Print Email to Friend| From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 30, Dated 28 July 2012

CULTURE & SOCIETY   SPOILERS AHEAD

In abe we trust

By Gae Emilio Leanza

Abraham lincoln: Vampire hunter DIRECTOR Timur Bekmambetov STARRING Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, Dominic Cooper ALSO READ The Death of Comedy Killing Bore Spidey swings over the top

This is a strange, beautiful, and grotesquely violent reimagining of Abraham Lincoln’s life. Watching his mother killed by a vampire in the antebellum American frontier, a young Lincoln vows revenge. Trained by veteran vampire hunter Henry Sturges, a hero is born. By day, a shopkeeper courting Mary Todd, by night the Great Emancipator, silver-bladed axe in tow, ruthlessly slices through hordes of Confederate bloodsuckers that feed on their slaves. As he understands that an abolitionist stance is not only the right one to take but also the best way to fight the vampire establishment, Lincoln abandons his axe for politics. More blood and vampires occupy the second half as a visibly aged Lincoln, now occupying the Oval Office, tries to reunite a nation tearing itself apart. Watching one of America’s beloved presidents decapitate innumerable vampires is only the icing on the cake — this is a morality tale on the importance of sticking to principles and defending truth whatever the odds. Benjamin Walker, who excellently captures the presidential gait, plays Lincoln with a great deal of believability. Dominic Cooper is highly entertaining as the roguish Henry Sturges. The true absurdity and brilliance of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is that it takes itself completely seriously.