Seth Grahame-Smith's Choose Your Own Adventure
Let me start by saying that I LOVED the book. I thought it
was brilliantly written with the exact amount of history versus sci-fi to make it
actually seem believable. It felt as though I was in Lincoln’s mind and
understood his every movement. I felt as though it explained the civil war in a
way I never understood before. I became more interested in history and made me
decide to name my son Abraham if I ever have one. That was a joke. I won’t be
naming my son Abraham, but I did thoroughly enjoy his character and have become
a fan of him historically. Then I watched the movie. Not to say it was a bad
movie- even though the reviews were not to great- I thought it to be a decent
flick. As I watched the movie, from basically the first word, I sat there and
said “That didn’t happen! THAT didn’t happen either! What about this? How could
this be left out?” to the point where I annoyed my company watching with me who
didn’t read the book. Then as the credits were rolling I was very surprised to
learn that the screenplay was also written by Seth Grahame-Smith. Suddenly it shone
a completely different light over it. He was not just okay with the changes and
the holes I felt were in the movie- he actually wrote it himself! While it was
basically, absolutely nothing like the book, it forced me to reevaluate and
rethink the book under the notion that perhaps I had been reading it differently. But after
reevaluation and discussions with other readers of Lincoln, I feel that the screenplay is more of an alternative story
to the book. For example- sometimes, when I’m writing a story, I have characters and ideas but there are two
directions I can take the story, unsure of which one would work out better, I’m
forced to chose just one. I feel that Grahame-Smith’s screenplay here was his
alternative story, using the same themes and a similar plot but going in
directions he decided against for the book. Do you remember the
choose-your-own-adventure books? I don’t know if they still have them but those
were my favorite books because you got to explore the alternate choice, the “if-only”
we so often want to explore. That’s how
I felt when watching the movie, like I was reading a second choice in Abe
Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’s Choose Your Own Adventure.
From here on I will say SPOILER alert because if you haven’t
read the book AND seen the movie I will be ruining both for you as I outline a
few of the very huge differences and holes I felt there were in the movie. There are many more but these were the ones
that stood out for me:
- The opening was completely different. I’m wasn’t surprised because in the book it opens with “Seth Grahame-Smith” receiving the journals from Henry so I can see why they cut that out and instead opened with Lincoln writing in his last entry that he leaves the journals to Henry.
- You do not see Abraham’s hatred for his father in the movie- at all. In fact the one beginning scene in which you do see his father- his father is standing up for slaves and seems much stronger willed than in the book. His family is barely shown in the movie actually- you know nothing of his sister, stepmother, step and half siblings which are all present in the novel.
- The character of “Will” in the movie, a black slave that is Lincoln’s best friend, does not exist in the book. He is in the first scene of the movie when Lincoln is a child, but in the later scenes he seems to take the place of Jack Armstrong, as Jack does not exist in the movie.
- Edgar Allen Poe, one of my favorite touches in the book, is not even brought up in the movie at all. In fact the scenes in which Lincoln travels via flat boat with his father’s associates son and stays in different towns, etc. was all eliminated.
- You do not understand Abraham’s vengeance against vampires in the movie. While you do see his mother die from a vampire, you do not see the hatred toward his father, and the amount of exploring and investigating Lincoln did himself to figure out about vampires. How Abe learned his story telling skills from his father- the one positive thing his father gave him. A pivotal moment in the book is when his father gets drunk and reveals the truth about vampires. This is when Lincoln vows to kill them all and thus begins his journey. I did not like in the movie how he hunted the “man” who killed his mother not knowing he was a vampire.
- Still early in his hunting (in the novel), Lincoln watches slaves being sold- the most disturbing scene in the book in my opinion- and follows a man who bought all the weak or old slaves and sees that vampires are basically feasting on them. This further compel s him to hunt and kill vampires. You do see this in the movie but toward the end of the movie, after Lincoln has been hunting for a very long time.
- To go along with that, on his first “hunt” in the book, he waits for a vampire and he is shocked when it’s a woman and taken aback that she is about to kill a child and so he hesitates and is almost killed until Henry kills her and saves Lincoln. This scene was completely different in the movie. Lincoln was trying to kill the “man” who killed his mother and the “man” almost kills him until Henry chases him off and saves Lincoln. Even when Lincoln wakes up from recovering, he still does not realize that the man was a vampire until Henry tells him. Lincoln is clueless about vampires in the movie- until Henry fills him in- not so in the book.
- Furthermore, he has no idea in the movie that Henry is a vampire. This I do not understand. He does not find out that Henry is a vampire until half way through the movie.
- Which leads me to the character of Henry. He was
NOTHING like how I believed him to be written in the book. Henry, in the book,
was kind and Lincoln, although he didn’t trust him at first because he knew he
was a vampire, could not help but like Henry. Henry supported him and was
always there for him and in fact pushed him to become the President. In the
movie, he was mean, he was more secretive and he was against Lincoln’s
political career. You don't get the idea of the bond between Henry & Abe like you do in the novel which is disappointing.
- In the novel, to further Lincoln’s anguish, his first girlfriend, Ann -his true love- is killed by her vampire fiance after breaking it off with him to be with Lincoln and she dies the same way Lincoln’s mother died. This gives him even more of a drive to kill all the vampires and to later lead the war against them. This is completely eliminated in the movie; her character is not even so much as mentioned.
- Speaking of deaths in his life- in the book we learn about the death of 3 out of 4 of his sons. In the movie- only one son is seen and he dies from a vampire- not a lady vampire such as is pictured in the movie.
- This is a simple thing but one of my favorite scenes in the movie- his first hunt ordered by Henry. In the book he just says his name and simply cuts his head off. “I cut his head off with my ax and left” (pg 93). It’s so simple- and such a great start. It shows how Lincoln has grown- no hesitation and such determination. It seems too easy- and it is. It proves to get harder as he becomes more known to vampires. In the movie, the vampire ties him up and Lincoln has to escape, etc.
- The scene in the movie in which Lincoln finally kills Barts is a bit ridiculous. They are running on a pack of horses and doing Kung Fu basically. There is a scene in the book when Speed helps him chase down a vampire (not Barts) on a horse but it’s that simple. Barts’s death in the book is much, much cooler if you ask me. Lincoln was a mere 12 years old and sends Barts a letter from Thomas Lincoln (unknowingly to Thomas) stating that he had the money which was owed to him. Barts shows up and Lincoln kills him with a stake to his heart. It is confirmed that vampires exist and then he begins his hunt which leads him to Henry. This builds Lincoln’s character as we see what he is capable of- even as a child.
- Speed doesn't die in the book. In the movie it is the character of Adam who kills Speed, a character who does not exist in the book. Again I think Adam was a character Grahame-Smith had in his mind that he decided against in the book. In the movie, he is basically the main evil character who leads the bad vampires. I kind of liked his character in the movie. I can see why he was put in.
- Mary Todd, Lincoln’s wife was very sane in the movie which goes against the book- and history. What really shocked me in the movie was that Lincoln tells her about the vampires and she helps lead a part of the war and takes vengeance on the lady vampire who killed her son. Interesting- but unnecessary in my opinion.
- The character of his attorney friend who he practiced law with John T. Stuart was completely eliminated.
- The character of Seward, a fellow vampire hunter and in the running for President, but stepped down in order for Lincoln to take over, was eliminated.
- The character of Mary Todd’s father was eliminated as well as her prior suitor and Lincoln’s nemesis Davis (Although mentioned but not of importance in the movie).
- One scene in the book that showed the real evil of the bad vampires which was eliminated in the movie was the scene in which Jack and Speed are hunting a doctor vampire and they find a room in which the doctor vampire is keeping people alive and nourished enough, via feeding tube, to survive but so very close to death so that they can just continuously drain them of their blood. Jack loses his hand in this hunt.
- The whole idea that the civil war is fought because of vampires is not clear in the movie at all. In the book- vampires existence explains the Civil War. In the movie it seemed more like it was just a part of the Civil War. Let me clarify if you haven’t read the book. There are good vampires- which aren’t portrayed enough in the movie- and bad vampires. The bad vampires, beginning with slaves and ending with all of mankind, seek to rule the world and use humans as nourishment. The good vampires, such as Henry, remember what is was like to be human and seek to live in peace with humans- not above them. The Civil War is between these two sides. In the book, the good side chooses Lincoln- and needs Lincoln- to lead their side, become President and defeat the bad side.
- In the movie why Henry calls on humans to kill vampires is explained because “the dead cannot kill the dead”. Interesting explanation but this is not so in the book. In the book, Henry believes in destiny and he uses Lincoln to kill vampires because he believes that they are all part of a bigger picture, the war that is coming and he basically he could use all the help he could get. He says his destiny is to guide Lincoln.
- Henry was not simple made into a vampire while on a carriage ride with his fiancé as explained in the movie. Rather it’s a long and historical story- perhaps my favorite part of the book. It explains the mystery of Croatoan—a true event in history in which an entire town disappeared. It was vampires- or one particular vampire- names Crowley – who killed everyone. Henry- dying- tried to carve “Crowley” into the trunk of a tree which gave Crowley the idea to change it to “Croatoan” to make people think that the people were trying to get to Croatoan . He then turned Henry into a vampire. Part of Grahame-Smith’s mastery of weaving history into science fiction successfully.
- Abraham Lincoln is severely depressed in the book and wishes for his death after all of the tragedy he saw in his life. You do not get this sense in the movie at all.
- Lastly- and the most shocking difference was the ending. In the movie- you do not see into the mind of John Wilkes Booth as you do in the book. You do not know that he too is a vampire and has a plot to kill not only Lincoln but all of the political figures on Lincoln’s side. Again an awesome weaving of history and science fiction. The movie ends with Henry offering Lincoln immortality and Lincoln turning him down as he is on his way to the theater to meet his death. Then you see Henry in the present day soliciting a new “hunter”. In the book, the awesome ending is that even in Abraham’s assassination he doesn’t get to be put out of his misery. Instead, you realize, as Henry and Lincoln are watching MLK speech in 1963 that Henry took it upon himself that night at the Ford Theater, to make Lincoln into a vampire because, a reoccurring line in the book, “some men are just too interesting to die.” Why was this line not in the movie? It was such a GREAT last line. Lincoln lives! He IS a vampire! The ending in the movie, while so ironic with Henry offering him immortality at that moment- was so utterly different it was most certainly an “alternate ending” that Grahame-Smith decided against for the novel, which I’m happy he did.
- Furthermore in the ending, since they do pan to the present with Henry recruiting a new hunter, why then, not start in the present? The book begins in the present- and never goes back all the way to the present- only to MLK in 1963 as I mentioned. The movie cuts that out but then ends in the present.
This list could go on and on but I am forcing myself to stop here. So, what was alike you ask?
- Abraham Lincoln was a vampire hunter.
- He liked his ax.
- Abraham Lincoln was a President.
- There was a vampire named Henry who advised him.
- He had a friend named Speed, a son named Will and a wife named Mary Todd.
- There was a war.
- He won it.
If you like history, if you like sci-fi, I urge you to read
the book. It was full of character development and historical facts blended so
well with fiction that you will feel compelled to go to Google and search what
was actual fact. Don’t miss out on the fantastic scenes that were not in the movie that make
Grahame-Smith the acclaimed writer he is. Then after you’ve read the novel, do
see the movie. Let me know which adventure you would choose!
~Judge us not equally~
