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'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' review: (Dedicated to the proposition of Vampire destruction)
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 06/21/2012 | Mick LaSalle

Posted on 06/21/2012 1:41:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The title, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," guarantees about 15 good minutes. Just on the strength and novelty of the gimmick - combining the real details of Lincoln's life with a secret antivampire history - the movie was bound to command a certain absurd appeal. The trick was in getting audiences past those 15 minutes, and that's what the movie does.

Based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is a money-making stunt that its author - who also wrote the screenplay - wisely decided to treat with seriousness, or at least an attitude of seriousness.

Instead of getting smirky and campy and blowing out the joke in the first few scenes, Grahame-Smith and director Timur Bekmambetov straight-face it. They ask themselves, well, what would it be like if the main struggle of Lincoln's life were with vampires intent on taking over the new world? And they answer the question as realistically and soberly as they can within this loony framework.

A greater Lincoln

Further, they invest emotionally in the conceit of the story and in Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) as a man. Imagine: He didn't just save the union and free the slaves. Here was a man dedicated to the proposition that all vampires must be destroyed. That makes for an even greater Lincoln, one yet more worthy of reverential treatment.

Along the way, Grahame-Smith comes up with a metaphor that is appropriately descriptive of slavery and flattering to the Union. In this telling, the Old Confederacy was a hotbed of vampirism. Perhaps this should not come as a big surprise, given that the slaveholders were sucking the life out of their slaves.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: abrahamlincoln; lincoln; movie; vampire
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1 posted on 06/21/2012 1:41:33 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

We now have wise-guy reviews like:

“Timur Bekmambetov’s revisionist take on the 16th president brings the evisceration proclamation” — THE GUARDIAN

“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ taps the wrong vein” — San Jose Mercury News

“Gettysburg redressed in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” — National Review

All I can say is this — If you like the premise, you should just go with the flow. You can’t take this movie too seriously. Don’t be a snob. This is a fun movie that you’ll have to suspend reality for in order to enjoy it.


2 posted on 06/21/2012 1:46:57 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (bOTRT)
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To: SeekAndFind
I don't understand the fascination with vampires.
3 posted on 06/21/2012 1:48:27 PM PDT by jyro (French-like Democrats wave the white flag of surrender while we are winning)
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To: SeekAndFind

Lincoln haters will whine about how he unjustly oppressed the undead, and that left alone, the undead problem would have withered away on it’s own, and how frankly, plenty of the undead fought for the living and were decorated for doing so.


4 posted on 06/21/2012 1:49:33 PM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: SeekAndFind

Counting down to the arrival of the Lincoln-haters.


5 posted on 06/21/2012 1:49:46 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: SeekAndFind

The Chuck Norris of the 19th century!


6 posted on 06/21/2012 1:50:18 PM PDT by Tar and Feathers (http://tarandfeathersusa.wordpress.com/)
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To: SeekAndFind

When history teachers start being overrun with papers and test answers claiming Lincoln hunted vampires, you’ll know it all started here...


7 posted on 06/21/2012 1:52:02 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: SeekAndFind

From a review I read in the MSM paper, the screenwriter is a bearded marxist, commie. He said he read a lot of Lenin and couldn’t write about him as a vampire hunter.....(presuming he meant he had too much respect for the murderer).


8 posted on 06/21/2012 1:52:12 PM PDT by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches and get with what's real.)
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To: jyro

RE: I don’t understand the fascination with vampires.

Vampires are about fantasy. Immortality and unconstrained sexuality where choices must be made and pleasure without guilt.

Isn’t that what a lot of people secretly crave for? In a sense they are living their fantasies through the vampires’ life.


9 posted on 06/21/2012 1:53:24 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (bOTRT)
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To: PhiloBedo

William Jefferson Clinton: Succubus Seeker

Coming soon to a theater near you...


10 posted on 06/21/2012 1:53:33 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: jyro
I don't understand the fascination with vampires.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

11 posted on 06/21/2012 1:57:28 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the sociopath.)
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To: Sherman Logan
Counting down to the arrival of the Lincoln-haters.

Not a Lincoln-hater, but I didn't like some things he did. He took liberties with the Constitution that put him in league with the biggest of the big-government Presidents we've ever had.

On the other hand, he did preserve the union. I might have done differently than Lincoln, but at what cost? The States divided might have been ripe for the picking by a foreign power like Russia, France or Britain. We might now again be British colonists, but for Lincoln.

12 posted on 06/21/2012 1:58:12 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (I will vote against ANY presidential candidate who had non-citizen parents.)
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To: SeekAndFind
What a bunch of BS. Everyone knows that it was Lincoln who was the Zombie.

http://web.civilwarz.com/start/american-civil-war

13 posted on 06/21/2012 2:00:43 PM PDT by 109ACS (If this be Treason, then make the most of it. Patrick Henry, May 1765)
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To: SeekAndFind

14 posted on 06/21/2012 2:04:12 PM PDT by 109ACS (If this be Treason, then make the most of it. Patrick Henry, May 1765)
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To: backwoods-engineer
We might now again be British colonists, but for Lincoln.

King Obama, King George, what is the difference?

We need to push the refresh button.

15 posted on 06/21/2012 2:09:19 PM PDT by HerrBlucher
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To: HerrBlucher

Better chance of a hot queen with English royals than the Chicago girlie-man


16 posted on 06/21/2012 2:13:25 PM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: 109ACS

“What a bunch of BS. Everyone knows that it was Lincoln who was the Zombie.”

That’s why John Wilkes Booth had to shoot him in the head.


17 posted on 06/21/2012 2:15:54 PM PDT by PLMerite (Shut the Beyotch Down! Burn, baby, burn!)
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To: PLMerite

I thought he yelled something about Lincoln being a dinosaur after he shot him?


18 posted on 06/21/2012 2:20:11 PM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: Sherman Logan

Countdown-OVER.

I am one. (and proud of it)


19 posted on 06/21/2012 2:21:03 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861 (Deo Vindice (God will vindicate) February 22, 1861)
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To: PLMerite

ROFLMAO!!!!!!......BWAHHHHHHHHAAAAAA!


20 posted on 06/21/2012 2:23:23 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861 (Deo Vindice (God will vindicate) February 22, 1861)
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