Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies

Okay, so my expectations weren't sky-high. I knew this was a shameless cash-in flick, made to make the most of the coming big-budget Abe-vampire-slasher movie. First of all, never mind the silly premise - as one reviewer has already pointed out, when you rent a zombie flick you are by definition suspending disbelief. The story too is engaging enough. It's got everything you need... political intrigue, racism, hookers, old love affairs. It even has some not-very-thinly-veiled historical character references and in jokes. Even the production values are pretty good for a low budget production despite the very mixed abilities of the cast. No, where this film falls down is that it simply doesn't deliver in the way that any decent zombie movie must... blood'n'guts. There just aren't any. Sure we see the occasional head flying around, but where are the intestines? Where are the broom handles through the face? There's also no self-aware comedy value, save for one scene where Lincoln shouts 'emancipate this' as he lops the head off another unfortunate zombie. So, my suggestion is avoid unless you really are a die-hard zombie fan that absolutely has to see every zombie film, good or bad.

I know The Asylum is known for cheap low budget knock-off mock-buster so I didn't really expect much going in. I had also heard that this was their best movie in the catalog so I gave it a chance. Hopes were moderate that it would be decent until the first zombie fight. *********************SPOILERS**************************************** A zombie that fights back? OK fine maybe he was still turning but that first encounter already turned me off. The fake make-up, wigs, mustaches and beards were all laughably fake looking, especially the generals. There is NO sense of urgency when they fight the zombies, and it even seems like the zombies are scared of them last half of the movie. At least 3 zombies noticeably back away, or take their time getting to their victims. During the moments leading up to the end it was basically a zombie killing spree as the zombies apparently sleep until a really loud noise wakes them up. ******************************END SPOILERS****************************** I can go on but really, there's not point. I understand its a low budget cash in project like all the other movies from The Asylum and you can't really expect much, which I didn't and even with the low expectations I had I couldn't be prepared for such a bad movie.

After watching the movie, you will come across with a question of "why I have wasted my time ?". The actors are playing artificially (nothing is going on its nature). Scenario is not meaningful and there is no philosophy (i.e. something brilliant and novel about the zombie concept). The movie aims just to kill zombies. The main focuses of the movie are spilling lot of blood and cutting the heads.. The soldiers around the President are programmed to behave just like CIA agents in modern movies (i.e. which is the funniest side of the movie -"yes sir yes sir"-). Another strange point can be given about the Lincoln. Why he is chosen as zombie hunter is another mystery. Is this choice indicating that only the president can save the "world's" people from zombies and enemies ?. I am advising to you that you should not waste your time. Instead, you can read the book about the Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies makes it two one-star films in two days. All is not good in the world of The Squiss. However, there are vast differences between the states of Iron Sky (yesterday's one-star film) and Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies, not least of all the budget. That Iron Sky had just under $9.5m compared to ALVZ's budget of $150,000 at least makes most of the latter's mistakes forgivable if not watchable. The lack of budget makes the anachronisms understandable; it's very difficult to ensure the sets are perfectly authentic when the budget forces the use of available locations rather than custom-built sets. Believable prosthetics also cost mucho $$$ and so head of make-up Renonda Anderson makes the most of her greasepaint and fake blood. Her work qualifies for a C+ but it's a pity director Richard Shenkman didn't take Spielberg's Jaws approach of showing as little as possible so as to make the rubber shark more menacing. What is unforgivable, and completely unrelated to budget, is the poor, and at time shocking, acting from principals and background artists alike. There isn't even any consistency with the movement of the zombies and that would have instantly improved the viewing experience. There's an awful lot of hamming it up and even more instances of walk, talk, turn head, talk, facial expression, talk… Yes, there are some god-awful amateurs out there, and I've received some quality hate mail from reviews and features I've published in the past highlighting them (if demand is high, I'll re-publish them on this blog sometime), and the majority of Abraham Lincoln vs Zombie's cast is equal to them. Whilst there is variation in the performances, the variety on offer is ham, wooden, awkward and dire and there are slipped accents aplenty. The exception, thank goodness, is Bill Oberst Jr. playing the titular character. He's not famous, he isn't mind-blowingly good and according to his IMDb page has worked since 2007 largely playing unnamed or single-monikered characters in short films and individual episodes of TV series. However, with 18 projects in pre-production, post-production or awaiting release Oberst Jr. must be doing something right and is quite likely to continue working for a while yet. While Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies is a dreadful film, because of the ineptitude surrounding him, Oberst Jr. stands head and shoulders, both literally and figuratively, above his fellow cast members. What else is wrong with it? How long do you have, or rather, how much interest do you have in it? It isn't graded properly, it jars with the period, the sound mix is poor, the editing is lazy and the timing is mostly awful. It looks as cheap as it is but I'm giving it two stars (rather than nowt) because Shenkman has made the best of the shoddy materials on offer. He's only getting two stars, though, because he could have found better actors at the local high school and even Barbara Cartland could have written a more dramatic screenplay despite being more dead and less animated than the zombies on screen. That said, Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies could turn out to be a very good calling card for Shenkman, for all its stodge. Just look what A Fistful of Fingers did for Edgar Wright. Now there's a man who knows how to shoot zombies! Another film review from The Squiss. For more reviews from The Squiss subscribe to my blog at www.thesquiss.co.uk

Director Richard Schenkman, working from his own original script, brings to the screen a unique alternate history of the Civil War and the role of the Great Emancipator in the Union victory. The amazing concept of Abraham Lincoln having to engage in battle with the walking dead in order to, not only preserve the Union, but to purge the Confederacy of evil, is astounding on its face. However, this film is so well conceived and beautifully realized with outstanding production values that the audience is quickly caught up in this dark struggle between Lincoln and the zombies. Bill Oberst, Jr. gives a superb performance as Lincoln and it is much more than a caricature. Oberst's Lincoln is a tortured soul looking unblinkingly into the eyes of evil incarnate and it's an amazing portrayal. Debra Crittenden is simply excellent and deeply moving as the troubled Mary Todd Lincoln, loyal wife but unstable ally to the president. At times horrific, with unforgettable imagery and stunning action sequences, this is a film that will please genre fans and historical scholars alike.

Here we have it again, The Asylum ripping off another blockbuster. This time Abraham Lincoln: Vampire hunter (2012). And by now you all know what you can expect from The Asylum. Most of their flicks are full of cheap CGI and bad acting. This is no exception. Some can act and Abraham Lincoln (Bill Oberst Jr.) was believable but others just couldn't act and them wearing fake beards didn't make it much better. The zombies looked rather good but still were missing a few things, their clothes were all nicely cleaned. But their faces were okay. Still, there aren't that many zombies to see, only towards the end we do have a horde involving children. When the zombies are being killed it doesn't become gory. The blood and beheadings are done CGI wise, and some CGI is really awful. When zombies are attacking people and getting them to the ground nothing is shown like in those good old zombie flicks. No tearing apart of corpses, no intestines being eaten. Of course being a low budget it all takes place in one place a so-called fort. Inside there was a lot of talking which didn't add towards the suspense. The end you could see it coming from miles away. Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Yes, it's a cheap, z-grade rip-off of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. But it's a fun, cheap, z-grade rip-off. While yes, there's some bad special effects like PC graphic CGI blood. But the acting is honestly, the best an Asylum has been grace with. With Bill Oberst JR. literally becoming Abe Lincoln. Now is it better than it's big budget counterpart, probably not technically and budget wise. But it is a good enough movie on it's own two feet. Which is something at least good to say for a usually crummy Asylum movie. I recommend it to be rented, a rare recommendation I make for Asylum movies. They may some promise in the future.

Sometimes it's just a sheer coincidence two different studios are working on a similar type of concept. However, I think that in this case nobody has any doubt about it that this movie indeed was made as a quick money grab, to ride on the hype of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". But even so, in all honesty, this movie is nothing too bad to watch and actually surpassed my expectations. The movie is what it is; Abraham Lincoln battling a bunch of zombies. And really, it simply is all quite good and entertaining to watch. Of course its not a movie to take very seriously but that also wasn't the approach the film-makers were going for. It's simply a movie to enjoy and really one that requires you to shut your brain off for a moment. For some reason 19th century and zombies always seemed like a perfect combination to me and it also does work out nicely for this film. The weapons, the sets, the costumes, it's all kind of surreal to watch in combination with a bunch of zombies walking around, especially when most characters are well known figures from American history. It's quite random how some well known historical figures pop up in this movie. Besides Lincoln, also persons such as Teddy Roosevelt and general Stonewall Jackson show up. It's pointless all really but it adds to the overall fun and camp-level of this entire production. And really, as far as low budget movies go, this is simply a fine one to watch. It doesn't really ever has a cheap look to it, except for its special effects at times. It's a quite professionally looking movie, with simply a good style and atmosphere to it and plenty of campy action to enjoy. It of course is not a great movie by any means but I simply had a good time watching it and therefore also can't so too many bad things about it. It served its purpose well! 6/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This was one of the first recommendations I got from the Cinema Snob website based on his review of the film and his interview with Bill Oberst Jr. I wasn't expecting much since its an asylum film, but I honestly enjoyed it. I found myself drawn to some of the characters being portrayed and Bill Oberst did an excellent job as Abraham Lincoln and its a completely serviceable zombie film. Of course it has its problems. The CGI effects are incredibly cheap looking (duh, its The Asylum, get over it) and the plot is fairly simplistic. Its basically a standard zombie film which includes historical figures. If you can overlook that, then you should be able to enjoy the film without much difficulty.

Last year,i heard about the film about an ex-prez,fighting vampire,s.I thought,"why not".(it was really more like "w.t.f. ? )A few months ago,a friend that works as an editor,told me about a film that sounded like the above movie.I told him i,d heard of it,even here in Arkansas,but i heard it was vampires.So,that's how i found this flick.Well,for starters,its better than you,d think.I don,t care a lot about U.S. history,but this was a fresh idea,and a zombie movie-no easy task.Asylum,s biggest looking movie to date,they went all out on the look of this one,and it works.The gore was there,the zombie,s a bit fresh for my taste,but o.k. . All in All,i wont say it,s a bad movie,'cause it,s not.The guy playing Lincon was really good,and the rest were decent.You could do worse.Washington as a ghost hunter....Ben Franklin as a ghost-buster....uh oh,i may have just made this whole thing worse....