Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

BA_Harrison Take the essential ingredients of William Friedkin's The Exorcist, add 'fros, flares, fried chicken and funky grooves, and what you have is Abby, the 1974 demonic blaxploitation flick from director William Girdler that unsurprisingly received a great deal of attention from a very unamused Warner Brothers legal department.Just like The Exorcist, the film's supernatural events are kick-started by the discovery of an ancient artifact by an elderly man of the cloth—in this case, it's a small carved box depicting the powerful sex demon Eshu that is unearthed by African-American bishop Garnet Williams (William Marshall). And just like The Exorcist, the discovery of this item results in a case of possession—only instead of a twelve year old girl, the victim is the bishop's daughter in law, Abby Williams (Carol Speed). Within a matter of days, God-fearing Christian Abby is transformed from a gospel singing pillar of the community into a blasphemous, vomiting, sex-mad harlot, eventually driving her desperate husband Rev. Emmett Williams (Terry Carter) to enlist the help of his father to cast out evil Eshu.Instead of the classy style of Friedkin's movie, Girdler's effort is cheap, trashy and unintentionally hilarious, which in my book makes it almost as entertaining as the film it so blatantly rips off. Speed attacks her performance with gusto, coughing, drooling, puking, speaking in guttural fashion, getting slutty with total strangers, and even appearing in cheesy demon make-up for several subliminal flashes that simply scream 'plagiarism'; meanwhile, those around her play their roles with absolute sincerity, doing their utmost to look concerned and frightened (but failing badly).Despite not being in the slightest bit original, shocking or scary, Abby is easily one of the most watchable (ie., funny) Exorcist rip-offs I have seen; I say 'get your mitts on a copy', even if it is the VHS-quality DVD release that seems to be the only version currently available.

MartinHafer 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!!

ironman4862 I saw this movie when I was child, 9yrs old to be exact. I remember how good this movie was and have always wanted to see it again and add it to my collection. Besides the Exorcist and the first Night Of The Livinng Dead (black and white version), this is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen and I don't scare easily. Actually, there aren't too many movies that have frightened me. My perception has changed quite a bit since I was a child, so I am eager to see this movie again to see if it is as good as I remembered it. I know I will enjoy it, but to what extent though. I'm glad to know I can still find this movie, because I have looked everywhere. I was told the original was destroyed, because of a lawsuit back in the seventies. It would have been a tragedy to have destroyed such good movie. If anyone can tell me where I can get this movie I would greatly appreciate it.

Woodyanders It always ticks me off when the drooling fanboy geeks on various internet web sites specializing in rare, obscure and offbeat cult cinema savagely ridicule particular DVDs because the transfers aren't polished and spit-shined to crystalline sparkling perfection or the discs don't have enough fancy-schmancy extras to appease their picky snotnose expectations. The unjustly vilified Cinefear DVD for William Girdler's enjoyably trashy 70's blaxploitation demonic possession hoot "Abby" is an excellent example of what I'm talking about. 70's drive-in flick aficionados the world over should be rejoicing that this heretofore hard-to-find and never officially available on video feature has been rescued from oblivion and put out on DVD so the option to see it is a valid and easily pursuable one. The fact of the matter is that whenever a movie comes out on DVD it gets a second lease on life and another chance to be discovered by a new audience that might have missed it when it first came out. Cinefear should be applauded for putting "Abby" out on DVD instead of being fiercely ridiculed for same. Contrary to what the hateful naysayers have articulated on numerous DVD review web sites the DVD itself is actually quite good. Besides a perfectly acceptable quality transfer, the extras alone make it a solid and praiseworthy release: Said tasty extras include the theatrical trailer, a radio spot, a still and poster gallery, and, best of all, an intelligent, informative and well-written essay on the troubled history of this gnarly little nugget. So ignore all the undeserved negative criticism and give the DVD a chance. It's well worth checking out and makes for a sound addition to your horror exploitation library.