Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies

The film had a very indy, unpolished look. From a cinematography standpoint, the film could have used a better audio mixer or even balanced it. With about another week in the editing room, those things could have been smoothed out.

On the plus side, there were terrific costumes, the camera boxing by the DP was fantastic and the acting was good overall, but Bill Oberst Jr. was ABSOLUTELY excellent. Loved the story and the way the writers worked in historical lines in the name of butt whoopin, "emancipate this!" They had fun creating it and it showed.

I think The Asylum films bring a MUCH needed levity to an industry that takes itself WAY too seriously. Every release from the big studios are on such a grand scale that the trailers themselves look like they cost a $million plus. The blockbusters are so reliant on "wow" cgi, that character development/creativity and story lines are somewhere in the trunk under the spare tire and jack!

This isn't a masterpiece, but it is fun and I laughed a lot. Well done!

Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012)

* (out of 4)

The Asylum's "mockbuster" of ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER finds Honest Abe (Bill Oberst, Jr.) having to fight some Confederate zombies. If that seems light on a plot description then you might want to stay away from this film because that's pretty much all there is. You know, many people attack companies like The Asylum for not having any fresh or original ideas of their own but I've always given them a fair shot. I mean, if we were in the 50s or 70s then the drive-in would have been playing these types of movies each and every weekend. With that said, the biggest sin any movie like this could make is to be boring and that's exactly what has happened here. I think there could have been so many interesting ideas that could have been done in regards to Lincoln going up against zombies. Just take a look at how many lives were lost in the war on Lincoln's command, a film about them coming back from revenge would be interesting. The dead from the war coming back to help win it could have been interesting. What we got here is just downright boring on a number of levels but I think the film was just too silly to be taken serious and it wasn't nearly campy enough to keep you entertained. As you'd expect, the CGI effects were all extremely cheap and the fake gore was just painful. The performances weren't too bad and while Oberst gave a good performance I'd say I still had a hard time believing he was really the president (unlike the real movie). It is funny to note that even though this came out a month before the "real" movie, this here actually featured several scenes that were quite similar so I don't know if that was just a coincidence or what. Either way, ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS. ZOMBIES is a complete bust and not worth watching even with a free rental.

OK- So having read the previews of a pretty good Abraham Lincoln zombie movie a little while ago, I was surprised to see it available on my local DVD kiosk. Perhaps it went straight to DVD? No-turns out there were TWO Abe Lincoln Zombie movies released recently. This was NOT the goo done. This is not a bad movie if you can suffer through some bad acting and some badly thought out writing. The actor playing Lincoln was OK (reminded me of Lloyd Bridges a little). The actors playing Mary Owens and Garret the reb soldier were good as well. The rest of the cast was b-movie material. The overall premise was promising, but the plot suffered faults from the start. You would think that with all the zombie movies that have been made, the writers would have taken into account some basic things that the audience knows and the characters should recognize pretty quickly (granted this movie introduces the earliest origination of zombies, but don't they all?). The characters make dumb mistakes in their plans and in executing them which kind of kill the movie.The camera work is pretty good (but the editor could have done a better job editing some of the early scenes- ie too much walking) and made it a little brisker. Overall, it wasn't a waste of time, and was enjoyable despite its faults.

It's pretty obvious that "Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies" was made to cash in on the publicity generated by the big budget major Hollywood studio movie "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". And it's pretty obvious that this movie, being a production from the low budget movie studio The Asylum, is not going to be very good even before you start watching it. Still, there's a little praise I can give this production. For was was a REAL low budget, the movie doesn't look that bad - it's obvious that the filmmakers managed to squeeze every last penny out of their limited funds. Also, some of the actors in the movie do seem to be trying hard despite the threadbare conditions. There are also no real boring bits, and there is a lot of blood and gore shed. But despite merit such as what I've described, the movie doesn't work in the end. The biggest problem with the movie is its tone - though there are plenty of flesh- eating zombies on the prowl, the movie doesn't manage to make them scary or feel like a real threat. The tone of the movie is instead sedate and casual, wrong for a horror movie such as this, even one that clearly isn't taking everything seriously. While the movie doesn't work in the end, I will freely admit I've seen worse horror movies both from and not from The Asylum.

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