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Abby
[CF Releasing]
1974; color
Directed by William Girdler
Starring: Carol Speed, William Marshall, Austin Stoker & Juanita Moore
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You'd think at this point I would know better, but I will admit I went into this movie thinking it was a blaxploitation version of The Exorcist. Not just because of the box cover (although that did play a part) but based on what I'd heard about the movie. After watching it, I'm having a hard time figuring out how it ended up with that description in the first place. Granted, I saw The Exorcist when I was in high school (which was more than a few years ago) but this not only doesn't have the same plotline, it has way much more in common with other super small budget horror films we've reviewed on the Buffet, like Mark Of The Witch, than any of the movies reviewed in our Once You Go Black... feature. Well, except that William Marshall, aka the guy who played Blacula, is one of the stars; and the title character is played by Carol Speed who was in The Mack and Disco Godfather. (And she was awesome in both!) Speed was also in one of my favorite Women In Prison films of all times, The Big Bird Cage, but now we're really getting off topic. To get back to this movie, when we first meet our ill-fated heroine, Abby, she's really not that all ill-fated. In fact, her life seems like it's in pretty good shape. She's happily married and just moved into a new place with her preacher husband, has a great relationship with her mother, and a successful marriage counseling gig on the side. Unfortunately, her father-in-law (played by Marshall) who is also a preacher of some sort, as well as an archeologist of some sort, inadvertently sends the poor girl's life into an uncontrollable downward spiral when he unearths an evil spirit during a purely educational excursion to Nigeria who later travels to the US and has sex with Abby in the shower. Thus taking her soul and - euphemistically, of course, as she remains very much alive throughout the course of the film - possessing her corpse. (Uh, at least I think that's what happened. The version we saw was a little choppy, to say the least.) Then all sorts of wack ass shit goes down, as only wack ass shit can go down in a movie with this budget from this era, and by that I mean you can expect a sampling of white foamy pseudo-vomit, poorly executed "special effects," and an awesome discotheque / lounge set replete with appropriately swingin' '70s fashion for the ladies and the fellas. Among other atrocities / attractions. Honestly, this is one of those movies you either love or hate from the get-go and I will assume those reading this know me well enough to know which category I fall into.
—Bunny
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