Customer Reviews

Abby

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

. . the other version offered here, "The Black Exorcist Version." Simply look for "Cinefear" or "CF" as the seller, and avoid it at all costs.
"Sadly, I actually purchased this DVD from "Cinefear's" web site, and payed a hefty price for it. Without doubt, this is by far the worst transfer of any film that I have ever purchased, and this includes many of those dollar store, public domain movies. They try to play it off as "just be glad you're able to see it at all," but, I'd rather not watch it than to see it like this. Trust me, it's that horrible !
Not only is it a horrendous transfer, but there's also a main menu/chapter problem going on. When you press play from the main menu, it takes several minutes for the film to even start, and then it skips right over the beginning, jumping to the 2nd or 3rd chapter. You have to hit the slow-rewind button to get to the beginning, and this takes awhile.
Cinefear has made quite a bit of money off this piece of junk DVD, as it was their biggest seller ever. That's OK, as we all know that Karma always comes back around and takes care of rotten, greedy, liars and crooks."
Hopefully, this film will get past all those long-ago law suits and petty greediness, and some respectable company will properly release this film as a parody of The Exorcist.

This is the worst possible tranfer of a movie to DVD. This company CineFear should be ashamed of themselves, but they must
only be doing it for the money, because no company would release
a video this bad and expect anyone to enjoy it. You cannot judge
a book by its cover, and the DVD holder look nice, and horror
fans may be quick to pick it up to enjoy the horror film inside.
When you get home and you put it in the DVD player, you will see
a HORROR FILM; the film jumps, the sound is horrible, and the picture is dirty and because the projector was dirty,(or the film)dirt, hair, and other thigs come across the screen while you are watching the movie. Absolutely the WORST. Save your money until the read DVD comes out. And they (CineFear) has the nerve to label this DVD "Collector's Edition" I taking mine back to the store tommorow, but they may not want to take it back. They may
tell me "IT IS A HORROR FILM", and they would be right but not the way horror fans, or any movie fan would appreciate.

I was very happy to see Abby again after over 30 years. I have always been a big fan of Carol Speed and her 1970's movies. Prior to reading the movie's ending credits, I was not aware that Carol actually wrote the song she sang in the movie. Also, I felt the overall duplication of Abby (on DVD) was not that bad. Having said that, do not expect to see and compare Abby to a recently-made movie you would normally buy today on DVD. Movies today are filmed with a lot better technology. Remember, Abby was filmed over 30 years ago and on a very low budget. I own several DVDs of movies filmed during the 70's and they all look the about same in overall picture clarity.

You can really tell Abby was duplicated from some type of film to DVD. We all have had or seen movies dubbed from a VHS tape to another. This Abby DVD is a little better quality than a first-generation-duplicated VHS tape product. The DVD does contain some grainy areas and lines which will remind you of something recorded on a VHS tape; however, it's still better than a standard bootleg movie recorded with a personal video camera. I do not believe the DVD was made from a digitally remastered and restored print direct from film--as advertised by Cinefear; more likely VHS to DVD!

If you do decide to purchase a copy of Abby, it will definitely be a product of Cinefear. They are the only company currently producing and distributing Abby on DVD. Thirteen years ago, Cinefear began selling Abby on VHS for over $70. Cinefear is currently selling Abby for $20 (DVD) on their website. There are many sellers where you can find on-line to purchase the movie--just find the one with the cheapest price. I bought my Abby DVD from Gold Medal Hair's website for $9.98. For myself, it was worth the price to see this 70's movie classic, regardless of the not-so-perfect picture quality--I would not have paid Cinefear $70 to buy Abby on VHS tape. Also, I can understand why people are upset over the shoddy DVD, especially if they paid $20 to $30 to get it. I gave an extra star just to be able to see Carol's performance again as Abby. The comments made by the previous reviewers were right on the money concerning the actual movie. I will always remember the line, "I don't need you, I've got Abby!"

THIS WAS A BAD QUALITY MOVIE. THE MOVIE LOOK LIKE SOMEBODY COPIED IT OFF A VHS. I GIVE IT A RATING OF ZERO.

This was a movie that scared the bejizzes out of me as a kid. As an adult, the movie itself is pure camp and just fun to watch. Too bad that this release is just that, a bad copy from a VHS tape. This DVR copy even edits out the head turning scene.
There have been promises of the orginal print being transfered to DVD but that has yet to happen. Until that happens, DO NOT BUY THIS VERSION!!
The one star is for the memories I have from childhood of this movie.

This DVD is simply awful from beginning to end. Not only is the transfer to DVD pitiful (grainy, muddy, poor sound, unreadable titles) but the movie itself is pure crap. This movie doesn't deserve to be restored. That is why it hasn't been restored. It's grade Z filmmaking at it's absolute worst.

Yes indeed. In fact, I waited for Amazon to get it, but on the day of it's release, they were out of stock. Extremely rare and popular with it's cult following. If you really want it, get it through www.cinefear.com, as they released it. In fact, that's where I got mine from! Still love AMAZON though, you can't beat 'em.