edeighton I was really looking forward to seeing a Protestant exorcism. Had this movie actually been shot as intended that is what would have been displayed. At first blush this movie seems to indicate that the Black Baptist Bishop has a much easier time vanquishing Satan than the Catholic priests did in the original Exorcist movie. The priests in the original Exorcist sweated, bled, questioned their own faith and ultimately one of them died-sacrificing himself to beat Satan. Here William Marshal (Bishop Garnet Williams) did not even break a sweat as he maintained ultimate control from the start of the exorcism to the finish.But in a weird twist it is revealed that Abby is not possessed by the devil but rather by Eshu, a minor God from the Yorba (African) religion. Then it is revealed that Abby is not even possessed by the real Eshu, but rather by an even less significant spirit pretending to be the minor God, Eshu. And "Bishop" Williams does not banish the insignificant spirit in the name of Christ, but rather in the name of the main Yorba God, Allron and ultimately traps the spirit in Eshu's idol with help from Eshu. A rather anticlimactic exorcism.Why was this twist done at all? My research indicates that William Marshall only agreed to do the movie if he had some script control. William Marshall, the actor, was very interested in the Yorba religion and studied it intensely. In fact, William Marshall, the actor, lectured in several universities in the early 1970s about the Yorba religion. It is widely reported that William Marshall was unhappy that promised script revisions were not made. Ultimately, I believe that William Marshal himself ad-libbed the lines about it not being the real Eshu that possessed Abby. I also believe that William Marshal ad- libbed the lines about Allron being of equal power to the Judeo-Christian God and that the exorcism was being performed in Allron's name (later he calls upon the power of Eshu as well). Otherwise, the rest of the script does not make sense. William Marshal, the actor was promised script revisions that were not delivered, so he took matters in his own hands and changed the dialogue on the fly.Lots of gratuitous shots of fried chicken; literally served at every meal. Also bonus points if you can find the Shlitz beer product placement.

AllNewSux A minister's wife becomes possessed by a demon that was probably unleashed by his father while he was excavating in Nigeria. If you take 'The Exorcist', 'The Amityville Horror' and 'Scream Blacula, Scream', and mash them all together, you have 1974's 'Abby'. I was not expecting much from this film and maybe that's why I am SO shockingly surprised at it's quality. It's not "so bad it's good", it's just good! Although the disco music seems out of place in a horror setting like this, the acting is decent and the story is well told. There is no doubt that the plot is a REALLY close copy of a much more popular movie, but to me that doesn't hurt it one bit. In fact when you see the lead character Abby starting to act weird, you almost feel true sorrow for her and her family because if you ever watched 'The Exorcist', and I'm sure 99.998% of you saw that film before this one, you have some idea of what is in store for them all. Because of Abby's age, they are allowed to show a little more sexual deviance which is a nice evil touch, especially from a minister's wife. The special effects are well done and the constantly changing voices within the possessed lead female are great. The movie itself has a very creepy element to it and it is a little more action packed than it's big studio twin (slightly older twin). In fact, if you just look at it as a sequel to 'The Exorcist' rather than a rip off, I think you'll enjoy it much more. Trust me, Friedkin would much rather have 'Abby' as his sequel than the real 'Exorcist Part 2'! The crew of 'Abby' had plenty of original ideas outside of the film that they were copying and the movie deserves a lot more respect.

tommy61986 I remember seeing this movie with my father as a teenager in Chicago.as a matter of fact we saw it 9 times in one day.from am to pm.glad we did because it was pull off by a lawsuit by good o warner bros.The Exorcist was good for the white folks and scare a lot of us.Abby was a version for the afro-American.just like Blacula version of Dracula.Carol speed did her best performance since The Mack.the late William Marshall playing the black priest leashing out the sexual demon from Africa..the f/x was cheesy but funny.what do you want from a movie that only cost $200,000 to make.William Girdler never get to see the $4 millions but wasn't afraid to challenge the exorcist or warner bros.this was all a races attack,because beyond the door wasn't attack as much as Abby.but i agree that Abby should be release on a good DVD remaster.Cinefear is okay but it's like watching a bootleg version.i enjoy Abby back then and i still enjoy Abby today in the good o tropical island..

Michael_Elliott 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.