Four score and seven years ago (actually more like 150 years ago), our 16th President may have been “Honest Abe”, but he also kept a big secret. Abraham Lincoln was a…VAMPIRE HUNTER!
Believe it or not, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is based on a book. The author, Seth Grahame-Smith, also wrote the screenplay. This is a creepy, cheesy, surprisingly historically acurate (outside of the obvious) and fun movie.
Benjamin Walker stars as Abe. The film begins with Abe as a young boy, seeing his mother being killed by a tax collector. When he gets older Abe wants revenge, but while attempting to kill the man, Abe discovers that he’s ia vampire, and doesn’t know how to destroy him. Abe is taken under the guidance of Henry (“Mamma Mia!”‘s Dominic Cooper) – a good vampire who teaches and trains him exactly how to kill the undead. Lincoln becomes pretty good with his axe.
And he’s sent-out by Henry to find and destroy as many vampires as possible. And the number quicky grows. But Abe is also studying to become a lawyer and he becomes interested is politics and a young lady named Mary Todd. So Abe has to balance his studies, his work in a general store and his personal life with his new “hobby” of chopping-off the heads of vampires who live and work around town. Needless to say he’s a busy guy.
One of the best things about “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is the effort by the filmmakers to try to following the history books. Instead of making-up events to fit their wild concept of this “other life” of Lincoln’s, the story takes the idea and makes it fit around actual events of his life and those times. And while the vampire killing scenes get a little old after awhile (they go from scary to ordinary within 90 minutes), overall, they’re still fun to watch.
Once Walker’s Lincoln ages into the beard and hat, he looks great. The make-up is quite good with all the characters, including Mary Elizabeth-Winstead (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”) as Mary Todd. The performances are solid (for this type of film): Anthony Mackie (from “The Hurt Locker”) plays one of Abe’s good friends who helps him on his mission to defeat the blood-sucking creatures have have turned the Civil War into their opportunity to take-over the country. The tone of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is serious throughout, but there is an occassional chuckle, mostly during scenes that end with Abe using his axe in another creative way to chop-down another vampire.
Director Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) gives the film a “glassy” look that works. Tim Burton is also a producer, but this is certainly not a “Tim Burton film”. Normally I’m not a fan of overdone slow-motion, Matrix-type fight sequences and there’s some of that here. The technique doesn’t really work with the film’s B-level special effects.
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is rated R for an incredible amount of the bloody vampire action scenes, some language and brief adult content. It’s appropriate for teens and up, who get can get a history lesson along with a horror movie. Let’s just hope they remember to leave-out the Vampire Hunter part when writing their next paper on the life of Mr. Lincoln.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” gets a B-. You may want to wait to watch this until Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln” biopic comes-out in mid-November. The two would make for one of the weirdest double-features of all-time.