An intriguing steampunk fantasy that bit off more than it could chew opens up its streaming borders

On their own, steampunk and fantasy are two perennially popular mediums with plenty of rich stories to choose from, but combing the two in a blockbuster movie almost always ends in disaster, with 2019’s Abigail living up to the reputation of its predecessors by failing to find favor with critics or audiences.

In a world where Mortal Engines became the biggest money-losing failure in Hollywood history, which came after the likes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass, The House with a Clock in Its Walls, and Stardust suffered from either a critical bashing or financial disaster, it’s hard to get excited for any project that comes bearing stylistic similarities.

Russia’s attempt at trying to rectify the subgenre’s reputation didn’t exactly go as planned, with a 4.8/10 rating on IMDb and a 34 percent audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes underlining that the rot definitely didn’t stop with Abigail, even if it does boast an interesting-if-familiar conceit.

The title hero lives in a walled-in city shut off from the world after a pandemic, but she ends up disobeying the authorities to go on a hunt for her missing father before being imbued with fantastical abilities. Ultimately forgettable, Abigail fell into many of the same traps as its spiritual bedfellows by failing to make the most of a setup rife with potential, instead favoring an approach that proved to be so routine you’re left feeling as though you’ve already seen this one before.

Then again, the fact FlixPatrol has outed it as one of the most-watched features on Starz this weekend underlines the never-ending appeal of fantasy as a whole, even if there are innumerable better examples than Abigail.