Grahame-Smith’s alternative biography of President Lincoln is a perfect mix of vampire fantasy and actual history of the President’s life. It is important to note that I am by no means a Lincoln-scholar, but I do have a degree from Gettysburg College so I’d like to believe I soaked up a little Civil War history (at least accidentally). Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is told from the point of view of an aspiring writer and the proud new owner of a secret Lincoln diary. The modern day story is just the pretense through which the real story is told. The diaries themselves follow Honest Abe from his youth through his death. The story’s charm is mostly in how strangely plausible it is. No facts stray too wildly far from the truth; they are just motivated by the secret vampire subplot. When Abe’s mother dies, it is not because of an illness, but at the hands of a vampire. When the South decides to fight for their rights, it is because the vampires are maneuvering behind the scenes to trap all of humanity into slavery. Seth Grahame-Smith works the vampire plot into the story in a way that it motivates the history and fills in the gaps.
It might be easy to write the story off as cheap dime fiction, but underneath the genre mash up and the humor Seth Grahame-Smith is actually a talented author. For me, one of the most interesting parts of the book was watching the character of Abe Lincoln grow both as the historic man who could be elected president and also as the man deeply troubled by the constant deaths around him caused by vampires.
Perhaps the best reason to read Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is because it is being made into a movie. The project was written in part by Grahame-Smith himself, directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted and Night Watch), and produced by Tim Burton. The first teaser trailer for the film has been released. Check it out here.
I have both concerns and hopes for the film. The trailer appears to include a significant amount of action fight sequences featuring, of course, Abe wielding his famous axe. The book did have its share of action sequences but I hope that Burton and Bekmambetov are able to capture its nuances. As I mentioned, for me the charm of the book was the interactions between Lincoln and the various cast of characters that he meets through his life. Even with the addition of vampires to the historic events, the book was still inherently about Abraham Lincoln as a person. Some of the greatest moments were his passing conversations with a young Edgar Allen Poe or his awkward attempts to court a young lady. Those moments are enhanced and emphasized in their normality by the addition of the vampire plot, not the other way around. Having said that, even with the more serious elements of the book forgotten, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter could be a more than passably enjoyable action film.
It might be easy to write the story off as cheap dime fiction, but underneath the genre mash up and the humor Seth Grahame-Smith is actually a talented author. For me, one of the most interesting parts of the book was watching the character of Abe Lincoln grow both as the historic man who could be elected president and also as the man deeply troubled by the constant deaths around him caused by vampires.
Perhaps the best reason to read Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is because it is being made into a movie. The project was written in part by Grahame-Smith himself, directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted and Night Watch), and produced by Tim Burton. The first teaser trailer for the film has been released. Check it out here.
I have both concerns and hopes for the film. The trailer appears to include a significant amount of action fight sequences featuring, of course, Abe wielding his famous axe. The book did have its share of action sequences but I hope that Burton and Bekmambetov are able to capture its nuances. As I mentioned, for me the charm of the book was the interactions between Lincoln and the various cast of characters that he meets through his life. Even with the addition of vampires to the historic events, the book was still inherently about Abraham Lincoln as a person. Some of the greatest moments were his passing conversations with a young Edgar Allen Poe or his awkward attempts to court a young lady. Those moments are enhanced and emphasized in their normality by the addition of the vampire plot, not the other way around. Having said that, even with the more serious elements of the book forgotten, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter could be a more than passably enjoyable action film.
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