Abraham Lincoln isn’t just the 16th President of the United States, but he also has a secret life as a vampire hunter.  That is the basic premise for the fictional movie ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER adapted into the film Seth Grahame-Smith (the guy who wrote the novel) and director Timur Bekmambetov.   It becomes a visual spectacle that is a fantasy action adventure film blending history and horror mythos. 

The movie does have a budget a few thousand times bigger than the just-as-fun ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES, but it isn’t a classic film like the two Russian films that Timur directed (NIGHT WATCH AND DAY WATCH) that first brought him to my attention a few years ago.  Benjamin Walker provides the right acting chops to kick ass and give speeches in this movie while Rufus Sewell coldly delivers as the main vampire bad guy, Adam.   ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER weaves a decades spanning alternative history of why the war between the North and South erupted during the 19th century while wisely leaving out the last moments of Lincoln’s life.  Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is sexier looking in this movie than she was in real life and she does get a little action in the movie, but I miss the stronger and more action driven parts that Mary has in movies like THE THING and SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD.    In the end, I do wish the film was even bigger and had Abraham Lincoln face off against the big bad main vampires for more screen time.   The film packs lots of different pieces in it and I wonder if making the film longer would have given it more time to breathe (the movie clocks in just over 100 minutes).

Given the budget the film the film was made on, I wonder if studio execs will be trying to find a way to get a sequel made (which I hope they will never do since the ending of Abraham Lincoln’s life is known, but Hollywood logic never makes sense anyway).   Did I see it in 3D?   I didn’t feel the need to see this film in 3D and I will save my 3D viewing choice for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and the new RESIDENT EVIL sequel.   Catch the film in 2D and skip the 3D, or wait for the DVD/ Blu-ray release.   If you catch it on DVD or Blu-ray, do a double header with ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with writer Seth Grahame-Smith explains the differences between the book and the screenplay.

DARK SECRETS: BOOK TO SCREEN- promotional featurette about adapting the book to screen that has interviews with cast and crew and bits of behind-the-scenes footage.   They started on the screenplay development even before the novel was published.

 Rounding out the extras are previews for other releases from Fox including a trailer for PROMETHEUS.

Additional featurettes and a digital copy are included on the Blu-ray/ DVD combo release.

FINAL ANALYSIS:   ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER is mostly a fun action movie almost undone by its special effects heavy climax.

This movie review is (c)10-25-2012 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com