In an era where movie critiques and visual essays analyze every frame of a film, artistry is often the priority. While creative in its own right, “Abigail” is a film that focuses on fun — and the watching experience is significantly better for it. The slightly comedic vampire horror/thriller movie was first released April 19.
Director Pablo Larrain has made a name for himself creating fairy tale-like reimaginings of real-life political figures, including Princess Diana of Wales and Jackie Kennedy. Now, in glorious black and white photography, Larrain offers a new take on brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, known as “El Conde.” In a turn of elaborate magical realism, the former South American president is revealed to have been a vampire, hundreds of years old, who has spent his years squashing revolutions and enforcing a strict authoritarian ideology. Set in the mid-1990s, the count has decided it is time for him to die, but not without one final meal.
In her fourth episode focusing on the genre of Comedy, host Sydney Brumfield is joined by junior Stephanie Hawkins to discuss “What We Do in the Shadows” (2014). The pair discuss just how bloody...