Abby

Abby is a 1974 American blaxploitation horror film about a woman who is possessed by a Yoruba sex spirit. The film stars Carol Speed as the title character, William H. Marshall and Terry Carter. It was directed by William Girdler, who co-wrote the film's story with screenwriter Gordon Cornell Layne. The film was a financial success, considering its modest budget and the times, grossing $4 million in a month, but was pulled from theaters after the film's distributor, American International Pictures, was accused of copyright violation by Warner Bros., which saw the film as being derivative of The Exorcist and filed a lawsuit against AIP. Girdler himself told the Louisville Courier Journal: "Sure, we made Abby to come in on the shirttail of The Exorcist." The film is also inspired by 1968's Rosemary's Baby. Plot Dr. Garrett Williams (William Marshall) explains to his students, "Eshu is the most powerful of all earthly deities. Eshu is a trickster, creator of whirlwinds... chaos." While on an archaeological dig in a cave in Nigeria, Dr. Williams finds a small puzzle box, carved with the symbols of Eshu: the whirlwind, the cock's comb, and the erect phallus. When Dr. Williams discovers the mechanism to open the box and unlatches it, a tremendous wind blasts out, knocking Dr. Williams and his men against the cave walls and floor.