With a title like this, don't expect a PBS documentary. Once that's established, Timur Bekmambetov's visually seductive (it's shot by Caleb Deschanel) adaptation of the goofy bestseller can be a lot of fun. Certainly it beats similar mash-ups like the recent John Cusack-starring version of The Raven. It seems Abe (Benjamin Walker) wasn't fully honest about himself, because, as is revealed in his secret diary (an unfortunate narrative device last seen in John Carter), he had early run-ins with the undead that left him with a grudge. Luckily, he bumps into the mysterious Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper) who trains him, seemingly over the course of a weekend, on how to wield a silver-edged axe in taking out vampires. That's the part of the movie that makes sense — wait until it gets to Jefferson Davis's plan to win the Battle of Gettysburg. Maybe the kids will be inspired to look up the real story; at least they won't see the Confederates as the good guys.
