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The Flickering Myth Reaction to the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter trailer

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The Flickering Myth writing team debate the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter trailers…

Hollywood has a habit of toying with history in ridiculous ways. Films regularly turn the facts upside down in the name of fiction, but also, annoyingly, in the name of overzealous American patriotism. The British are often the villains and the Americans always ride to the rescue. The submarine action movie U-571 is just one of many examples of those pesky Yanks taking the credit for British successes, in this case cracking the Nazi Enigma code during World War Two. Mel Gibson has made a sizeable chunk of his fortune on the back of films littered with historical inaccuracies (Braveheart, The Patriot etc.), repeatedly starring in box office projects that do not simply exercise ‘artistic license’ when it comes to the truth, but ignore it all together.

Yes I’m being a grumpy, overly cynical Brit. Ignore me. But nevertheless it was refreshing to find a film, in the form of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, that seemingly plays around with the past in ludicrous ways for no other reason than to have fun and entertain. The bad guys are vampires, which as far as I know, don’t exist, so no one is offended by the stupid, mad, craziness of it all. We showed you two of the trailers for this freakishly silly film at the end of May here, but since then another one has been released:


Dramatic? Yes. Ridiculous? Yes. Over the top? Very. But is it just too silly to watch or are you tempted to embrace the fun? I feared for my sanity when I found myself looking forward to this film, so I sought out the views of my fellow Flickering Myth writers. Thankfully their thoughts have reassured me that I need not expect the men in white coats just yet…


Luke Owen: Is it just me, or shouldn’t a film called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter be a comedy? Remember Churchill: The Hollywood Years? This movie should have been like that. But, you know, funny.

Gary Collinson: Timur Bekmambetov has a 50/50 record when it comes to vampire movies (Night Watch good, Day Watch bad), so this one could go either way. Based on the trailers, it actually looks like it could be fun. I’ve never read Seth Grahame-Smith’s book, so I can only go from what we’ve seen inthe trailers, but for such a ridiculous concept you would certainly expect there to be some humour. Where is it? And more importantly, where’s Abe’s beard??
Luke Owen: That is very true! It could be called Joe Bloggs: Vampire Hunter and it would have had the same effect.
Simon Moore: For a film that’s bound to be a bit blurry around the historical edges, it actually has Lincoln’s beard situation correct for the time period: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Abraham_Lincoln_by_Alexander_Helser,_1860-crop.jpg

That said, by setting the story before his presidency/the Civil War, they mayhave missed out on the uniquely iconic visual quality of having him wear *that*beard.

That’s what people will turn up to the cinema to see – Abe Lincoln, 16thPresident of the United States, chopping up vampires, riding a dinosaur if at all possible, rockin’ the neck beard as nobody else has managed before or since. That includes you too, Amish people who aren’t reading this on their computer.

Gary Collinson: Then I guess they deserve kudos for the historical accuracy!
Jake Wardle: I expect that attention to historical detail will be present throughout the film! Let’s just hope they can deliver a fresh take on the old president-hunts-vampires cliche. But this looks fun enough to justify the premise, I hope it is.
Liam Trim: I had absolutely no interest in this until I saw the trailer. It just sounded too ridiculous and a complete waste of time.However, the action scenes look great fun, like a retro version of The Matrix with axes and period details. Some of the acting appears to be as dodgy as the premise but I’m starting to think this could be one of those ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ films, which actually makes for a really entertaining night at the cinema with a few friends. Would certainly be a conversation starter.
Anghus Houvouras: I want to see the movie because I enjoy B movie trash. But it’s starting to feel like people are running out of ideas.Creatively, Hollywood only seems capable of putting together movies derived from previous source materials like TV shows, board games, and remakes of other movies. This is akin to a musical mash up. I can almost hear the pitch in my head: “It’s like Abraham Lincoln meets Dracula”. And yet it’s so idiotic in concept that I feel almost obligated to be first in line to see it.This trailer is just bananas. And even though it feels like it’s going to be brain draining banality, I have to see it which makes me part of the problem.
Kirsty Capes: This looks like a steampunk gore fest, but somehow I want to watch it. It’s just a shame that the movie is taking itself seriously. If this was written as satire it would be absolute gold.
So there you have the Flickering Myth verdict. Not enough humour (in the trailers at least) to combat the silliness. And possibly a worrying symptom of dying creativity in Hollywood, rather than just a harmless bit of fun.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is released on June 20th 2012 in the UK, and June 22nd in the US.

Originally published June 12, 2012. Updated December 6, 2019.

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