Jumped around from part to part way too fast and the plot in the movie deviated from the book wayy too much. Even with these flaws there were parts that I found funny and exciting but i think with a better director and if the plot was more in line with the book it could have been a great movie

I actually laughed at some of the action in this movie. Not because it was bad, but because it was so over the top ridiculous I couldn't help but be amused. By the same director who did the bullet-bending "Wanted," and if you liked that one you'll probably have fun with this. If not, or if the trailer and concept of a revenge seeking, vampire-killing Abraham Lincoln doesn't put a smile on your face, go ahead and skip. High art and drama is no where to be found here. If you love a good bad action movie, you'll love it.… Expand

Ok to start with I thought this movie might be alright or a least a bit of fun but straight the way vampires in the sun along with Twilight will people never learn to mess with vampire mythology its just stupid . If that was not bad enough the story was poor the acting bad and the action scenes just did not work I would keep well away from this one if your a film or vamp fan my first zero score very bad.… Expand

The director couldn't be bothered setting up his characters' emotional responses. He decided it was better to convey the characters' emotions by simply bludgeon you over the head with the dialogue. This movie was just awful.

Don't expect too much from this film, it's just what the title suggests, Abe Lincoln killing vampires... with his silver ax. It delivers on that very well, abandoning all inhibitions or historical accuracy. During the film, I really found it better to leave all knowledge of the Civil War or Lincoln himself at the door and simply enjoy the fun, surprisingly well staged action movie that I was presented with. All subjects covered are grossly inaccurate but aren't quite caricatures, which is what I was afraid of. The action is fantastic, owing many shots and sequences to films like the Matrix but are kept fairly original.Benjamin Walker and his co-star Dominic Cooper give adequate to good performances for their admittedly shallow roles. Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jimmi Simpson all do what supporting actors should do, augment the plot and roles of the main characters, and Rufus Sewell plays a fun villain. Don't see this movie for scares; if you're looking for a dark, serious tale this really isn't it. It's more what Diehard or even The Patriot would have been like with Vampires, good (if slightly trite) action, shallow plot, great sets and atmosphere. I liked it, despite my love of historical accuracy and long shots. If you're looking for some surprisingly different fun at the cinema, you will too. Happy hunting. ^_^… Expand

This is a very strange film, I'll start by saying I knew nothing about it before I went and was honestly expecting it to be some horror/comedy/action crossover. It jumps about far too much and doesn't seem to know what type of film it wants to be which makes for a confusing experience. On the plus side the action scenes are unbelievable (I'm not going to spoil anything but the horse chase is something else!), the cinematography looks beautiful and the actors all play their parts very well. It's certainly not a badly made film, but the plot really needed a bit more focus. I did have a laugh watching this film although whether that's the intention of the creators I'm not sure.… Expand

Perspective: I have never read the book or Wiki page for that matter

Expectations: The trailers introduced a wild concept that had enough outlandish action to warrant my attention

Delivery: This movie doesn't waste much time getting to the point as characters are introduced, the atmosphere is set, as Abe answers the call to adventure and finishes his training within the first 30mins before jumping directly into the thick of things. It has just enough romance (thankfully, not too much), and some brotherhood-ish moments to add some dramatic balance to the action, a few twists sprinkled in to spice things up a bit. its incredibly rewarding to watch Ole Honest Abe spinning, kicking, and chopping the crap outta the undead If you can except the outlandish concept of Abe Lincoln hunting and fighting vampires, and except the obvious propaganda and subliminal messaging that comes with any account of U.S. history, its a pretty ridiculous action movie that's probably a lot better than it should be.… Expand

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a wickedly-fun, over-the-top vampire slashfest that requires total suspension of disbelief. Taken from the novel by author Seth Grahame-Smith (who also wrote the screenplay), Hunter is historical fiction on steroids, requiring total suspension of disbelief and a healthy appetite of the macabre to take it seriously. But once those barriers are removed, Hunter is a wild ride, almost challenging its audience with such a ridiculous plot that no amount of sane historical inquiry can be applied. After witnessing the murder of his mother by his father's former slave boss Jack Barts (Csokas) when he was nine, the now-adult Abraham Lincoln (Walker) decides to exact revenge by first getting drunk at a bar. There, he meets the European-stylized Henry (Cooper), who attempts to discourage Lincoln from carrying out such folly. Soon, Lincoln has Barts dead on the ground, or so he thinks. Barts is really a vampire, and the human trafficking he conducts represents food for the growing vampire population in the South. Henry steps in to save Lincoln's life, but only with the promise that he join Henrys campaign to slay the escaped Barts and the other night crawlers. Soon, the former rail splitter is doing just that, but not before several funny and well-done sequences with Henry 'training' Lincoln with his fists. An unconventional man, Lincoln won't use standard weapons to kill blood-suckers, instead choosing one of a rail splitter to carry out his task. Covered in silver, Lincoln's axe becomes the anvil for his war against those who killed his mother. The work of a vampire hunter is a night job, and Lincoln must maintain a low profile by working as a store clerk for friend Joshua Speed (Johnson). There, Lincoln meets Mary Todd (Winstead), quite against the wishes of Henry, who demands 'no connection, no children' from his disciple. Courted by Senator Stephen Douglas (the uncredited Alan Tudyk), Smith interjects a bit of historical irony, as Douglas and Lincoln will eventually debate the issue of slavery throughout Illinois in 1858. As Lincoln wins Todd's hand and begins to ascend through the ranks of political society, his vampire body count begins to rise. This merits the attention of head vampire Adam (Sewell), who sends his assistant (supermodel Erin Wasson) to stop Lincoln. As the Civil War begins and moves quickly to the critical Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln must decide if he'll continue to fight Adam, protect his family, or try to save the nation from a South littered with vampires and slaveholders.

Director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) bathes Vampire in slow-motion visuals (think vampires meet 300),Matrix-like stunts, and a horse chase that might become an instant classic. Unlike some green-screen directors whose actors appear stolid, uncomfortable, and perhaps incapable of imagining the action, Bekmambetov's subjects flow through each sequence, carrying out bloody acts of aggression in a way that looks and feels like gruesome ballet. Walker plays a terrific Lincoln, as does Cooper's playboy Henry. There's not one miscast here, with the beautiful Winstead offering nice visual breaks from all the carnage. The 3D transfer (whether it was post-produced or shot in 3D) is easily one of the best of the year, showing off a possible new trend of creating lifelike depth rather than the totally unsatisfying in-your-face style of Clash of the Titans. Composer Jackman (X-Men: First Class) leads the audience through a soundtrack that's dark, pulsing, and serves the overall feel of the story very well. There are some bumps and misfires along the way, but the overall effect and look of the picture is highly entertaining. There's a lot left out from the Vampire novel that would have been interesting to see played out on the big screen, including Lincoln's meeting with none other than Edgar Allan Poe, who also received star treatment this year in the under-appreciated but better The Raven. However, given the fact that shooting to world premiere took only one year, it's amazing the 105-minute film looks as good as it does: credit Producer Tim Burton with helping to pull that off. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is presidential author Doris Kearns-Goodwin's worst nightmare. World-renowned historians like her might not want to watch the film, based on the way it selectively uses historical facts to advance the story, not to accurately depict significant events as they unfolded. But baring that small population of history enthusiasts, Vampire will appeal to fans of the book as well as newcomers who should be impressed by how unafraid it is of its own bombast. It's purely fun to watch, the acting is solid, and the 3D transfer is actually better than Pixar's Brave. It should more than make up for its paltry $70 million budget and outperform its bloated Battleship and John Carter competitors with a style that's completely over the top and proud of it.… Expand

While is does fall from the book on almost everything except characters and idea it was a great action movie. I was hoping that it would be the same as the book, but was still very pleased with this movie. I think people were just turned off by the whole idea of it. As a fan of action movies and alternative history I highly recommend the book and the movie a little less.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was a fantastic film when I went to the cinema last to see it last night. The plot in my opinion was fine, revenge and kill vampires. What more do you need? Benjamin Walker did a brilliant job of portraying a young and mid-aged Lincoln who is a bad ass. This made me feel Lincoln as a president the best of all time.
I felt emotional in some scenes which was a good feeling. This film has a good action scenes and nice shock moments, the ones where you don't know when a vampire will show up.

This movie was a great movie, loved every minute of it including my friend. Forget the critics as we should call them, go see this movie and respect good ol' Lincoln.… Expand

Oh man, this movie... let me tell you my experience. My friends and I like to go see movies that look corny and bad (like Skyline and things of that nature) at non busy theaters in the middle of the day so that we're the only ones in the theater and do laugh-along commentary, sort of like it's MST3K. We went to this movie to do just that. It looked like a corny movie with OK action and a bad story, and reading reviews confirmed this. What did we get when we sat in that empty theater and watched it, though? We got a gripping experience with awesome action, intense excitement, awesome acting and plot. An all around awesome movie that we all left saying that it was one of the best movies we had all seen in a long time. Go see this movie. You will not be disappointed, and you will not be laughing along.… Expand

Apparently Abe Lincoln and Buffy have more things in common that we thought, a reminder that vampires, much like their mythical relative, zombies, can be shoehorned into pretty much anything. Such a strange concept this was, it's bound to be silly to match a president with blood-sucking half albinos, yet there's an appeal to the axe wielding kills, a true artistic butchery prowess that I have yet to enjoy much on cinema. Yes, the justified axe murdering is the star in this confusing horror sometimes comedy flick.



The plot depicts Abe's life from his traumatic childhood to his awkward part time job as a vampire hunter. It's rather predictable, with a woman falls madly in love with a young drifter, and the hunter is torn between his double life and his love. There's daunting secrets, conspiracy and such, but they are pretty flat. You're here to see people get slaughtered with axe, and Abe (Benjamin Walker), a tall hulking vengeful man, delivers just so. He has that idealist and innocent look, which works quite well on building a hero more than a president.

However the movie stands flimsily at the border on heavy subject, slavery, and ridiculousness, narcissistic vampires, who while thankfully do not sparkle, but strangely are resistant to sunlight. There's unnecessary corny over-the-top background for these blood sucking pseudo monsters, they are not as secretive as they should be as an organization whose agenda is creating utopia for their kind. Pretty much every vampire who's confronted will hiss in an exaggerated scary face, I really doubt they can survive that far if they're that flashy.



The action is definitely good, some of the creative ways to dispatch vampires are joyful to watch. It takes heavily on post-300 slow mo critical shots, which is good since the motion is quite smooth. Its worst flaw is it tries too hard on taking serious issues in lighter tone, thus creating an unbalanced story which is a tad too dark to be humorous and too silly to be thoughtful. If everything else fails, rest assure that between the uninteresting bits, there'll be decapitated vampires. 6/10… Expand

The movie was pretty decent. Interesting story and cool action scenes combined with a period of history I enjoy learning about. There isn't a lot to complain about. Fun summer movie to watch.

I can't believe critics are complaining that this movie conflicts with history. The movie is called 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' what did you expect? Lmao. This is probably the second best new movie I've seen this year but that's not saying much... not much at all.

When one attends a film about a former United States President slaying unholy creatures of the night, one does not expect a beautifully written, tear-jerking, dramatic masterpiece. One expects awesomeness, which Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter delivers.

It is, first and foremost, an action film so the quality of the action seems the logical starting place for this review.
The fight scenes are glorious testaments to ingenuity, shining with the kind of creative violence normally presented by serial killers. Every single battle is perfectly choreographed so as to be visually impressive and, at the same time, believable and in keeping with Lincoln's go-to fighting style of "Desperate Brutality".
Expect to see Mr. Lincoln kill many vampires with the closest sharp/heavy object or piece of scenery to hand. My personal favourite moment is when a panicked vampire, fleeing through a field, frantically picks up a passing horse and attempts to club Lincoln to death with it.

Which is not to diminish the non-violent aspects of the film. In a story featuring The Great Emancipator as the lead protagonist, the issue of slavery and the Civil War between the Union (anti-slavery) and the Confederacy (pro-slavery) were bound to rise up out of the setting and into the plot, something that AL:VH takes perfectly in it's stride and uses to bridge the gap from angry, young Lincoln who hates vampires to wise, experienced Lincoln who loves freedom, a progression that fits perfectly into the narrative.

Which is essentially the plot of the story. Like a video-game character, Lincoln goes from fighting one vampire to fighting a dozen of them to fighting an army (the confederacy being conveniently run by vampires) until, eventually, his crusade against vampires becomes a crusade against evil (specifically the evil of Racial Inequality) culminating, in true Action-Film mentality, with Abraham and his black BFF fighting vampires side by side atop a moving train.

Lincoln is portrayed by Benjamin Walker, a relative newcomer to the industry, but he excels in the role, performing a youthful and elderly Lincoln with the same degree of believability. He is backed up by his vampire-hunting posse of Dominic Cooper (The Devil's Double), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) and Jimmi Simpson (Breakout Kings), all of whom perform excellently.

To conclude, AL:VH has no illusions of grandeur. It's an action film, and a bloody good one.… Expand

Textbook example of a mindless blockbuster which fails to excite, breathe ANY new life in terms of its formulaic plot and avoid clichés. One of the worst films of the year!

It's a pretty well made period vampire movie, if you like that sort of thing. But I kept wondering why Abraham Lincoln needed to be the historical figure main character and I never got an answer. The action is mostly well done. The history is difficult to reconcile with reality. But it was still fun to watch, even though the movie takes itself too seriously. But that earnestness is also in a way what saves it from being as exploitive as the title suggests.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First off the pacing is way too fast, as they jump from scene to scene very quickly, its hard to follow sometimes as a result. The first few vampire fights are shot sloppily as the camera cuts around so much that its hard to enjoy the fight as a result ( I heard audible "what the f***s" from other audience members at the showing i was at). For a movie about Abe Lincoln killing vampires, it also took itself way too seriously at parts, which would be fine if it was like that the entire movie, but just as you start to buy into it, there's a ridiculous sequence to take you out of it (horse chase sequence I'm looking at you). However the acting is surprisingly solid for a movie of this title, and everyone does a solid job, (although the old age makeup for Mary Elizabeth Winstead was awful as she still looked 20 years younger than Abe). There are a couple of standout sequences such as the plantation fight, and the train climax, and just seeing fully aged Abe killing vampires with an axe is pretty awesome. All in all, don't go into this movie expecting a masterpiece (why would you anyway?), but it does have its fun moments. Just be sure to check your brain at the door.… Expand

Now, Timur Bekmambetov is well known for the effects he uses in his movies and this is no exception. There is blood and gore all over the screen as death is meated out in many and varied ways, all in glorious slow motion. The trouble is we’ve already seen that kind of stuff before; there’s nothing new or particularly innovative here. Yes, it’s very well done; the effects guys did an excellexcellent job; but I would have liked to have seen something different. The plot; again disappointing, it just followed well documented events in Lincoln’s life and added a narrative that meant he had to do this or that to thwart the vampire hordes. Not exactly groundbreaking either. The performances were all pretty good although nobody really stood out and nobody looked like they were really stretched either. Over all I found it pretty disappointing; not quite as bad as ‘Jonah Hex’ (2010), but heading that way.

SteelMonster’s verdict: NOT RECOMMENDED (Unless you’re a die-hard vampire fan…)

My score: 4.8/10… Expand

This history mashup follows the 16th president as he battles bloodsuckers and copes with Civil War (started by the Confederacy to keep slaves alive as food for Southern vampires). The illustrative period style is visually appealing, but the pacing is uneven. There are some dazzling, violent action sequences. I'm a huge fan of director Timur Bekmambetov and even though he manages to contribute many of this signature touches to this film, it's not his strongest effort. Overall, it's an uneven, but entertaining fantasy.… Expand

A great example of style over substance. The action is slick and edited well and the music is great but everything in between is so banal that I couldn't keep watching it. I thought it sounded like a funny concept and maybe it could have worked..but it was just boring.

lazy, boring, a typical movie to spend almost two hours sitting and killing time, does nothing, is a bit silly and totally lack of everything. next!!!!!

Don't get too seriously silly, don't you read the title? Lincoln seriously as vampire hunter, no kidding. I don't have any serious problem with it although suffer confuse script, uneven pacing and boo moment. Let me get this straight, watch this movie and enjoy America gothic with Russian craziness, Don't forget to google that fake story.

I wasn't going to see this film, but a friend really wanted to go, so I obliged him. I had no expectations for this film at all. It is a graphic novel movie adaptation, in every way. I'll start with the plot. It's preposterous, but at least it had one, which is a precious commodity these days. Much the way the Persian Army was demonized in Frank Miller's '300', we have to suspend the disbelief that the C.S.A.-era South has been infiltrated by a vampiric cult. If I was from the South, I might take objection to that characterization. We also have to believe that old honest Abe was some sort of ninja kung fu powerhouse. It's a stretch, but necessary, and shot really well in the Legendary Pictures style. The whole vampiric curse thing is bent all out of shape, where werewolf rules and daywalking are suddenly permissible. All in all, I thought the actors did a great job, considering what they had to work with. The effects were decent, although some of the action scenes are so ridiculously impossible, you can't help but laugh out loud. Ultimately, I found it to be an entertaining piece of fluff. I have no desire to watch it again, or purchase it on DVD, but it's fun once.… Expand

Fantastic flic of a film. It doesn't always take itself seriously, and the fighting can be over the top, but this is a fun movie, with some very good poetic justice on the vamps, good drama scenes without becoming angsty, and is definitely worth 9 out of 10.

It's just stupid. The actors bravely plow through the senseless dialoge. Idiotic action scenes put in for the 3D effect. This could have been a great movie. Sadly it's not.

I read the book before going to this, and I was VERY disappointed in how off they could be. Some of the characters that are in the book AREN'T even in the movie! And the most famous quote in the book isn't that sets the twist at the end. But if you went to this blind and not have reading the book then I could see you appreciating the action and the creative story. Some of the acting was pale and emotionless, a somewhat confusing story, but had amazingly choreographed fight scenes. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't go out of your way to see it.… Expand

Timur Bekmambetov (Director of "Wanted") brings us a side of Abraham Lincoln we never new about. . . . in slow motion, with an axe, who kills vampires. Does the plot sound stupid? Don't let it ruin the experience. As ridiculous as the plot may sound - "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is nothin' but a bloody, vampire killing, good time. The slow motion effects may be over used at times, but hey, it's still pretty damn entertaining to see Abraham Lincoln slice up vampires with an axe. I can now say he's my new favorite president.… Expand