Vampire Hunter Film Analysis

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a film which combines the fantastic with the realistic, and attempts to satisfy both people’s desire for the real story and an adventure. Opening with young Abraham Lincoln’s mother’s death, the audience becomes aware of the supernatural and the role vampires play in Antebellum America. Creatures of the night rule the South in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and manipulate politics to sate their hunger for human blood. The story follows the young Lincoln as he trains in the ways of vampire hunting and sets out on a quest to avenge his mother’s death and decide the fate of the nation. Like any good vampire movie, nearly every scene focuses on some epic fight or action to keep the audience riveted. The movie’s

The night sets used in the film are important to setting the mysterious atmosphere and sense of danger that the movie thrives in. The filmmakers utilized lighting fixtures of the time to amplify the sets. As Lincoln’s mother dies in his wooden cabin, the single light from a candle flickers illuminating the horrid scene. The light amplifies the sense of unease that a lone cabin sitting in the woods generates within modern people. Next, lanterns are used to illuminate key parts of the set during Lincoln’s first fight with a vampire. Only fixtures such as slave shackles, dark boat moorings, and a slowly breaking wooden dock are shown. The light cast drives the viewers focus onto objects that would cause a sense of dread and fear and make the fight much more powerful. Objects that would be considered frightening and strange today but common during the Civil War period are also used to generate an aura of danger and horror. During a fight, Lincoln stumbles into a basement filled with rope, porcelain bowls, and a straight razor. At the time these all would be common household objects, but immediately after it is revealed that this was the scene of multiple murders. Each of those objects symbolizes death in popular culture and generate a dark atmosphere that foreshadows the horror Lincoln was about to stumble upon. The combination of accurate lighting to focus the viewer on certain objects on the set and the symbolism that these objects represent generates much of the atmosphere the film