Watch Abby For Free

Simply Perfect

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Blaxsploitation hacks wasted no time ripping off THE EXORCIST with ABBY, the story of a deacon's wife (Carol Speed) possessed by Ishu, a sex demon her archaeologist father-in-law unleashed in Nigeria when he dug up a wooden idol and pulled its penis. She screams, screws, and throws people across the room while cussing up a storm spewing what looks like sperm. The clothes, the cars, and the sound track are reminiscent of MANNIX and while I fully expected to see someone like William "Blacula" Marshall in something like this, IMITATION OF LIFE's Juanita Moore took me by surprise. She played Abby's anguished mom and I half-expected her cries of "My baby! My baby!" to bring forth Susan Kohner who I would have loved to have seen play Abby. Unintentional hilarity abounds anyway in what's one of cult director John Waters' favorite movies. The poster ("Abby Doesn't Need A Man Anymore -The Devil Is Her Lover Now") used to hang behind his desk in the '80s.

A minister's wife becomes possessed by a demon that was probably unleashed by his father while he was excavating in Nigeria. If you take 'The Exorcist', 'The Amityville Horror' and 'Scream Blacula, Scream', and mash them all together, you have 1974's 'Abby'. I was not expecting much from this film and maybe that's why I am SO shockingly surprised at it's quality. It's not "so bad it's good", it's just good! Although the disco music seems out of place in a horror setting like this, the acting is decent and the story is well told. There is no doubt that the plot is a REALLY close copy of a much more popular movie, but to me that doesn't hurt it one bit. In fact when you see the lead character Abby starting to act weird, you almost feel true sorrow for her and her family because if you ever watched 'The Exorcist', and I'm sure 99.998% of you saw that film before this one, you have some idea of what is in store for them all. Because of Abby's age, they are allowed to show a little more sexual deviance which is a nice evil touch, especially from a minister's wife. The special effects are well done and the constantly changing voices within the possessed lead female are great. The movie itself has a very creepy element to it and it is a little more action packed than it's big studio twin (slightly older twin). In fact, if you just look at it as a sequel to 'The Exorcist' rather than a rip off, I think you'll enjoy it much more. Trust me, Friedkin would much rather have 'Abby' as his sequel than the real 'Exorcist Part 2'! The crew of 'Abby' had plenty of original ideas outside of the film that they were copying and the movie deserves a lot more respect.

I have been trying to find a copy of ABBY for some time and tonight I have finally seen this supposedly lost treasure. Apparently, Warner Brothers Studios felt it was rip-off of THE EXORCIST and the film was pulled from circulation prematurely. It also was not seen on video or laser disk and only recently appeared on DVD. The print is horrid and looks as if someone sat with a video camera and recorded it as the film was being played--it was that bad. The colors were a mess, too--most of the film had a strong red tint to it. Additionally, there were scratches throughout--making it the ugliest quality DVD I have ever seen.Well, despite the horrid quality of the disk, I do feel that the film is unique and not exactly a copy of THE EXORCIST. In fact, there are so many differences that it seems ludicrous today that Warner felt they had any claim at all to stop the film. Plus, quality-wise it wasn't like anyone would mistake ABBY for THE EXORCIST!! While the DVD extras proclaim it as a masterpiece and it "was NOT bad like the Blacula or Blackenstein movies", I heartily disagree. While I have yet to see BLACKENSTEIN, the Blacula movies (BLACULA and SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM) look like Academy Award winners compared to ABBY. Other than all three films starring William Marshall (a capable actor stuck in cheap films), they just don't compare. The Blacula films weren't bad at all and ABBY is a wretched film with wretched production values from start to finish. The acting, aside from Marshall, is very, very amateur, the sets and props looked bargain basement and the story was just silly. Worst of all, though, were the demon special effects that weren't much better than something you could make at home.So what does all this add up to? Well, not a good movie, certainly...but also a movie that is fun to watch for its camp value. In other words, it's so stupid and so inane, that it's great for a laugh. So far in my life, I've seen about 50 so-called "blaxploitation" films and this is the worst--even worse than the dull Dolemite films. Now THAT'S bad!!

I recently bought "Abby," more out of nostalgia than the actual film. I was 7 years old when I saw this at a drive-in. The film gave me the creeps and gave me nightmares for over a month.A lot can change over the years, you know. Things that creep you out at 7 may just simply make you howl with laughter at 37.Such is the case with "Abby." Carol Speed plays Abby Williams, the caring and loving wife of Emmett, a minister(Terry Carter), who have just moved into a new home and life seems to be o.k. Until Abby starts foaming at the mouth, and talking about the size of her husband's...parts. Was she the victim of toxic mold in her house, or has she become a druggie? Of course not! She has simply became the new host of a sexual demon, who was accidentally released by her father-in law, Bishop Williams (William Marshall)while he was on an archaeological dig.By today's standards, the film is laughably bad. The storyline has enough holes to resemble a fishing net and a lot of questions remained unanswered (Like, who paid for all the damage during the exorcism at the club?).The people behind the film was sued by Warner Bros. because of the similarities between this film and "The Exorcist," and you can see why they would take action (Levitations, spewing mouth, foul language), but what film HASN"T ripped off "The Exorcist?" ("Beyond The Door" was a rip-off, but they weren't sued. Possible racism issue here? You decided).The DVD quality is not up to snuff (It's a bad copy),but for the die-hard fans of this film and of the genre (Blaxpoitation,horror,or bad cinema), this would have to do.