Product Details

• Region: All Regions
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002QDOP0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,385 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Theologian Dr. Williams (William Marshall, BLACULA) travels to Nigeria on a humanitarian mission, where he finds a statue representing an ancient African god of sexuality. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Dr Williams' son and his young wife, Abby (Carol Speed), have settled into a new home. Before long, Abby is demonstrating signs of demonic possession and unbridled sexual hunger. Soon, she is having spells where she is speaking in a frighteningly deep voice, raping men, terrorizing everyone she comes in contact with. An unbelievably fun, 1970s drive-in fusion of horror and blaxploitation, William Girdler's ABBY was initially withdrawn from theaters after Warner Brothers threatened legal action for similarities to THE EXORCIST. Product Details Number of Discs: 1 Rating: R (MPAA) Region: Region 1 UPC: 804879069393 Additional Details Format: DVD Region Code: Region 1 Credits Director: William Girdler Leading Role: Carol Speed, William Marshall, Terry Carter, Juanita Moore

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware of planted reviews from the Cinefear pirates!, November 28, 2004

By 

Mr Vess (Cracow) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abby (DVD)

This is not a review of "Abby" per se, but rather a warning to stay away from the pirate (yes, pirate) disc released by the bootleg store Cinefear, of which the reviews below (probably planted by Cinefear itself) rave. WAIT for the proper upcoming DVD of "Abby" instead of buying the high-price, horrible-quality, shoddily-made Cinefear disc. Why should you avoid Cinefear's bootleg disc? Well, it's detailed e.g. here - http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=8516 - but for brevity, let me count some reasons:

- "Abby" was, of course, shot in widescreen. Cinefear's blatant lie on the cover is just an excuse for the fact that they made their bootleg disc full-screen only.

- Cinefear's "transfer" is an extremely ugly VHS transfer, full of tears, holes, smudges, artifacts, jumps and dirt. The sound is dull and hollow and the chapters freeze and skip. Their claim that this atrocity had been transferred from the original print is a blatant lie - you can actually find older pirate releases of "Abby" that look better than Cinefear's schlocky offer.

- There are no "many more" extras that Cinefear promises. A trailer, a radio spot, a description of the film and poster reproductions are there, and that's it.

- Cinefear asks the typical price of their pirate videos for "Abby", a price that is considerably higher than that of legal, high-quality DVDs.

Wait for the proper disc. Though Glen Danzig gave up its production, "Abby" *is* being prepared for a future release in a transfer from the actual film print, not an old VHS tape.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good movie - Terrible DVD, September 11, 2005

By 

JHC3 (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abby (DVD)

Abby is something of a cult classic inspired by The Exorcist (1973). It features an excellent cast led by William Marshall, Terry Carter, Carol Speed, and Austin Stoker. The basic premise is scholar and minister Garnet Williams (Marshall) travels to Nigeria to work on an archaeological site. During the trip, he inadvertently releases a Nigerian demon which proceeds to possess his daughter-in-law, Abby (Speed). She soon manifests self-destructive and anti-social behavior and ultimately ends up in a mental hospital. After she escapes, she begins to prey on men in nightclubs, using promises of sex to lure them to places where she can destroy them. Eventually, Garnet, Abby's husband Emmett (Carter), and her brother (Stoker) must confront them demon and try to force it out of her before she perishes.

The film is absolutely based on or inspired by The Exorcist. Though there are many important differences, there are also a number of similarities that could be argued are derivative of the original work. This is presumably the basis of the Warner Brothers litigation that essentially killed the film. Regardless, this is a well made, well presented film that treats the subject matter and the actors with seriousness and respect. Despite being often classified as blaxploitation, the film lacks many of the stereotypes of the genre. Horror film fans should give it a chance.

Now for the awful DVD. Normally I don't do reviews here, but this DVD is so appalling as to almost be beyond words. The video transfer is so poor that the opening credits are almost unreadable. Not one moment of the video is clear or devoid of massive flaws. The original master, if indeed an actual film master was used, was in decrepit condition. The audio, though poor, is slightly better than the video. The so-called extras are worthless. The DVD is not worth purchasing at any price. It might be worth renting, but only if the viewer absolutely must see this otherwise difficult-to-find film.

At the time this review was submitted, there were two glowing reviews of the DVD. Both touted its high quality and superb extras. Lies. No reasonable reviewer can reach this conclusion. In case you doubt this, consider this one point. Both of these glowing reviews were submitted on the same day...December 14, 2004. Don't believe 'em. The DVD is absolute garbage.

With this said, the film itself is quite good. It absolutely deserves a complete and caring restoration done by a reputable company. My 1 star rating applies only to the Cinefear DVD. The film itself warrants 4 stars.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars EXTREMELY DISSAPOINTING!!!, December 4, 2004

By 

Steve M. (Schwenksville, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abby (DVD)

Cinefear has done a horrible job with the release of this DVD. The picture and sound quailty are terrible. I paid $20.00 for this DVD and it is not even worth $5.00.