Will Lincoln Kill History In The Movies

One day away from Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer and not a word out of you folks on the forum? What?

At this point 84 percent of voters want to see it according to Rotten Tomato, 24 percent of the credits think it' worth seeing, Ebert likes it.

Maybe it's a generation thing but the idea is just to stupid for me. And I mean without any kind of interest at all. I guess I want my historical films to have something to do with real history. Admittedly something Hollywood has never worried about before. But the whole playing around with Lincoln just seems like a disservice to the man, even if he was a Republican.

Somehow I get the feeling that this film will have a lot to day about how successful Zombie vs. Gladi tors will be.

It's not generational, Calvin. It's just you. :)

A disservice? The guy has been dead since 1865. I don't think he cares.

It's just a clever twist on a historical figure. In my opinion, it's a better history-twister than our Ben Franklin script here.


AL: Vampire Hunter couldn't be further from ZvG, so I doubt it will have "a lot to say" about how successful ZvG will be.

Trouble is there's no one else around here my age to confirm the generational question!

> Trouble is there's no one else around here my age to confirm the generational question!

I'm here!

How can it be taken seriously. It might be fun, but it looks like another Van Helsing but with even more FX. I was hoping for a comedic take, like "Jesus Christ, Vampire Killer" from 11 years ago.

To me, the most jarring thing in the preview wasn't the crashing and banging and fit-inducing flashing effects, nor the handiwork with the axe, it was the portion of the Gettysburg Address done in a SHOUT.

Maybe nowadays you'd have to give the speech in that way, to overwhelm all the inevitable protesters:

"Four score and seven years ago..."
(oops, sorry, anarchic protester wants to speak now)

Or...

"I have a dream..."
(oops, sorry, protester throws egg)

Or...

"Never was so much owed by..."
(oops, sorry, even though I just had a turn, I want to speak again, so shut up)

Or even...

"I am the luckiest man on the face of the..."
(oops, sorry, shut this guy up and get on with the game)

Ho hum.

When I've heard the Address re-enacted in movies or in the Civil War PBS special (sigh), it was spoken softly and earnestly, and beautifully, as opposed to something that was meant to try to rally the sailors on the Potemkin... er, sorry, that had to come out, given Bekmambetov's involvement.

it's not a documentary, calvin.

Glorious Basterds (Jews killing nazis) was highly entertaining and nobody took it seriously.

Terrible film following the computer game structure. Gets bigger and louder until the big boss fight. Oh, and trivialises slavery too.

@ catcon:

But... didn't Lincoln give that speech to a large group without the benefit of an electrical sound system?

Stage actors make booming speeches.

Film actors are often called "the mumblers" by stage actors, because they can deliver their lines in a hoarse Harrison Ford mumble and the mikes will pick it up anyway.

Lincoln would have had to speak like a stage actor if he expected to be heard by the hundreds, or thousands, of people listening.

I get where you're goin, R.P., but I don't associate AL - Vampire Killer with MLK - Super Pimp, etc.

Being a vampire hunter is waaaay off from being a pimp.

We have "President's Day" sales every year, and no one gives a damn about the Presidents they put on the sign. But no one gripes about it.

And really? A silly Hollywood movie makes you have no confidence in the human race?

Hyperbole, much? :)~


I don't have an issue with a playful movie that makes it seem like a historical figure had a secret life.

My next movie?

Mother Theresa - Private Eye

Tagline: "Mother Theresa is a baaad mother-- Hush your mouth!"

Richard Roundtree was cool.

Nor can they spell identify. :)~

@ Calvin
As someone who is older than you, chronologically, I am a bit taken aback by Abraham Lincoln, Vampire killer. But then again I've never seen a vampire movie and have no interest in them. But if that what sells, go for it. It's only a movie. I don't give vampires a second thought. They are not real. It's human beings and what they are capable of, that concern me.

tony, tony, tony.... never seen a vampire movie. whaaaaaat?!
anyhoo - check out THE HUNGER w/Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, and David Bowie. they're human!

I'll tell you just like my dad told me when I was horrified after watching Gremlins for the first time: "Son. It's just a movie." If you don't like the concept, then don't watch it. But you don't have to beat your war-drum and expect for us to charge into an empty battlefield with you. This is a gimick movie, not my thing, but I'm sure there's a nice size market for it which is why they produced it.

The movie is a reflection of the mash-up culture that pervades the Internet and particularly sites like YouTube.

As a writer, I love the idea of free association...taking two seemingly disparate elements and finding a way to combine them together in a uniquely creative way. I've come up with at least one script's core concept in this fashion.

That being said, the reaction I've witnessed in theatre audiences every time this movie's trailer shows up on screen is more or less the same--mild disbelief and laughter of the ridiculing variety. It is, hands down, a silly premise...but does that matter? If it brings moviegoers in droves, it'll be the studios laughing their way to the bank. Like Bela Lugosi said, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Please, guys. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is not meant to appeal to you. You are not the core market of cinema goers. Admittedly, I AM directly in every studio's key demographic and this movie looks just as stupid to me as it does to you. But rather than moan about it, I'll just patiently wait for Spielberg's Lincoln film later this year,

I've heard the Lincoln picture was based on a best-selling book. I'm guessing it sold mostly to teenagers. Young teenagers. The only person so far that I've spoken to that's looking forward to this is the 14-year-old son of a friend. He thinks it looks cool.

Here's the NY Times review:

'Mr. Bekmambetov has a knack for screen carnage and he has plenty to work with in “Abraham Lincoln,” which gives him untold bodies with which to paint the screen red. (The intentionally drab, at times duo-chromatic palette dulls the colorful spray.) Outside of Nazis and zombies or, better yet, Nazi zombies, nothing says easily disposable villains like slave-trading vampires. And there is, no question, something satisfying — as the pleasure of the story’s pop conceit hits your deep historical outrage — about watching Lincoln decapitate a slave-trading ghoul, at least the first few dozen times. If only Mr. Bekmambetov had a strong sense of narrative rhythm and proportion, and as great a commitment to life as he does to death and all the ways bodies can be digitally pulverized.'

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/movies/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter.html?nl=movies&emc=mua5_20120622

@ Lisa Scott

Susan Sarandon spilling her wine down her shirt (in HUNGER) gave me mental amunition for life :-)