Above Pic: Poster from The Asylum for Abraham Lincoln Vs Zombies
With the recent halfway decent films from The Asylum, I fully expected Abe vs Zombies to be a fun romp through a time long ago, as our 16th president dons his top hat, and his fold-able sickle, dispatching zombies from town to town..
Sadly Abe vs Zombies falls flat on it's flintlock when it comes to the wretched acting and horrid dialogue. The actors might as well be reading their lines from 4X6 cards like on Inside the Actor's Studio. Being attacked by zombies at every turn should elicit excitement and tense situations. The script, allows for long dialogue and surprising scenes of lack of much of anything going on.
Above Pic: Bill Oberst Jr. as Abe, apparently he hates zombies!
The movie opens with a young Abe having to kill his mother after she is turned into a zombie. Once president he is on a mission to not only irradiate the zombies, but to find out why it is happening. The scenery shifts to a fort held by confederate soldiers, which is also over-run by zombies.
The high point of the film is the costuming, the look of the soldiers is decent for a 150,000 dollar film. The down time between the action and the overly wordy dialogue is long and tedious. In addition to that, the mild attempt at humor falls tepidly flat as the characters move from scene to scene.
The settings and scenery are standard for The Asylum, and provide some look to what life was like in the 1860s, but most of the scenery is a matte painting or CGI.
The best acting, if you call it that, goes to Bill Oberst Jr. (Abe Lincoln), at least he showed some of Lincoln's mannerisms and facial expressions. The majority of the rest of the acting ranges from barely passable, to downright horrendous. Baby Norman, who portrays Mary Owens, is also a bright spot, especially given her lack of experience. She is pleasant to look at, moves naturally in front of the camera, and at least tries hard to get in to her character. Even with the few bright spots, do not expect Mr. Oscar to come knocking haha!
Above Pic: Baby Norman as Mary Owens, look at her bug gun, she is sexy and pissed off!
I have witnessed far worse movies than Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies, the blood and be-headings should be enough to satisfy most zombie fans, provided they can stomach the putrid dialogue. There is some action, but not nearly enough urgency for a film where the protagonist's are in peril.
Overall I give Abraham Lincoln vs The Zombies a 4 out of 10. Watch at your own risk, and perhaps a zombi-fication of your own mental capacity will not befall you.