Watch: Abigail stars on the gore of the new vampire movie
For Abigail star Melissa Barrera, being soaked head-to-toe in blood is just another day at the office.
Having previously appeared in both the reboot of slasher Scream and its sequel, Scream VI, the actor will next be covered in the red stuff while fighting a vampire ballerina (really) in this new horror film from the directors of Ready Or Not.
In fact, the filmmakers behind Abigail — which sees Barrera’s character hold her own in a fight against the eponymous vampiric daughter (Alisha Weir) — took the blood to the “next level.”
“I’m used to being covered in blood,” Barrera tells Yahoo UK, “and I couldn’t believe how much blood there was in this movie. I was like, ‘You’re kidding me.’
“The sets were covered in blood. We were drenched. It was just a lot, but it was so fun. You know, it’s fun being covered in fake blood. It’s a cool look in a movie, I enjoy it. You get used to being all sticky and wet.”
Of course, Barrera knew what she was signing up for, having previously worked with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett on the Scream movies.
“You know that if you’re working with Matt and Tyler, they’re always going to want more,” she continues. “In this one specifically, because they were going back to their roots and doing something completely original, they went all out. Literally.”
Read more: From Matilda to Abigail, Alisha Weir’s terrifying transformation into ‘Dracula’s daughter’
Also speaking to Yahoo UK, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett say that they were simply following the script when it came to using gallons and gallons of blood for Abigail’s most violent scenes.
“There was a line in the script that said, ‘The Shining elevators would be jealous,’” says Gillet. “We were like, ‘Okay, we got it, watch this.’”
“It is very sticky [to work with], but is also very fun,” adds Bettinelli-Olpin. “We have tonnes of blood in all of our movies, so we’re somewhat immune to it now.”
“We have tennis shoes from all of our shoots,” continues Gillett. “They are still just covered. Like, ‘Well, these are the shoes from Ready or Not. These are the shoes from Abigail, caked in blood!”
Watch a trailer for Abigail
“There’s always a period when you leave set and you go to the hotel and then you look down and you realise, ‘Oh, man, I’m covered in f***ing blood, this is awful,’” says Bettinelli-Olpin.
“When you have the kind of family dynamic of making a movie, when you’re on set, everybody gets really excited about the blood. It’s an undertaking and a lot of work and planning, and there are a lot of tests, and those don’t all go right, but you’re all aiming for the thing that will go right.
“So when you’re there on the day, it’s all of this preparation leading up to this. And on this one, we got it every time, which was just wonderful. But every single time, after one of the big blood events, there was laughter and cheers. And you would think you were at a sporting event and somebody has hit a home run.”
Abigail is in UK cinemas from 19 April.
