I’m at a wedding the day this is scheduled to go up (thank fuck for scheduled posts) and it has me thinking about couples and pairings in general. While this will definitely be one of my shorter essays, I wanted to write something that was pretty positive and happy — call me a romantic, but I just felt it’d be nice. I also know I’m going to have to watch that shitty Crow remake in two months so I want to stay as positive as humanly possible while I still can.
One of my favourite pairings in horror movies is that of platonic love and dynamics. Modern horror seems rife with productions stuffed with the stupidest and most unlikable people so audiences won’t be sad when they die. But like I argued in my Nice Queen Bee essay, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with giving us someone to root for.
Abigail was refreshing because it gave us multiple characters, even the titular vampire herself at certain points. But no characters seemed sweeter or more out of place in this group of criminals than Peter (Kevin Durand) and Sammy (Kathryn Newton), two absolute sweeties who have one of the most touching scenes in the whole movie (there are a lot of emotional scenes, but this one was genuinely so moving.)
Sammy is a genius hacker who comes from money, meaning she just hacks for the thrill of it. Peter is the muscle for the Canadian mobsters. The minute these two meet, they(and Dean, played by the incessantly talented late Angus Cloud) start quickly abandoning the rules of staying anonymous, introducing themselves with their real names and their actual backstories. They form an immediate rapport even with barely any dialogue, constantly seen in the background holding onto each other or guiding the other around. These two seem exceptionally less solemn than the others on the mission as well, quick to try and make friends and break the rules. It’s like they didn’t just come here for the money — they thought it would be fun and I love that. These two really add a lot of heart to the team by creating a team at all. Much like The Suicide Squad, these criminals were pretty much picked to die. Yet unlike The Suicide Squad, there is hardly a found family to be discovered. Most of the criminals here want in and a quick escape — yet Sammy and Peter find no problem in relying on each other for comfort, especially as the danger intensifies. Durand and Newton create an incredibly comedic but sweet dynamic that is essentially being developed offscreen but is conveyed to the audience with these tiny little moments that lead to two really impactful ones.
At one point, Joey (Melissa Berrara) points a gun at Sammy — and it’s Peter that jumps in to defend her. By breaking the ‘anonymous’ aspect, these two have established an actual connection that creates an us versus them within an existing us versus them. This is important, showing that even as everyone else fractures off into survival mode, Sammy and Peter are a unit.
Which makes their final scene together SO HEARTBREAKING.
Basically, Abigail bites Sammy and Sammy is pretty sure she’s going to become a vampire. So it’s just her and Peter, and he starts comforting Sammy by telling her they’re friends and they have people they love on the outside and they’re going to make it out of here. Durand is so fucking reassuring and sweet and encouraging I almost forgot I was watching a horror movie and believed him. While Sammy and Peter are comedic relief, so the odds of them making it were low, you just want these two little goofballs to get out of there. But alas, Abigail uses mind control to brainwash Sammy, making her unable to warn Peter despite her desperate attempts (WHICH AGAIN, HEARTBREAKING) before she ultimately kills him. She is then ultimately killed by Joey and Frank, who saw her as a weak link the whole time and treated her (and Peter) like shit.
Now I am under no delusion that Abigail needs to bend to my whim to be a good movie: it’s a fucking fantastic movie, despite the fact that my two favourites died. Their loss, no matter how gutted I was by it, did serve the narrative and were a vehicle for Joey and Abigail eventually teaming up to take down the REAL villain. But I would be wrong if I also didn’t just admit that I love Sammy and Peter so much that I wish they’d had more screentime. I’m rooting for Joey, don’t get me wrong, but I just think a really heartfelt dynamic like the one between Sammy and Peter deserves a little more screentime. I think it’s nice to watch nice people interact and be friends. I think it’s cool when characters bond and create something really unique in the setting of a film, and that’s what Peter and Sammy had. There was a real connection in a house of people who only wanted money, and I think that speaks volumes about the both of them.
I just think these two are little cuties, and I think this is a sweet dynamic that deserves more love because there’s nothing about it. Celebrate real love guys, even when it’s platonic and doomed because of a child vampire.
Anyway mazel to the married couples in my life! Hope to join you some day. And if not, would love more platonic us versus them kinda friends.