Abraham Lincoln gets a Hollywood reboot -- as a vampire hunter
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Abraham Lincoln is known by many labels. The Great Emancipator. The Rail Splitter. The 16th president. Honest Abe. ‘That guy on Mt. Rushmore.’ And the face of the $5 bill.
But this summer he’ll be reintroduced to America with a new moniker: ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.’
20th Century Fox honored Honest Abe on Monday by posting online a trailer for the hotly anticipated summer movie ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.’
Compare that with -- yawn -- the various ways the rest of the country is honoring the 203rd anniversary of Lincoln’s Feb. 12, 1809, birth. Some schools are giving students the day off; some states are shutting down all city, county and state offices; and no doubt the countless memorials and monuments erected nationwide in Lincoln’s honor will see increased foot traffic all this week.
‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ is a fantasy-fueled horror-thriller that re-engineers Lincoln as a politician who, in his spare time, wields a battle ax in his bid to crush vampires and their slave-owning helpers. Lincoln is also out to avenge his mother’s death at the hands of such a supernatural creature.
Benjamin Walker plays Lincoln in the movie, which is based upon the book of the same name by author Seth Grahame-Smith. The fictional tome expresses itself through Lincoln’s previously undiscovered journal of his quest for vengeance, a quest that takes him all the way to the White House. (Not familiar with this new history-marries-horror genre? It’s also given birth to the likes of ‘Alice in Deadland,’ ‘George Washington Werewolf,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.’)
The film is produced by Tim Burton and directed by Timur Bekmambetov (‘Wanted,’ ‘Night Watch’) and you can see both influences in the action-packed trailer, which is creating a lot of buzz online Monday. It’s slated for release June 22.
Happy birthday, Abraham Lincoln.
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-- Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch
