Bishop and Archaeologist Garnett Williams (BLACULA's William Marshall) unleashed a demon in Africa and it travels all the way to the US to possess his daughter-in-law Abby (Carol Speed). Things move quickly as Abby starts cursing, vomiting, abusing her husband Emmett (Terry Carter) and attacking an old lady. Garnett returns to the US to exorcise this demon but he, Emmett and Abby's detective brother Cass (Austin Stoker) must find her first as she has disappeared into the city.This is pretty cheaply made but entertaining as hell. Speed is quite over-the-top at points but it all works. Hearing the deep base voice throwing obscenities is both hilarious and shocking. The rest of the cast handles it all well, keeping a serious face during the absurd proceedings. Director William Girdler wastes little time (the film runs 85 minutes) and delivers a few atmospheric bits, like when the entity is first released in a cave and when it enters the Williams' house. Warner Bros. apparently successfully sued AIP and got this pulled from theaters. A shame really because, outside of a foul mouthed demon, there is very little similarity and I doubt WB owns the copyright on films about demonic possession.

Abby (1974) *** (out of 4) Infamous blaxploitation film about a young woman named Abby (Carol Speed) who lives with her preacher husband and lives her life for the Lord. That is until one day when the devil possesses her, turning her into a slut but have no fear because her father in law priest (William Marshall) is on the case. This is a rather hard to see film because Warner sued the producer's calling this a rip of THE EXORCIST and it was pulled from theaters and hasn't been released since, which is a real shame because this is one of the better horror blaxploitation flicks out there. There were so many rip-offs of THE EXORCIST that it's just amazing to me that after forty-years ABBY still can't get an official release when all of the others are out there in restored versions. I'm really not sure if director William Girdler meant for this to be a serious horror film or a spoof but I look at is as a spoof as there are some hilarious moments including some funny dialogue that includes "I ain't cho ho". Abby, when possessed, shouts out all sorts of perverted language, which at times is very funny. As with most blaxploitation films, this one here features all sorts of jive talk, which again produces several laughs. The performances in the film are very good with Speed doing fine work as the possessed girl and Marshall clearly steals the film with that strong voice and iron hand. Terry Carter also comes off very good as Abby's husband. Technically speaking the film certainly shows its low-budget but at the same time it just adds to some of the charm. I really hope Warner/AIP/MGM come together one day and clear the legal issues to get this film released officially. While history has written this film off as a rip of THE EXORCIST, that claim really isn't fair. This is no more a rip than BLACULA was a rip of Dracula.

Man, those big shots over at Warner Bros. have absolutely no sense of humor and/or brotherly spirit! Of course this Blaxploitation gem, as well as the Italian efforts "Beyond the Door" and "Lisa and the Devil", is an obvious rip-off of their smash hit "The Exorcist" ... Even the smallest child can see that. But was it really necessary to sue the makers and force them to take these drive-in favorites out of circulation? This is just my personal opinion, but these bizarre imitations are much more amusing than the real thing. The plots are far more over-the-top, the language & make-up effects are usually a lot more extreme and they always feature an (unintentionally?) comical atmosphere. "Abby" is a prime example of 70's fabulousness! The plot is nearly identical to "The Exorcist", but everything else is neatly adjusted to the "Blaxploitation" standards. We have a solid, experienced and charismatic cast, including William Marshall ("Blacula"), Austin Stoker ("Assault on Precinct 13") and Carol Speed ("The Mack") as the titular demon-possessed preacher's wife. When Bishop Williams accidentally releases the spirit of the malicious African deity Eshu, it somehow travels overseas and takes possession of the bishop's daughter-in-law Abby. The poor lady transforms from a deeply religious and loyal wife into a foul-mouthed, aggressive and luscious tramp. She talks with a deep voice, pukes all types of nasty-colored stuff and invades disco parties to seduce random black pimps. There's a minimum of tension and intellectual dialogs to be found in "Abby", but it's reasonably fast-paced and very entertaining. "Abby" is cheap and doesn't contain any real special effects (like rotating heads, for example), but still you should give it a chance. Perhaps I'm slightly biased, as I'm a giant fan of director William Girdler. He was one of the most versatile American horror directors of the 1970's, up until his tragic & premature death.

It always ticks me off when the drooling fanboy geeks on various internet web sites specializing in rare, obscure and offbeat cult cinema savagely ridicule particular DVDs because the transfers aren't polished and spit-shined to crystalline sparkling perfection or the discs don't have enough fancy-schmancy extras to appease their picky snotnose expectations. The unjustly vilified Cinefear DVD for William Girdler's enjoyably trashy 70's blaxploitation demonic possession hoot "Abby" is an excellent example of what I'm talking about. 70's drive-in flick aficionados the world over should be rejoicing that this heretofore hard-to-find and never officially available on video feature has been rescued from oblivion and put out on DVD so the option to see it is a valid and easily pursuable one. The fact of the matter is that whenever a movie comes out on DVD it gets a second lease on life and another chance to be discovered by a new audience that might have missed it when it first came out. Cinefear should be applauded for putting "Abby" out on DVD instead of being fiercely ridiculed for same. Contrary to what the hateful naysayers have articulated on numerous DVD review web sites the DVD itself is actually quite good. Besides a perfectly acceptable quality transfer, the extras alone make it a solid and praiseworthy release: Said tasty extras include the theatrical trailer, a radio spot, a still and poster gallery, and, best of all, an intelligent, informative and well-written essay on the troubled history of this gnarly little nugget. So ignore all the undeserved negative criticism and give the DVD a chance. It's well worth checking out and makes for a sound addition to your horror exploitation library.