Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I had the same reaction to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as I had to John Carter: pleasant surprise. I did not have high expectations for Lincoln, despite the fact that it was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the crazy Russian behind Night Watch and Wanted.

OK.  Really Blogger?  I finally get in a writing mood and you are going to cancel spell check on me?  My cat can spell better than me!!  Please forgive me in advance for the worse than usual grammar.

Back to the movie.  I was totally charmed by this film, as I was by John Carter.  It has an old fashioned quality about it: if old fashioned movies featured lots of gore and a bad ass Mary Todd Lincoln.  The historical Mary Todd I find to be kind of an asshole.  Really, she was a shrew.  Yeah, get all mad at me:  I f’ing hate Mary Todd Lincoln.  But not in this film: played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead she is quite the sympathetic character, and rather good with a rifle.

The Vampires in this world can go out in the daylight.  They have been in the new world for quite a while, and seem to have settled in the South, where the slaves are easy pickings.  A young Abe Lincoln sees his mother killed by a Vampire, and decides to take revenge.  Helping him is the mysterious Henry (Dominic Cooper), a Vampire slayer.  Abe (played by the very tall handsome Benjamin Walker, who will be giving Jeremy Renner some competition for my summer movie crush), splits his time between politics and Vampire killing.  When the Civil War comes along, Abe’s two worlds will collide.

Abraham Lincoln features some great make-up and special effects, and the train finale has to be seen to be believed.  I enjoyed the mix of horror and history and the performances were top notch throughout.  Is it a great film?  No, but I had a lot of fun watching it.  Might even buy it as well.  I can have a John Carter/Abe Lincoln marathon.