Movie Review Repost - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

Hey, guys. So I was pretty busy this week and I didn't have time to write anything new. You know what that means: a repost of a previous review! This movie that's out now called Pride & Prejudice & Zombies reminds me a lot of one I saw a few years ago called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I wonder why the former is performing so terribly at the box office right now while the latter did so well. It's been so long since I saw this film that I don't remember much from it. But, whatever. For your enjoyment here's a review I wrote for it back in July 2012.

   I can honestly say I wasn't expecting to see a movie like this. I also didn't expect it to be this good either. At least it wasn't just another zombie movie.

   One of the first things you'll notice about this film is that it's actually being serious with its subject matter. A lot of people don't seem to like this, but I think it was actually a good decision. Think about it: what would this movie be like if none of the characters took anything seriously and we kept having to see dumb joke after dumb joke? That would be worst movie of the year material.

   Instead Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter generally tries to avoid humour and goes for an action movie vibe. It follows Abraham Lincoln through his adult years and his presidency as he travels the country slaying vampires, most of whom are feeding off the blood of slaves. There's lots of good fight choreography and special effects. The acting, especially Benjamin Walker as Lincoln, is excellent. I also really liked the makeup that was used to make the characters age in the film's third act. While this movie does have an interesting setting, don't expect to gain any great historical insights. Nothing is discussed in much detail.

   This brings us to the movie's problems. First off, it takes a while to really get invested in the story. For the first half hour the pacing is way too fast; important events fly by at the blink of an eye. Also the editing on the fight scenes has too many brief-extreme-close-up-shaky-camera shots. Thankfully, for whatever reason, these problems disappear completely by the movie's halfway point; it's as if two different people each directed half of the movie! Additionally, there are a few lines of corny/silly dialogue. Lastly, the main villains – while they avoided being over-the-top – weren't very interesting.

   But overall, this movie turned out to be sufficiently cool and entertaining. Plus if you've ever wanted to see Abraham Lincoln kill vampires, then this is the only movie you'll find (at least until the Asylum studios gets a hold of it). If you're interesed, give it a try.

Final rating: three stars out of five.