To celebrate the release of the BluRay and DVD of the film of the best-selling novel, the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter promotion bandwagon steps it up a notch beyond the usual cardboard cutouts at supermarket checkouts.
While America’s more colourful presidents have included a master duellist, the morbidly obese and the too-soon-deceased, only one was apparently a secret warrior taking up arms (and stakes and crosses) against the undead. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds: Woodrow Wilson kept hidden his crippling stroke, Andrew Jackson took part in over one hundred duels and what James Buchanan (aka “Aunt Nancy”) got up to in private is still hotly debated.
Next Sunday (21 October), wannabe Van Helsings can join "London’s first vampire hunting club" at Islington Metalworks. After some training in the occult arts and how to despatch the undead, brains, brawns and teamwork will be pressed into action to uncover the club’s mysteries and overcome the bloodsuckers. Not every member of the club will see the next sunrise: those bitten return to the fray as vampires themselves.
If that’s not enough to get the pulse racing, ace gamesmakers Fire Hazard will be part of Wink Murder, a night of gothic mayhem within a Victorian tannery in London Bridge. Entering a darkened maze spread over an entire floor, participants can run, sneak or generally make like Casper while engaging in one of a number of Fire Hazard’s trademark high-energy games. The more sedate can enjoy some phantom physical poetry, art installations or 19th century grub from olde foode specialists What The Dickens.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter game takes place on 21 October at Islington Metalworks, EC1V 1NQ. Tickets are £15. Participants are asked "that you wear a pair of shoes that are suitable for running and clothes you don't mind getting makeup or fake blood on,"
The Fire Hazard games themselves are free but a ticket to Wink Murder on 2 November costs £10 if bought before 20 October and £15 thereafter. Full information here.
Photo (c) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
