A damp-squib reception for Timur Bekmambetov’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in 2012 seemed at one point to have driven a stake through the heart of this long-gestating project. Now it finally arrives, helmed by Igby Goes Down director Burr Steers, who also wrote the screenplay from AL:VH author Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 bestseller. Sadly, Steers has solved few of the problems that have long made this mashup movie such a tricky balancing act. The 19th-century narrative imagines Britain as a walking graveyard and gives us combat-trained Bennet sisters with daggers in their garters who must navigate the treacherous waters of marriage proposals and costume balls while dispatching walking (and, irksomely, talking) corpses. Cinderella-star Lily James is well cast as the spirited Elizabeth, Sam Riley brings a touch of dourness to the role of Mr Darcy, Sally Phillips raises a giggle as Mrs Bennet, and Matt Smith is gamely gormless (“Oh, fuddle”) as Parson Collins. Yet torn between Austen and the undead, Steers seems unsure how straight to play either element, blunting comedy, horror and romance alike. The result lacks bite – the one element that zombies and Austen should have in common.
