Abby (1974, Review)
Director: William Girdler
Cast: William Marshall, Terry Carter, Austin Stoker, Carol Speed
CF Releasing / Color / Unrated / NTSC R1 / Fullscreen 4:3 (1.33:1) / Mono / 92 mins / PURCHASE
Deep in the heart of Africa, Bishop Williams (Blacula‘s William Marshall) unearths an ancient artifact that contains the African god of sexuality, trickery, and chaos called Eshu. He unknowingly opens it and releases the demon inside and it kills his men and runs away. The evil spirit somehow finds the Bishop’s son Emmett, his wife Abby, and her mother who have just moved into a new house and began a new job as the minister of a local church. They are just one big happy Christian, God fearing family until the spirit enters Abby one night while she is showering.
She begins to act erratically and unlike herself. At a church gathering she slices herself while cutting up a chicken. She attacks people at church and foams at the mouth like a rabid dog. Don’t even get me started about her awful potty mouth (“I’m gonna take Mr. Long John upstairs and fuck the shit out of him!”) and voracious sexual appetite (“You would be out of sight it you had a couple more inches!”). After trying medical help to no avail, her husband calls up Father Williams and begs him to come home and help him with some of that spiritual mojo.
As soon as he arrives, Abby freaks out on them and pitches a fucking hissy and runs away. They begin the search for her and Emmett hears from her on a phone booth pay phone (that’s right, back in the day they had glass booths with phones in them!) and he realizes that she must be at a club or bar from the music he hears in the background. So they begin scouring discos (HA!) for a foul-mouthed whore with a demon all up in her. They finally find her but not before she has seduced and killed a couple fly brothas. Then the inevitable big confrontation and exorcism goes down at the bar between the Bishop – with the help of his son and Abby’s brother – and demon-slut Abby. How will it end? Will the Bishop have his faith broken? Will there be a 3 on 1 African-American religious gang-bang?
Blaxploitation and The Exorcist fans, rejoice! You have found your holy grail. Borrowing from William Friedkin‘s classic and including every black stereotype imaginable (eating fried chicken on the front porch?), this movie is a ton of fun to watch. I was laughing my ass off at the hilariously dated dialogue (“Are you trying to say that Abby has flipped out?”), clothes, music and dancing. You have to see this shit to believe it. *AHEM* I SAID, you have to see this shit to believe it. Now go!
