Abigail's 10 Horror Movie Easter Eggs & Vampire References Explained

Warning: This list contains spoilers for Abigail.

The horror thriller Abigail features many Easter Eggs and references to other vampire and horror pop culture that will intrigue fans once they recognize them. The 2024 vampire movie from the creators of Ready or Not takes inspiration from the many iterations of Dracula, depicting a group of criminals trapped in a mansion with a child vampire known as Abigail (Alisha Weir). Abigail is in spirit the daughter of Dracula, even if the character’s father is given a different name.

Barely noticeable details from the beginning to Abigail’s sublime ending are homages to the vampire and horror movies that came before this installment possibly helped make 2024 one of the best years for horror in a long time. Some of Abigail‘s references constitute more obvious jokes about the proliferation of vampires in pop culture, while others are understated hints about the nature of the story. However, all of them contribute to a subversive horror movie with many different layers, necessitating more than one viewing (if one can stand all the blood and gore).

10 Abigail’s Swan Lake Intro Mimics 1931’s Dracula

Abigail’s Preferred Musical Piece Is A Callback To The First Dracula Movie

Abigail opens with Abigail at ballet rehearsal, while the gang of criminals prepares to kidnap her elsewhere. During the opening credits, Abigail dances to the main theme from Swan Lake. The delicately menacing tone of this musical piece makes it oddly suitable for horror movies such as Black Swan. The Swan Lake music comes back around several times in Abigail, typically when the title character is violently attacking the rest of the cast.

Swan Lake is also used as the soundtrack for the opening credits of 1931’s Dracula, the original movie adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel. Most of Abigail‘s Dracula references specifically pertain to this movie, going back to the legendary vampire’s cinematic origins to imbue the new movie with classic horror vibes. Every song in Abigail‘s soundtrack was meticulously chosen, but Swan Lake alone holds this kind of historical relevance.

9 Cars & License Plates In Abigail

The Cars Seen In Abigail All Allude To Dracula

Even the cars in Abigail showcase some minuscule details, all of which are nods to Dracula. After the opening credits, Abigail leaves her ballet rehearsal and gets into a car with a license plate that reads “BLU 9051.” This is a nod to actor Bela Lugosi, who played Dracula in 1931’s Dracula. Additionally, Abigail‘s directors say that the other car’s license plates are the publication date of the Dracula novel (via comicbook.com). Indeed, one of the cars’ plates is “M26 1897” (May 26, 1897).

In a final vehicular Easter Egg, when driving away after kidnapping Abigail from her home, Dean (Angus Cloud) drives the van behind a truck to hide from a traffic camera. The truck is advertised as belonging to Harker Farms and is decorated with a lot of garlic cloves. Garlic is an obvious vampire reference, while Harker is an allusion to Jonathan and Mina Harker, the young couple who get caught up with Dracula in the original story.

8 Larry Fessenden’s Abigail Cameo

A Horror Icon Returns For Another Radio Silence Productions Cameo

The iconic horror actor, director, and producer Larry Fessenden makes a cameo in Abigail, as he has done for some other underdog horror movies in the past few years. Where Radio Silence Productions is concerned — the production company behind Ready or Not and Abigail — Fessenden has been involved with their work before. When the Abigail directors made the horror anthology Southbound, Fessenden made a cameo as a DJ heard on the radio in one scene.

Perhaps as a reference to this cameo, Fessenden plays a radio DJ again in Abigail, during the scene where Joey (Melissa Barerra) deduces details about her crewmates’ pasts. Also this year, Fessenden appeared as a security guard in the hit horror and crime drama MaXXXine. Through cameos like this, Fessenden gives the impression of endorsing these movies, which both received strong reviews.

7 Le Domas Portrait In Abigail

A Set Piece In Abigail Alludes To Ready Or Not

Another hidden Abigail Easter Egg sets up a crossover with Ready or Not, Radio Silence’s previous hit slasher. In Ready or Not, an ancestor of the wealthy Le Domas family is said to have made a deal with the devil necessitating the sacrifice of people who marry into the family in exchange for their wealth — and if they fail, they all die. A portrait of this family member is seen in Abigail’s mansion, prompting questions about what “devil” the Le Domas ancestor made his deal with.

Abigail being set in the same universe could have major implications for the plot of Ready or Not 2, if this sequel happens. Both Abigail and Ready or Not feature apparently isolated supernatural occurrences within the real world, and follow an intrepid heroine who survives a claustrophobic environment. The movies are inextricably linked, making references to one another appropriate in Abigail and any future movies.

Related

Which horror movie has the most satisfying ending?

Not every horror movie ends with the villain getting what they deserve. Even when the hero kills the villain, there are times when it’s anticlimactic, or it doesn’t feel like true justice because of what the villain had done to their victims. Ready or Not has the most satisfying horror movie ending in my opinion. Watching the family get what they deserve one by one, and Grace coming to the realization that she’d won was perfect. It was gory and funny, leaving viewers on a high.

6 The Dracula Crest In Abigail

The Dracula Crest From Universal’s Movies Is Seen At Abigail’s House

A coat of arms is seen in multiple places in Abigail’s mansion: at the front gates, on the floor of the library, etc. Joey also observes a statue of Abigail and her father in the library. The library will serve as the point of many important beats in the movie, both a place of temporary safety from Abigail and the site of the final battle. It is also where Abigail’s father finally reappears.

The crest in particular is somewhat similar to Dracula’s crest, as seen in previous movies. It is especially interesting that it is dead center on the circular floor of the library. Everything in this movie revolves around the idea of Dracula and his legacy through Abigail. Even when the characters are “safe” there due to the sunlight streaming in through the window, they are still within the domain of the vampiric family.

5 Different Kinds Of Vampires Discussion In Abigail

The Abigail Cast Does A Rundown Of What They Know About Vampires

Once the group has established that they are dealing with a vampire, they go back to the only information they have on vampires. Sammy (Kathryn Newton) prompts the hilarious and accurate question of what kind of vampires, as the major vampire media properties of the past 20 years show different versions of their strengths and weaknesses. Right away, Sammy rattles off Anne Rice, Twilight, and True Blood as differing iterations. The group decides that crucifixes, garlic, stakes, and sunlight are all worth a try.

Peter’s (Kevin Durand) crucifix and the garlic prove ineffective, but the stakes and sunlight work (later in the movie). This aligns with most modern vampire properties, which tend towards the former two being too goofy to uphold. Frank (Dan Stevens) also later refers to Sammy as “Twilight” after she steps into the sun without being affected, despite her vampire bite. Her briefly twirling in the light is perhaps meant to be a reference to Twilight‘s vampires being safe in the sun.

4 Record Player Alludes To Ready Or Not

A Record Player Is Also Important To A Key Scene In Abigail

When several of the characters move to make their first attack on Abigail with the knowledge that she is a vampire, they are summoned to a different room in the house by the sound of Swan Lake, which sounds as though it is being played by an old record player. There, they find Abigail dancing with Dean’s beheaded corpse. This is another callback to Ready or Not, where a record player is used to cue a creepy effect when the danger really begins for the main character.

In Ready or Not, a record player plays Headquarters Music’s “The Hide & Seek Song” as Samara Weaving’s Grace takes off to hide from her new in-laws, still not aware of the danger she is in. Meanwhile, the members of the Le Domas family begin to arm themselves, tasked with killing the bride before dawn. The record player may become a recurring motif if Radio Silence makes more movies set in this universe.

3 And Then There Were None Has A Similar Plot To Abigail

Abigail Tricking Frank With An Agatha Christie Novel Has Multiple Meanings

While Abigail is based on 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter, it is also very similar to the Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None. The latter also follows a group of people who are lured into a secluded environment where their host kills them one by one, enacting what they see as justice. When Abigail tells Frank that the way out of the house is this very novel, she is perhaps giving him a hint that he misses entirely.

Abigail bargains with Frank, telling him that pulling And Then There Were None from a shelf in the library will reveal a passageway out. He reneges on their deal, refusing to free her after she has divulged this. However, it turns out that she did the same when removing this book from the shelf reveals no secret doors. Frank almost seems to get the joke: By choosing this specific novel for her lie, Abigail is confirming that she still plans to kill them all.

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New Vampire Movie Is A Secret Agatha Christie Adaptation Of Controversial Best-Seller

Abigail has a reference to a controversial Agatha Christie novel, and the movie is actually a secret adaptation of it, but with a clever twist.

2 The Name Ana Lucia Cruz

Joey’s Real Name In Abigail Also Alludes To Dracula

Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) quickly rattles off temporary names for the group to go by for the night while they guard Abigail, naming them all after the Rat Pack. However, Abigail later reveals their real names, as she lured them all there as recompense for hurting her father’s business interests. Every Abigail “Rat Pack” member’s backstory is explained, but Joey’s holds special meaning. Joey’s real name is revealed to be Ana Lucia Cruz, partially as a reference to Lucy, Dracula’s first victim in the novel.

Additionally, the surname Cruz is Spanish for “cross,” implying that Joey is protected from vampires (even though crosses don’t work in this universe). The name turns out to be a subtle clue, as Joey is the only character who survives Abigail’s wrath. This is one of the most interesting Dracula references in Abigail, which plays with the contrast between Lucy and Ana Lucia’s fates.

1 Matthew Goode As Kristof Lazaar

Another Vampire Actor Appears In Abigail’s Finale

In the final minutes of the movie, Abigail’s father Kristof Lazaar finally arrives on the scene, revealing that he is played by Matthew Goode, who himself is a vampire media reference. Lazaar may or may not be the one and only Dracula using a new name in this universe; however, A Discovery of Witches fans will instantly make the connection to the show. In the TV show adaptation, Goode plays Matthew Clairmont, the vampire deuteragonist who falls in love with witch Diana Bishop.

Co-director Tyler Gillet had this to say about casting Goode as Lazaar (comicbook.com):

“We needed somebody to … The way that they carry themselves actually to bring a level of mystery and nuance to what that character is instead of this just big, brute force. There’s something very graceful and ethereal and strange about how Matthew looked in the teeth and the costume.”

Of course, Goode has already proven that he can capture this effect as a vampire, portraying Matthew’s enigmatic persona before Diana knows much about him in A Discovery of Witches. This show is one of the vampire properties not verbally referenced in Abigail (also The Vampire Diaries and Buffy the Vampire Slayer). However, Goode’s mere presence is another means to grant the movie the perfect tone through another clever reference.

Abigail (2024)

Abigail is a 2024 horror thriller directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The plot follows a group of people who kidnap the daughter of a dangerous crime lord only to discover that the little girl is actually a vicious vampire out for blood. Alisha Weir stars as the titular character alongside Kathryn Newton, Melissa Barrera, and Dan Stevens.

Director

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin , Tyler Gillett

Release Date

April 19, 2024

Distributor(s)

Universal Pictures

Writers

Stephen Shields , Guy Busick

Runtime

109 Minutes

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Source: comicbook.com, IMDB (Abigail trivia)