{ "id": "eprbz2jmc3", "slug": "abby-1974-film", "title": "Abby (1974 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.religious-and-demonic-horror-films", "label": "Religious and demonic horror films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.religious-and-demonic-horror-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Abby (1974), also known by the working title Possess My Soul, is a William Girdler blaxploitation horror film starring Carol Speed and William Marshall, pulled from theaters by a Warner Bros. Exorcist lawsuit after earning $4 million.", "snippet": "Abby (1974), also known by the working title Possess My Soul, is a William Girdler blaxploitation horror film starring Carol Speed and William Marshall, pulled from theaters by a Warner Bros. Exorcist lawsuit after earning $4 million.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.religious-and-demonic-horror-films", "markdown": "# Abby (1974 film)\n\n**Abby** is a 1974 American blaxploitation (1970s genre of films made for and starring Black audiences) horror film directed by William Girdler, in which a pastor's wife (Carol Speed) is possessed by Eshu, a demon of the [Yoruba religion](https://www.edgepedia.org/yoruba-religion), and is exorcised by her father-in-law (William Marshall). Produced in [Louisville, Kentucky](https://www.edgepedia.org/louisville-kentucky), and distributed by [American International Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-international-pictures) (AIP), it earned over $4 million in its first month before a Warner Bros. copyright-infringement lawsuit over its similarity to *The Exorcist* (1973) forced it out of theaters, and the settlement has kept it largely unavailable ever since.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) • [2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 25 December 1974, rated R, 91–92 minutes (AFI Catalog lists 89 minutes for some prints)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) • [2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html) |\n| Director and writers | William Girdler; screenplay by G. Cornell Layne and Girdler[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) |\n| Principal cast | William Marshall, Terry Carter, Austin Stoker, Carol Speed, Juanita Moore[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) • [3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/abby) |\n| Production | Mid-America Pictures, a merger of David Sheldon of AIP and Girdler, based in Louisville, Kentucky; working title *Possess My Soul*[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) |\n| Box office | Budget approximately $200,000; over $4 million earned in the first month of release[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071095/trivia/) • [2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html) |\n| Legal outcome | Warner Bros.' 1975 lawsuit settled out of court for an undisclosed cash payment; the film cannot be reissued without Warner Bros. permission[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) |\n| Availability | No official home video release in the U.S.; almost all 35mm prints have disappeared from circulation[2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071095/trivia/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and cast\n\nReverend Garnet Williams (William Marshall), a theologist researching the Yoruba religion, unwittingly unleashes the demon Eshu while investigating a temple in Nigeria.[5](https://oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=2517) • [6](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Abby) Back in Louisville, his son Emmett (Terry Carter), a pastor, moves into a new house with his wife Abby (Carol Speed), who begins to behave in foul-mouthed, sexually aggressive ways and displays powers such as moving objects with her mind.[5](https://oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=2517) Emmett calls his father back, and the film climaxes with an exorcism not in a domestic setting but in a downtown Louisville bar.[5](https://oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=2517) The cast also includes Austin Stoker as Detective Cass Potter and [Juanita Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/juanita-moore) as \"Momma\" Potter.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/abby)\n\nThe African mythology was a deliberate distinguishing choice. Marshall, unhappy with the final script, successfully lobbied for the Nigerian mythos, which gives the film a personality distinct from *The Exorcist*'s Judeo-[Christian demonology](https://www.edgepedia.org/christian-demonology) and opens subtexts about identity and colonialism.[5](https://oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=2517) [The gospel](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-gospel) song Abby sings in church, \"My Soul Is a Witness,\" was written and performed by Carol Speed herself.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071095/trivia/)\n\n## Production\n\nGirdler, a Louisville-based director who had cut his teeth on Navy films and local commercials, launched a scrappy studio in 1972 with the goal of turning out fast, cheap takes on horror and exploitation hits.[2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html) *Abby* was his fourth feature.[5](https://oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=2517) The production company, Mid-America Pictures, represented a merger between David Sheldon of American International Pictures and Girdler himself, and was also based in Louisville.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) Trade papers announced principal photography under the title *Possess My Soul* for March 1974, and the film was shot on location in Louisville.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) Although *Box* reported an autumn 1974 release date, the film did not reach theaters until Christmas Day.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY)\n\n## The Exorcist lawsuit\n\n*Abby* arrived one year after Warner Bros.' *The Exorcist*, and contemporaries saw the resemblance immediately. A *Box* review of 23 December 1974 wrote that the film replicated *The Exorcist* \"down to the camera angles,\" while noting that it changed the formula by making the possessed character an adult woman rather than a child, allowing a more sexually explicit narrative.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) Warner Bros. filed suit in 1975 against Mid-America Pictures and American International Pictures, claiming *Abby* was \"substantially similar to its own picture\" and that the studio suffered damages from its release.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY)\n\nThe financial stakes were concrete. AIP made over $4 million on the film in a single month before the lawsuit forced it out of theaters.[2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html) According to the *Hollywood Reporter*, the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed cash payment, with the stipulation that *Abby* could not be reissued without Warner Bros. permission.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY) Girdler never saw any of the profits; the settlement came shortly before his death in a 1978 helicopter accident while scouting locations, at a point when he had directed nine features.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071095/trivia/) • [2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html)\n\n## Availability and reputation\n\nBecause of the settlement, the film has been difficult to see for decades: it has never had an official home video release in the United States, and almost all 35mm prints have vanished from circulation.[2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071095/trivia/) This scarcity has made it one of the notable \"film maudits\" of grindhouse cinema, screened occasionally from surviving 16mm prints.[2](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html)\n\nCritical opinion has split along predictable lines. Some reviewers treat it as a step-by-step imitation of *The Exorcist*;[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/abby) others argue it should not be dismissed as plagiarism, pointing to Carol Speed's physical performance and the film's substitution of Gospel and Yoruba mythology for the original's Catholic framework.[8](https://www.filmbooster.com.au/film/167609-abby/) • [9](https://moriareviews.com/horror/abby-1974.htm) Marshall, a Shakespearean-trained actor already famous to blaxploitation audiences as Blacula, is widely credited with holding the climactic exorcism together through sheer presence.[9](https://moriareviews.com/horror/abby-1974.htm) The film was even nominated for \"The Worst Blaxploitation Film Ever Made\" in *The Golden Turkey Awards* (1980), a distinction its defenders attribute more to its closeness to *The Exorcist* than to its own quality.[9](https://moriareviews.com/horror/abby-1974.htm) Among scholars and fans of 1970s [Black horror](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-horror), it now sits alongside *Blacula*, *[Ganja & Hess](https://www.edgepedia.org/ganja-and-hess)*, and *Sugar Hill* as a touchstone of the blaxploitation horror cycle.[10](https://blackamericaweb.com/2016/09/09/little-known-black-history-fact-abby/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Abby (1974), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67480-ABBY)\n2. [The Enigma of William Girdler's ABBY (1974), Block Museum, Northwestern University](https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/the-enigma-of-william-girdlers-abby-1974.html)\n3. [Abby (1974), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/abby)\n4. [Abby (1974) Trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071095/trivia/)\n5. [Horror Reviews: Abby (1974), Oh, the Horror!](https://oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=2517)\n6. [Abby, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Abby)\n7. [Abby, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/abby)\n8. [Abby (1974), FilmBooster](https://www.filmbooster.com.au/film/167609-abby/)\n9. [Abby (1974), Moria: The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review](https://moriareviews.com/horror/abby-1974.htm)\n10. [Little Known Black History Fact: 'Abby', BlackAmericaWeb](https://blackamericaweb.com/2016/09/09/little-known-black-history-fact-abby/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Religious and demonic horror films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/abby-1974-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/abby-1974-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Abby (1974 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/abby-1974-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Abby (1974 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/abby-1974-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/abby-1974-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/abby-1974-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Abby (1974 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/abby-1974-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Abby, also known by the working title Possess My Soul, is a William Girdler blaxploitation horror film starring Carol Speed and William Marshall, pulled from theaters by a Warner Bros." }