Blog Post #6

 Abby was an incredibly campy, yet fun film to watch. I had things that I enjoyed and

disliked about the film. A couple of things I enjoyed about the film were how campy it was and

how it took tropes from films like The Exorcist and made it its own. One thing I liked most about

the film was that when Abby became possessed she drifted from the ‘wife’ role and moved

towards a more carefree and ‘off the rails’ way of living. I found this to not only be very

entertaining but also slightly empowering given the time the film was created and the perception

of women’s role in society at the time. That being said, in the same vein I disliked how overtly

sexual Abby could be at times. I felt, at times, that the overly sexual way that Abby was acting

was unnecessary, even under the lens of camp. At certain points in the film, it felt like Abby was

being portrayed as more of an object or overly sexual for viewers' enjoyment. As a woman, it felt

a little too much at times and I would have liked for it to be dialed down a bit. That being said, I

am coming from the perspective of a more modern lens, so this portrayal may have been

acceptable at the time, but in the present day, I felt that it was a little much.

That being said, I enjoyed how campy the film was and how it did not take itself too

seriously. While the film is meant to be a horror film, I found it more comedic than scary.

Because of this, it reminds me of The Blackening and how Dewayne Perkins said that comedy

and horror have many similarities. I felt this way watching Abby because while it is technically a

horror movie, it also had the exorcism at a nightclub on the dancefloor. To me, this was

incredibly funny and entertaining to watch and demonstrated how horror and comedy can

intersect. While horror can be really scary, it does have qualities that may seem outlandish or

comedic in nature. I believe Abby demonstrated this through both the cinematic choices and plot

choices the creators decided on. Overall, I believe Abby was a very entertaining film and a prime

example of some of the crazier films to come out of the blaxploitation film era. I thoroughly

enjoyed watching the film and while it may not have been as scary as I would expect a horror

film to be, I believe it is still a gem in its own right.

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