Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Rating: 6/10 (28 March 2015)

I saw this DVD in the rental store Blockbuster, not long before it closed down, it sounded like a rather ridiculous idea for a film, but then I saw it did have positive reviews, so I thought "what the hell" and gave it a go, directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted). Basically as a child Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) witnessed his mother being killed by a vampire, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), ten years later Abe tried to eliminate Barts, without success. Abe makes acquaintance with Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), who teaches him how to fight and how to kill a vampire, and this leads Abe onto a crusade to kill all vampires that terrorise the town Henry directs him to. Abe then relocates to Springfield, Illinois where he gets a job as a store clerk, there he also studies law, while also killing vampires at night, he also meets and eventually marries beautiful Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Years later Abe's ultimate challenge comes though when he is elected President of the United States, meaning his days of killing vampires are over as he must concentrate on running the country, but then he comes to realise that vampires are fighting with the Confederate forces, so he mounts his own campaign to defeat them. Also starring Anthony Mackie as Will Johnson, Rufus Sewell as Adam, Alan Tudyk as Stephen A. Douglas, Jimmi Simpson as Joshua Speed, Jaqueline Fleming as Harriet Tubman, Robin McLeavy as Nancy Lincoln, John Rothman as Jefferson Davis, Joseph Mawle as Thomas Lincoln and Cameron M. Brown as Willie Lincoln. Walter gives a good performance and has a good likeness to the 16th President of the United States, and as the vampire hunter he cool as well, there is the obvious small slavery subplot and political stuff, but I was much more interested in the gory violence as "Honest Abe" kills the many nasty monsters along the way to become the influential man he was, the action sequences are fun to watch and I think its the fact that its a bit ridiculous that makes it appealing, a an outlandish but enjoyable horror thriller. Good!