By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

Abraham Lincoln as a vampire killer extraordinaire?

What’s next, Betsy Ross, seamstress to Superman and Spider-Man? Or the untold story about Richard Nixon and his secret Broadway musical years?

Forget all you ever learned about Lincoln — the truth has finally been told. And it wasn’t so much that the Civil War was eventually fought to free the slaves —it was to keep those vampires south of the Mason-Dixon line.

If you think all you ever needed to know about vampires was covered in True Blood and those usually awful Twilight soggas (yes, as in soggy), think again.

Honest Abe wasn’t so honest after all.

Amazingly, while Lincoln as an axe-wielding (it also doubles as a gun) vampire killer, is never believable, it does make for an interesting retelling of history. This is a story of Lincoln that could have easily been reinterpreted by Quentin Tarantino judging by the body count.

Director Timur Bekmambetov  (Wanted) takes all of this vampire stuff quite seriously. It is hard to believe that a movie that has Lincoln doing all the right Jackie Chan moves (only with more severed heads) is never played for laughs.

Benjamin Walker plays the 16th president, both as a young man, and with lots of applied make-up (think Disney’s Hall of Presidents) the Civil War years. Lincoln is also seen as a boy and he witnesses the death of his mother by a vampire. And thus, a vampire killer is born.

He is ably helped by his two trusted friends, Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), a “good” vampire who has been around for a long time, and Will (Anthony Mackle) a freed slave who also joins in the kill a vampire crusade.

Other important figures in Lincoln’s life (both real and in the vampire version) are his wife Mary Todd (she eventually finds about her husband’s  “hate those vampires” secret),  and his famous political rival, Stephen Douglas.

Marton Csokas plays the bad vampire Jack Barts, and Rufus Sewell, plays a very important vampire, who is leading what amounts to a vampire revolution. He is even directly helping Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter isn’t perfect. It isn’t particularly scary and the story isn’t wholly absorbing either. But it is entertaining stuff, and there a few scenes (a train crossing a burning trestle) and Lincoln battling vampires in a horse stampede that make this a worthwhile show.

You can see this as a 3D option, and there are some good effects, but like most films, 3D is not a necessity.

Critic's rating: B

Rated R

Meet the Filmmaker

You might want to mark your calendar for Tuesday, July 17 for the next Meet the Filmmaker event at the Enzian theater.

The July event features cimema and blues musician Rita Chiarelli and Music from the Big House. Chiarelli is nown as Canada’s “Queen of the Blues.”

In the film, Chiarelli takes a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the blues, Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary a.k.a. Angola Prison – what used to be the bloodiest prison in America.  Her trip turns into a historic jailhouse performance – playing with inmates serving life sentences for murder, rape, and armed robbery.  Their shared bond of music and Chiarelli’s ebullient personality draw striking revelations from the inmates. Through voices of hope and love of music, the convicts radiate humanity and redemption on their quest for forgiveness.

The event includes a question and answer session and concert by the musician.

For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.enzian.org/film/music_from_the_big_house/.