Abigail's directors share how they hoped to out-gore The Shining's lift scene

Abigail, the new vampire movie from Scream reboot directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, takes movie gore to another level.

Abigail is in UK cinemas from 19 April.

Video transcript

JACK SHEPHERD: This film is a really good time. And it has an outrageous third act, really, with gallons and gallons of blood, probably more blood than I've seen since, like, "The Shining" elevator or something.

TYLER GILLETT: You know, funny you mentioned that. There was a line in the script that said "The Shining" elevator-- "Shining" elevators would be jealous. We were like--

MATT BETTINELLI: About the amount of blood.

TYLER GILLETT: --OK. Well, we got it. Watch this.

JACK SHEPHERD: How tricky is that to handle? I mean, it feels very sticky and just like it would be not the funnest shoot. Or maybe it is the funnest shoot ever. I don't know.

MATT BETTINELLI: It is very sticky. It is also very fun. You know, we have tons of blood in all of our movies, so we're somewhat immune to it now on some level. But--

TYLER GILLETT: We have tennis shoes from all of our shoots that are still just like, well, these are the shoes from "Ready or Not." These are the shoes from "Abigail."

MATT BETTINELLI: Caked in blood. There's always a period when you leave set, and like, you go to the hotel or whatever. And then you look down, and you realize, oh, man. I'm covered in fucking blood. This is awful. But they are. It's just-- it's fun. I think, you know, when you're just the kind of family dynamic of making a movie when you're on set, everybody gets really excited about the blood stuff because it is such a-- like, it's an undertaking. And it's a lot of work. And it's a lot of planning. And there's a lot of tests.

And those don't all go right, but you're all aiming at the thing that will go right. So when you're there on the day, it's all of this preparation leading up to this one, two three. Oh. We got it, or we didn't. And on this one, we got it every time, which was just wonderful. But every single time after one of the big blood events, there's laughter and cheers. And you would think you were at, like, a sporting event and somebody just hit a home run, you know? Like-- a sporting event. That's baseball. But--

[LAUGHTER]

MELISSA BERRERA: Like, I was-- I'm used to being covered in blood. And I couldn't believe how much blood there was in this movie. I was like, you're kidding me. Like, the sets were covered in blood. We were drenched. There was canons. Like, it was just a lot, but it was so fun, you know? Like, it's-- I think it's fun being covered in fake blood. I think it's a cool look in a movie. I enjoy it. It's-- you get used to being all sticky and wet.

And it's just you know if you're working with Matt and Tyler, they're always going to want more. And I think in this one specifically, because they were going back to their roots and doing something that was completely theirs and original, they went all out, literally.