Abraham Lincoln is what most people think of when asked to name a prominent United States president. And there are many works based on President Lincoln.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER is a film that depicts a fantasy world of what if he had been a vampire hunter. Produced by Tim Burton, who has worked on many vampire films, and written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who has worked on many vampire films, this film was a breath of fresh air in the vampire film lineage.

That Lincoln is a vampire hunter!

The movie ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER’s most notable feature is the novel setting in which Lincoln is a vampire hunter. It is easy to imagine that this setting alone attracted the attention of many people. Although this film is an adaptation of the novel Vampire Hunter Lincoln, the author was in charge of the screenplay so that some things could have been more consistent with the original work.

Grahame-Smith’s best-known work is the novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was made into a film later than this one.

This work gained worldwide popularity for its outlandish conception and originality, boldly quoting the text of “Pride and Prejudice,” a masterpiece by England’s leading novelist Jane Austen, and inserting a created zombie story, turning it into a horror novel. Perhaps influenced by this popularity, “Vampire Hunter Lincoln” was published in succession.

The vampire genre was established as fiction with John Polidori’s novel “The Vampire.” Still, Bram Stoker’s novel “The Vampire Dracula ” is the most famous work. One of the characters involved in the defeat of Count Dracula is Professor Abraham Van Helsing. He appears in the novel only as an old scholar. Still, he is often considered the main character in later creations and adaptations. He is the character passed down as the representative of the vampire hunters. Since he shares the name “Abraham” with Lincoln, it is easy to imagine that Lincoln is a vampire hunter, which I found interesting.

A new story of Lincoln that everyone knows

The main plot of the movie ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER follows the life of Lincoln. The only difference is the presence of vampires. This device is similar to “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” The advantage of this style is that it allows us to omit some explanation of the background of the characters and story and to devote more time to other developments without delving too deeply into the characters’ stories. By using these advantages well, the film can be made more speedy.

However, it is subtle whether it worked well in this film. It could be more kind to audiences outside the United States. While Lincoln is known worldwide as a great man, it needs to be clarified that people outside the U.S. are deeply familiar with his history. For those who only vaguely knew his face and name, the film developed too quickly for them to become emotionally involved with Lincoln. Moreover, many may need to learn more about the people around them.

This speedy development without explanation was also applied to explaining the film’s setting, and I had the impression that the film ended before I could grasp the world of the work. I understand the movie has a lot of content, but it would have been nice if there had been a more detailed way to tell the story.

New Vampire Movie

The movie ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER was released in 2012. It was a slightly different film from the vampire trend at the time. It was also the year the final movie in the Twilight Saga, which represented the vampire romance boom, was released. The film became a social phenomenon and was based on a famous novel. Still, at the same time, TV dramas such as “The Vampire Diaries” and “True Blood” were also top-rated. At a time when romances were the mainstream when it came to vampire stories, this film had a strong presence as a new and different kind of vampire story.

This work, which foreshadowed a return to the “good versus evil” style of vampire stories, in which the characters hunt vampires rather than coexist with them, was one of the works that steadily created a new trend. However, if it is asked whether a new trend of vampire stories was made after this film, it cannot be said so. There is a tendency to prefer darker vampire stories, perhaps as a reaction to romance stories. Still, They have drifted away from the mainstream. Nevertheless, vampire stories are a genre that people have loved for centuries, so a more extended view may change how we perceive this film.

The movie ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER is less flashy. It uses a hatchet to bludgeon a vampire, a fantasy creature, but it entertains with its dynamic action. And its novel setting makes it a very unique work. Although the genre is sometimes considered horror, I didn’t have that horror impression. It is a hunter’s story, and I recommend this work when you want to refresh your mind.