ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

April 14th, 1865: An aged Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) prepares a written account of the events that shaped his life as a younger man, and posts them to his longstanding friend Sturges (Dominic Cooper) for safekeeping.

As Henry begins to read the notes, this affords the filmmakers an opportunity to transport the viewer back in time to Pidgeon Creek, Indiana, 1818. Here, a young Abraham is horrified when he witnesses his black friend Will being whipped outside his home and branded as being a slave. When Abe’s father intervenes in a bid to save the boy from any further beatings, he finds himself on the wrong side of local shipping merchant and slave-trader Barts (Marton Csokas) – who quickly makes him regret his moment of bravery.

Days later, Abe’s mother has died. He’s not sure how, but the young president-in-the-making caught a glimpse of something one evening that convinces him Barts was responsible for his mother’s death. But, as she’s being buried in the ground, his dad makes Abe swear not to do anything stupid.

However, nine years pass and the father dies too. Lincoln is now a young adult studying law and the idea of revenge still weighs heavily on his drunken mind. So much so, that it is swiftly identified by stranger Sturges in a local bar.

Sturges follows the foppish fellow out of the hostelry and onto a neighbouring pier, where he’s able to rescue him from a botched assassination attempt upon Barts.

When he next awakes, Lincoln has been nursed back to health by lothario Sturges. It’s here that he’s told of Barts’ true nature: he’s a vampire. Consumed by the need to avenge his mother’s death, Lincoln persuades Sturges to train him in the art of slaying vampires (it’s a hobby of the latter). Sturges agrees on one condition: Lincoln must devote himself to a lifetime of vampire hunting. Without hesitation, Lincoln agrees.

And so, the training commences. Proclaiming to be no good with a gun (we’ve seen the evidence of that by this point), Lincoln insists he’s handy with an axe – prompting Sturges to take him into the woods and train him not only to douse his axe in silver (a vampire’s pet hate), but to swing it in such a manner that any bloodsucker would be hard-pushed to dodge the blows.

Through Lincoln’s occasional narration, we’re reminded that vampires can train themselves to tolerate sunlight and even turn invisible. So, he’s got his work cut out fighting against them.

With a simple set of clear instructions – don’t make friends or emotional ties; only kill the people he’s instructed to, and when – Sturges sends Lincoln off to the small Illinois town of Springfield. It’s here he’s to set up base for a while, where Sturges will write to him periodically telling him who he’s to kill.

Lincoln gets a job, and a room, at the local convenience store. It’s here that he meets Mary (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Despite the fact that she’s engaged to a prominent local politician, she and Abe share an instant attraction. Before long, they’re dating.

That’s not the only impact Lincoln has on the small town. When his old friend Will (Anthony Mackie) turns up seeking the help of the wannabe lawyer, the pair ends up in a cell for the night – prompting Abe to become a market square speaker on civil rights issues. This garners the attention of local senator Nolan (Frank Brennan), who puts the notion in young Lincoln’s head that a life in politics would be a prudent move for him.

So, Abe’s making a splash in this new town. What no-one knows (or believes, even when told) is that he’s a vampire slayer by night. No-one, that is, aside from ruthless vampire leader Adam (Rufus Sewell) – who has been alerted to "madman" Lincoln’s expert axe skills and yearns to even the score …

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER is based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s popular novel. Prior to that being published, his big break came with the book release of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". While I know you should never judge a book by its cover, I was guilty of quite literally doing that with Grahame-Smith’s books – on two occasions.

When this film came out theatrically, adapted for the screen by Grahame-Smith himself, similarly I avoided it. I wrote it, and its source novel, off as being opportunistic, silly and something I simply wouldn’t understand. The horror equivalent of NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, perhaps.

But I was wrong.

First off, the film takes itself commendably seriously. There are tongue-in-cheek elements, of course (the outrageously excessive action set-pieces; cheeky interplay between Walker and Cooper) but this is not a horror-comedy along the lines of SHAUN OF THE DEAD or even THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. This is satisfyingly dark and straight for the most part.

The gore is quick as per the editing, but it there unapologetically. Likewise, the vampires here are portrayed as being remorseless monsters … not of this namby-pamby TWILIGHT shite.

The references to Lincoln’s early life – his training in law, move to Springfield, and blossoming relationship with future wife Mary – are all incorporated into the storyline seamlessly amid the more fantastical elements. Without spoiling anything, there’s even a reference to Lincoln’s most (in)famous date with destiny … think, History graduates, think!

Going back to the action, the set-piece scenes are fairly invigorating. Whether fighting in bar brawls in a manner akin to THE MATRIX on speed or depicting brutal scrapping on top of speeding wild horses, the action here is expertly crafted – much of it with the assistance of CGI – and genuinely exciting.

Yeah, CGI. There’s a shitload of it in this film. Probably more than I’m aware of. Ordinarily, I loathe the cunting thing – especially in horror cinema. But, it’s very cleverly done here. The majority of what’s on the screen doesn’t look to be obvious CGI (as is the case in most films), you just realise it HAS TO BE because what you’re seeing is physically possible. In this instance, it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the film at all.

Timur Bekmambetov directs. His early Russian breakthrough films, NIGHT WATCH and its sequel DAY WATCH, proved that he (a) had an understanding of what made exciting vampire cinema, and (b) new how to shoot elaborate FX and action sequences even on a budget (NIGHT WATCH cost around the equivalent of £2.4 million to produce – which is amazing, considering the scope of the end product). Here, he’s let loose with a Hollywood studio budget of approximately $70 million and not a penny of it looks to have gone elsewhere than on that screen.

Consequently, we get name actors such as Cooper and Sewell providing acting of a higher calibre than a script pitching this idea may be expected to benefit from. The production design – many locations, purpose-built sets etc – is gorgeous and expansive in equal measures. The CGI effects, as already mentioned, are really fucking good: think more in keeping with LORD OF THE RINGS, and less along the lines of ERASER! Heck, we even get a Linkin Park track over the closing titles (but we won’t begrudge the filmmakers that one faux-pas …).

Sturges’ sage-like quotes - "real power comes not from hate but from the truth" – may provoke more laughs than they’re intended to and some may struggle to get past the general conceit of America’s 16th president as a vampire-slaying gent, but when weighed up against the committed performances (Walker is great, and looks often like a young Liam Neeson), Caleb Deschanel’s stunning cinematography and Henry Jackman’s beautiful score … well, the good far outweighs the potentially bad.

As an interesting footnote, the film does not contain any opening titles.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER is presented here uncut in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio. As you’d expect of a decently budgeted studio horror picture made in the new Millennium, it looks pretty spectacular.

The HD photography is crystal clear and pin-sharp, offering an incredible amount of depth and detail throughout. Colours are warm but natural, blacks are deep, contrast is deftly defined … there are no complaints whatsoever in the transfer department.

Audio-wise, the film benefits from an excellent English 5.1 soundtrack. Each channel is intelligently used, maximising the impressive sound design during every noisy combat scene. The quieter moments are almost as remarkable in their cleanliness and clarity.

5.1 mixes are also provided in Italian and Spanish. We also get an audio descriptive track, in English 5.1.

Optional subtitles come in English for the Hard-of-Hearing, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish.

A motionless main menu page uses the film’s excitable orchestral score to rousing effect. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the main feature via 24 chapters.

Extras on this DVD begin with "Dark Secrets: Book to Screen", a highly polished 14-minute Making Of featurette. Cast and crew interviews are interwoven with genuinely fascinating behind-the-scenes footage in this revealing look at the production’s focus on translating the source novel with the help of CGI, green screens and 3D processing. Even co-producer Tim Burton turns up to chip in his thoughts.

An audio commentary track from Grahame-Smith is honest enough to speak of initial reservations he had with the film as it went into production, but also quick to establish how happy he is with the end result. Complimentary to the crew and cast, this track also sees the writer going into detail about Lincoln’s background and how his findings (he admits to knowing little about the president prior to researching his book) are woven into the screenplay. This makes for an extremely engaging, fact-filled and flab-free track.

The disc is defaulted to open with a 1-minute clip promoting "the blu-ray experience" in general.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER is not the joke its title may suggest. It is, in fact, a gorgeous-looking and surprisingly straight horror-action hybrid with style to spare. The vampires are nasty and the hero is stoic to the extreme. Okay, the CGI is overdone (albeit the best I’ve maybe seen in a genre film) and the end result may well be too polished for some of the hardcore horror fraternity. But I’d say give this film a go; you might just be pleasantly surprised. I was.

Also available on blu-ray and 3D blu-ray.

Review by Stuart Willis