Sure, everyone knows The Exorcist... but it's a lucky cratedigger indeed who possesses a VHS copy of Abby.
Here is another winner (loser?) from the CD archives, 1974's "Abby". This is a Blaxpolitation version of "The Exorcist".
Being an American International picture, it hits on many points in the Blax genre. Also, this is a cratedigger vault member that appears to never have received a DVD release. The VHS copy is a multi-generational copy from a scratched film print. Some of the scenes are pretty washed out. I would imagine that this is from both the film source as well as the old tape on which the signal is stored, but I digress.
William "Blacula" Marshall co-stars in this film and plays a critical part in the plot as well as the resolution. The actor can emote. Not hard to imagine him as Lord Vader in the place of James Earl Jones. He plays Abby's father-in-law. He is trained in the ways of the Eshu spirits and knows how to deal with them.
This is a real freaky film as it starts all happy and positive with Abby (Carol Speed) moving into a new house with her husband who also happens to be a pastor. Spirits come to visit on the first night and Abby is never the same.
Once she starts to get her possessed freak on, first in a hot shower and then notably while cutting some bloody chicken, the positive tone of the film goes south. I guess this is much like the tone of the U.S. during the early Ford Presidency circa '74.
When she freaks out and gets evil, the reverb used and the spooky green face flashed in really freaked out the youthful members of the audience. Sidenote: when I scored this video 10 years ago, a co-worker named G 2 tha E said that he saw it on the West Side and had nightmares for the rest of the year. The combination of sound and visual effects remind me of the 70s anti-drug film "Angel Dust the Wack Attack!"
Abby diverts from her training as a marriage counselor mighty quickly as she becomes the soul shaking hootchy mama enticing the brothers with the soul glow with her evil ways. The bar scene where this occurs will make any crate digger of soul quite happy. There are at least two cool shots of an old jukebox spinning the dusties, and afros and wild threads all over the place.
Marshall ends up saving the day and in so doing gives a positive resolution to the film. This is somewhat unconventional for movies from the blax era.
While being a cheapy, I enjoyed viewing this film again for the first time in years. The acting is not too bad for a blax movie and there is a basic plot that is not hard to follow. This would be great for a beer- or cocktail-fueled viewing party. Find a copy of this and dig it.
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