Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.
“Come on dear,” tuts Mrs Lincoln towards the end. “We’ll be late for the theatre!” Arrive two hours late for Bekmambetov’s overcooked noise generator and you’ll have a fantastic night.
It’s probably the only depiction of Lincoln that has you praying for the arrival of John Wilkes Booth.
Anaemic supporting characters, self-serious patriotism and the sense that the director is repeating old tricks mean the novelty soon wears thin.
It’s exciting, witty and very well-cast with some memorable set-pieces and a tight, suspenseful plot.
Bekmambetov directs with gusto, and the forthright absurdity of the story, combined with its weirdly heartfelt self-belief is winning. Unfortunately, it loses ground when it comes to the war itself.
It’s not all bad, by any means. The storytelling has a certain Saturday-matinee verve, and there’s some mileage, without going all David Icke, in the notion of secret societies infecting America’s soul down the generations.
Silly, but sporadically funny.
It's all surpassingly silly, adapted from his own novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, whose previous book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, suggests a compulsion to regard nothing as sacred.
The grave tone makes it stiff and leaden, the digi-saturated look is a turn-off. Damnable and disordered.
I’ll say it again: this is a period action-horror. Nowhere in that sentence – or in the film – does comedy appear. If you go in determined to see otherwise you are likely to be disappointed. Go in with an open mind though and you could well enjoy yourself quite a bit.
Dull and predictable, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter deserves to be buried and forgotten.
Move over, Twilight. This is a vamp flick with teeth.
This soul-sucking movie wouldn’t recognise “playful” if it sat up and bit them on the neck.
Bekmambetov's disposable brouhaha at least achieves the minor victory of living neither up to hopes nor down to fears.
It's one long, fevered montage which rushes from decade to decade, pausing only for its overblown, CGI action sequences.
General release. Check local listings for show times.