie is called The Beast , and it's one of the best and least classifiable things he's ever done. It's a wildly original adaptation of the 1903 Henry James novella The Beast in the Jungle , about a man who dwells in a constant state of fear.

James' story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of being too cautious, of not embracing life and love to the fullest. Bonello takes this premise and spins it in several unexpected directions. First, he recasts the hesitant protagonist as a woman, named Gabrielle, played by the wonderful Léa Seydoux. Then he positions her in three different stories, set in three time frames, and suffused with elements of horror, mystery and science fiction. It's easier to follow than it sounds: Even when it's not entirely clear where or when we are, Bonello's filmmaking is so hypnotic, and Seydoux's performance so subtly mesmerizing, that you can't help getting caught up in the flow.

'Zombi Child': When The Real Horror Is Colonialism

The first story is the one that most closely resembles the novella. It's 1910, and Gabrielle is a renowned pianist who has a run-in at a Paris salon with a gentleman named Louis, played by the English actor George MacKay. In a setup that evokes the confounding 1961 classic Last Year at Marienbad , Gabrielle and Louis seem to vaguely recall having met before. There's a clear attraction between them, but Gabrielle, who's married, resists pursuing it. Her restraint will cost her in a climax that coincides with a real-life Parisian catastrophe, the Great Flood of 1910.

'Saint Laurent,' A Radical Man Of Fashion

The second story takes place in Los Angeles in 2014, and has some of the eerie menace of David Lynch 's masterpiece Mulholland Dr. Gabrielle is now an aspiring model and actor who's been housesitting for a wealthy Angeleno. Rattled by a violent earthquake one morning, she steps outside and runs into Louis, who's now a deeply disturbed incel who's been posting misogynist video rants online.

MacKay is utterly terrifying as this Louis, who's modeled on a man who killed six people in 2014 in Isla Vista, Calif. What makes this second segment so chilling is that, unlike in the novella, the protagonist's fear is not unfounded. The beast stalking Gabrielle is all too real.

The third story is the most elusive and intriguing. It's set in 2044, when the world is run by AI. Gabrielle plays a human who, to join the work force, must undergo a process that will rid her of her emotions. This segment, with its shades of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , explains the framework of the entire movie: It turns out that the 1910 and 2014 sections are remnants of Gabrielle's past lives, now being purged from her subconscious.

Bonello doesn't tell the stories one at a time; he jumps around and among them. He's tracking the sources of human alienation and anxiety through the ages, asking why, in every era, we find ways to disengage from life and the people around us. The movie is especially insightful about how technology evolves. Each chapter features an artificial human companion of sorts: a line of baby dolls in 1910, a talking doll in 2014, a robot friend in 2044. Along the way, Bonello also asks questions about the future of movies, a medium so overrun with CGI that it's become harder to tell what's real from what isn't.

As grim as The Beast sounds, it isn't entirely pessimistic about the state of the world. I left the movie feeling disturbed but also enthralled, and strangely reassured by Seydoux's presence in all three stories. The futuristic Gabrielle may have to divest herself of her feelings, but Seydoux's emotions are always within reach. The more unreal her surroundings become, the more hauntingly human her performance feels.

Belgaum (2021)

Full cast & crew.

Directed by 

Cast  .

Release Dates | Official Sites | Company Credits | Filming & Production | Technical Specs

Contribute to This Page

• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos
• User Reviews
• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews

Related Items

• External Sites

Recently Viewed