Review: Abby
Carol Speed stars as the title young woman, who has just moved into a new house with her husband Terry Carter, an apprentice priest. All of a sudden Abby starts to undergo severe and frightening changes, becoming uncharacteristically foul-mouthed and sexually aggressive, and even having the capacity to move objects mentally. Carter thinks he better call in an expert, namely his father William Marshall, a priest who also happens to be a college professor of ancient religions and cults. Juanita Moore plays Abby’s mother, with Austin Stoker turning up as Abby’s brother. The notorious 1974 William Girdler ( “Sheba, Baby” , “The Manitou” ) blaxploitation rip-off of “The Exorcist” that resulted in Warner Brothers suing AIP and getting the film taken out of circulation in the US for years. It made money, but due to the lawsuit Girdler himself sadly saw none of it, and he died in 1978 at age 30. Apparently a later court ruling realised Warners didn’t have a monopoly on exorcism film...