Revisionist/alternative history is slowly becoming a favorite genre of mine. About a year ago, I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, also by Seth Grahame-Smith. I thought it was moderately enjoyable, having not read the Jane Austen novel, I couldn't appreciate the throwback references. However, when I caught wind of a film adaptation for one of his works; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, I had to give it a shot.
Seeking revenge for the murderer of his mother, a young Abe Lincoln is rescued by a self-proclaimed vampire hunter, who begins to train him to be America's answer to Van Helsing. He learns that American vampires were descended from one in New Orleans, and have plans to turn the nation into a land of undead. Lincoln enters politics, and becomes President, but somehow needs to find a way to protect his secret identity from his family and the nation, in order to avoid opening a Pandora's Box of fear upon America.
AL:VH is basically a story of style over substance. I don't know if it was the storyline or the hammy, theatrical approach to the acting that resulted in something lost in translation for me, but the execution of the narrative for some reason didn't click with me. In fact, I got a little bored with a good chunk of the story. Fortunately, the film has enough action to spare, and comes off as very over-the-top yet grand when juxtaposed against the Civil War setting. While in the end, I didn't have much to say about the film as a whole, I appreciated it's sense of spectacle and look forward to the next Grahame-Smith adaptation...just as long as they work on tweaking the script a bit more.
6/10
Peace,
- Jon
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