It’s a shame that the trailers and marketing for Abigail, the latest horror film from Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, almost immediately gives the game away. On paper, this fable of a kidnapping gone wrong and a a bloodthirsty adolescent Vampire has all the makings of a rollicking splatterfest, but on initial viewing, it’s hard to get past the long, almost-agonizing wait for the film to deliver on what the marketing promised.

A loose remake of 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter, Abigail concerns a group of strangers gathered together by a mysterious benefactor (Giancarlo Esposito) to kidnap and guard the daughter of a dangerous underworld figure in an abandoned mansion. The girl in question is the titular Abigail (Matilda the Musical‘s Alisha Weir), a ballet-obsessed schoolgirl who, on first impression, is little more then a terrified victim. It isn’t long though until the criminals discover that they’ve been led into a trap and that the seemingly vulnerable Abigail is in actual fact a bloodthirsty Vampire intent on hunting and killing them all.

To say it isn’t long before they discover her true nature isn’t quite accurate though. It’s roughly 30 minutes or so before the big reveal, which would be perfectly fine had the trailer not already put the audience ten steps ahead of the characters onscreen. As a result, the initial build-up lacks mystery or tension, as the audience waits and waits for the film to catch up with them. There’s some nice little touches of character development here and there, and the film’s slightly offbeat tone ensures the dialogue is never dull, but there’s no escaping the sense that the movie is needlessly dragging its heels for the first quarter.

Thankfully, once the first bit of blood is spilt, Abigail finally kicks into gear and the end result is a fabulously gory, tongue in cheek crowd-pleaser with enough of an irreverent tone to it that the more ridiculous aspects never jar. The characters are entertaining, the horror is well-handled and the effects work is exemplary, whilst the directors’ obvious confidence with the genre results in a eclectic mix of visual scares, which are all bolstered by the superb presence of Weir. The young actor strikes a remarkable presence as the titular bloodsucker from the off and takes to the stunts and prosthetics work with glee throughout, revelling in the savage nature of the character and imbuing her with pathos as well as raw power.

Of the rest of the cast, Melissa Barrera is a likeable and competent protagonist, injecting plenty of heart and soul into her role as a recovering junkie with honourable intentions, whilst her co-stars Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton and Kevin Durand each strike a perfect balance between the film’s serious horror and outright comedy in flawless fashion (Durand is especially great here, delivering a lot of the gags with gusto and giving a sense of sympathetic truth to his one-note dumb-dumb enforcer role). Even when little is happening onscreen, the presence of the cast and their excellent interactions do liven proceedings up.

It’s almost a shame then that Abigail feels so padded and overlong. The slightly silly tone and the ridiculous gore-soaked action scenes are great, the main characters are likeable and engrossing, and the sense of threat pervading throughout is nerve shredding in places. But a slow, plodding start and a rather overdone finale that outstays its welcome (and then some) hampers proceedings to the point that its all too easy to lose patience with the film. There’s no major surprises here in terms of the plot, which is perhaps what that opening salvo (an the film as a whole) would most benefit from.

With better marketing, Abigail would most likely be a triumph. As it currently stands, its serviceable stuff, but there’s a lot of patience required to get to the movie’s meatier moments, and the lack of mystery ultimately takes a lot of the bite out of proceedings.

Abigail is in UK Cinemas from Friday 19 April