WRETCHED REVIEWS: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER (2012)

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

Starring Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper and Rufus Sewell

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

Written by Seth Grahame-Smith

20^th Century Fox

Much like the founding father himself, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is as honest a title as any movie has ever had. Indeed, if you give yourself up to its sheer ridiculousness then you’ll have a great time in the theatre. If you are especially fond of the laws of physics or decide to tsk-tsk the assorted clunkers that litter Seth Grahame-Smith’s script – which he adapted from his own book – then you’ll likely shake your head in disbelief and wonder how many Duplass Brothers films the budget could have covered. To you I say fuck off.

EXCL: CHLOE MORETZ ON GETTING HER “DARK SHADOWS” ROLE

The DLB spoke with actress Chloe Moretz recently in conjunction with the home video release of Hugo, her collaboration with Martin Scorsese. Of course we just had to ask about her role in Dark Shadows. Director Tim Burton’s much-anticipated movie version of the ’60s soap opera casts frequent Burton collaborator Johnny Depp as the cursed vampire Barnabas Collins, a role originated by recently deceased Canadian actor Jonathan Frid. Moretz plays Carolyn, the sullen teen daughter of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, played by Michelle Pfeiffer.

 

What was it like working with Tim Burton?

Working with Tim was such an experience. I don’t even know what to say because he’s probably been my dream, dream, dream director, along with Scorsese of course, to work with.

My mom and my brother didn’t actually tell me because they had called in and they had said that they wanted me for the movie, and of course my mom and my brother didn’t tell me in case it didn’t go through or something, and if it feel through I would be so devastated.

So they didn’t tell me, but after the deal went through my brother and I had landed in New York to do a photoshoot, I think, or something. And we had just landed, got off the plane, and [Moretz's brother] Trevor received an email from my mom saying the deal’s gone through, oh my gosh, we’re so excited. It’s happening. Of course he turns to me as we’re docking the plane, and he goes, ‘So Chlo, what we were going to tell you is you’ve booked a Tim Burton film for Dark Shadows and it films in three months, and I was like ‘What!?’ I just started freaking out on the plane, and everyone was like ‘what is wrong with that girl?’ And I was like freaking out, like ‘oh my Gosh!’ And I freaked out so much that I actually left my iPad on the plane. It was a pretty special thing.

I’m in love with Tim and I’m in love with Johnny and Helena [Bonham Carter] and Michelle Pfeiffer and everyone. It’s a really special, special movie.

 

 

EXCL: SCOTT SPEEDMAN TALKS “UNDERWORLD” AND “THE MOTH DIARIES”

The DLB recently spoke to actor Scott Speedman (Underworld, upcoming The Moth Diaries) about his new romantic comedy The Vow and snuck in a couple of questions about his recent genre past and future.

Tell me about working with director Mary Harron (American Psycho) on the upcoming vampire film The Moth Diaries.

Yeah, very smart woman. Very, very talented director, obviously. That’s really why I wanted to do that thing. I got on that movie five years ago, I think. Yeah, I was just jumping at the chance to work with her because I’ve loved her movies in the past.

EXCL: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING STAR KATE BECKINSALE TALKS SELENE, SEQUEL, TOTAL RECALL: PART TWO

Underworld: Awakening opens in theatres today, so as a release day treat, here is part two the Dark Lord Bunnykins’ chat with lead actress Kate Beckinsale:

 

Regarding Selene, what is about her that you like and does she serve any particular function for you as an actress, like getting out your aggression for instance?

No, not really. I do think I’m attracted to female roles that are kind of empowering and interesting and complicated, in whatever kind of movie, whether it’s a comedy… I think it’s important to have those criteria to make it interesting for yourself, or drama or whatever. It just happens to be in a genre movie. But that genre tends to also be one of the few that really does celebrate an empowered woman. So it’s not necessarily something that I want to only do, and I wouldn’t only want to do a comedy for the rest of my life either, but the fact that I get to play these kind of women I think is very attractive.

EXCLUSIVE! KATE BECKINSALE TALKS “UNDERWORLD AWAKENING”: PART ONE

The DLB recently spoke to Underworld Evolution star Kate Beckinsale about the fourth entry in the ongoing werewolf/vampire franchise. Here are a few excerpts:

 

After you made Underworld Evolution, how did you feel about the possibility of making another Underworld film, and at what point did playing Selene again start to seem like a good idea?

Well, I didn’t think I was going to. I was told that the plan was to do a trilogy. I knew that the third one was a prequel and my character wasn’t around for that. I honestly didn’t think about it at all apart from occasionally when I was promoting another movie somebody would ask me about it, and I’d constantly say, ‘No, no, no. That’s it,’ because I thought it was! So it was only a little before we shot the movie that they came and asked, ‘Would you think about it?’ And I thought, well, okay, but it would have to be quite a different journey for the character to go on to make it interesting for people to watch and also to play the part.

NSFW! FLESHLIGHT PROMISES ADULT TRICKS AND TREATS FOR HALLOWEEN

Sex toy company Fleshlight is getting into the Halloween spirit  with the release of their Fleshlight Freaks series. Available in five different models — The Cyborg, The Alien, The Drac,The Frankenstein and The Zombie — the Fleshlights and Fleshjacks are certain to raise your spirits this holiday season.

TORONTO AFTER DARK ANNOUNCES NEXT SLATE OF FILMS

Toronto After Dark Film Festival founder Adam Lopez announced the next slate of macabre movies to show at his fast-growing genre film festival, which will take place at the Toronto Underground Cinema between Oct. 20 and 27, on last night’s edition of Inner Space. Among the new additions:

RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY

COLIN FARRELL TALKS “FRIGHT NIGHT”

The DLB recently had the chance to attend a roundtable with actor Colin Farrell, one of the stars of the upcoming Fright Night remake, and it turns out that the Phone Booth star, who plays vampire Jerry Dandridge in the role originated by Chris Sarandon, is quite the horror buff. Here’s what he had to say when asked about the ongoing appeal of vampire films:

EXCLUSIVE! GUILLERMO DEL TORO TALKS ABOUT THE THIRD BOOK IN “THE STRAIN” TRILOGY

 

The DLB had the privilege today of interviewing Guillermo Del Toro, the man behind such beloved genre properties as Mimic, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and the upcoming big screen version of the 1973 TV movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, out August 26. We asked Mr. Del Toro about his and co-writer Chuck Hogan’s upcoming book, The Night Eternal, the final installment in the vampire trilogy started with The Strain and The Fall.

 

The final installment of The Strain trilogy, The Night Eternal, comes out in October. Without giving away too much, what can you tell us about Eph Goodweather and The Master?

We just finished the corrections to the first galleys two days ago; literally two days ago in the morning I was sending my last corrections. And it’s the darkest of the three books. At the same time it has some of the most mythical origins of the creatures. You explain where The Master comes from, you explain where all vampires come from, and it goes back to ancient times. And so you have a chapter or two in ancient times, you have a chapter in ancient Rome. And I promised in the first book, when people interviewed me about the trilogy, I said you’re going to see characters you like do things you don’t like and characters you don’t like do things you like, and I think we delivered in the third book. Not everyone ends well! (laughs) In the second book we killed one of the dearest characters, which was Setrakian, and I think the body count in the third one is pretty high.

 

The Night Eternal is available Oct. 25 through Harper Collins.