It doesn't suck

It’s all in the title.

If you’re looking for an over-the-top, period picture about a vampire-killing president, this won’t disappoint. If you want a movie with more brains and less blood, look elsewhere.

“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” features clunky dialogue, inventive kills and
too many hyper-stylized zooms. What it lacks in plot it makes up for in action, including a dazzling set piece on horseback in the middle of a stampede.

The bloodsuckers are menacing enough to jolt the audience and seem like a real threat, but “Vampire Hunter” is far from a horror movie. The movie is a blockbuster wannabe through and through — the fun comes from laughing at the movie and enjoying its special effects-laden fighting.
 
The montages keep everything moving quickly, if not clearly, which is just as well for a high concept movie like this. Things begin to drag as the Civil War is introduced into the non-plot and unshocking twists convolute the storytelling.

Benjamin Walker makes a more convincing hunter than president, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead  can’t do much with her cookie-cutter wife role as Mary Todd.

The movie is full of surprises good and bad: a cool twist on vampirism, some clever historicism, slaves as plot devices, an insulting portrayal of Harriet Tubman.

Thankfully, it plays straightfaced for the most part, which adds to its camp cache and fun factor. If “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is remembered at all, it’ll be remembered as a camp classic.

By Patrick Beane