Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012): Re-writing History

Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies is another low-budget ($150K) Civil War era Zombie film, not unlike "Exit Humanity" that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Chronologically, this movie takes place before "Exit Humanity" since the Civil War is still raging on.

I'm the first one to admit that I'm a sucker for Civil War anything, so to throw some Zombies into the mix made this movie irresistable for me. I had to see it, even though deep down in my heart I KNEW it had to be bad.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

It was..........pretty good! Not in a Golden Globe or Emmy way, but good in the "Honest Abe wielding a scythe and chopping off Zombie heads" way.

Bill Oberst Jr. plays a darn good Abe Lincoln. I had never heard of him before but a quick search on IMDB shows he's rather busy so others must lke him as well. The rest of the cast was a mixed bag, but even the worst actor ranked high compared most of the low-budget zombie films I've seen.

Beside Abe, other famous historical figures make their appearance; John Wilkes Booth, Pat Garret, Stonewall Jackson, a young Teddy Roosevelt, to name a few. I'm a bit of a Civil War era history nut, so I must say that there were some issues with their inclusion, like the fact that Stonewall Jackson was already dead by the time this would have taken place, and Teddy Roosevelt would have been younger than he appeared in the film...............but who cares!?  Who would have known that Teddy Roosevelt actually got his "Walk softly and carry a big stick" saying from Abe Lincoln while killing Zombies???

Speaking of Zombies, they were fairly well-done. They weren't quite as scary as the black-eyed Zombies in "Exit Humanity", but believable none-the-less. They nailed the period-correct dress perfectly. The Zombies in this film are the slow-lumbering type, with a twist: they can't see, and are only attracted by noise. So if you are quiet, you are safe.........hence the Roosevelt quote above.

I don't want to give any of the plot away, so let's just say that this movie does a decent job of interweaving Zombies with historical facts and changing it up a bit. If you know history you know that Abe is going to die at the end but this movie really shakes that up.....................

My verdict? On a "Zombie Movie Scale of 1-10" I'd give this one a solid 5.

The blend of historical figures from the Civil War era and Zombies was wildly entertaining, even moreso than I thought it would be. The pace of the movie is decent with plenty of Zombie gore and blood-spatter.  While it doesn't quite live up to the standards of "Exit Humanity", its still a great effort especially given the small budget. If you haven't seen "Exit Humanity" yet, watch this one first as an "appetizer".

WATCH IT IF: you liked "Exit Humanity", think the idea of mixing Zombies with Honest Abe may taste as good as peanut butter mixed with chocolate, or you want to know the real story as to why John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln.

DON'T WATCH IT IF: you dislike movies that re-write history, you like your Zombie movies to be more techy ala "Resident Evil", or you are STILL angry about the North winning the Civil War and are waiting for the South to rise again in a different way.

Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies is available for streaming thru Amazon Prime and Netflix. It is also available in DVD format from RedBox.

More info can be found on IMDB here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2246549/

Next Week: We take a look at "Dead Season".