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Chris Lukeman has created a movie with quite possibly the greatest premise ever fathomed. To quote the film’s Web site: “The Transient is the story of a homeless vigilante and his case worker, Steve, as they try to thwart Vampire Abraham Lincoln and his gang of 1980s punks from sucking the blood of four-score and seven virgins.” A University of Illinois alumnus and former president of Illini Film and Video, Lukeman has made a terrific short comedy of which he is refreshingly proud.
When I asked Lukeman if he had any animosity toward our 16th president, he responded, “Oh no, we thought about Lincoln a lot more than people really appreciate. We just felt like he’s so ubiquitous in pop culture. He’s history’s rock star. He can definitely take any disparaging remarks.” He went on to say, “He’s pretty much the most dignified character in the movie. That’s why we loved repurposing so many of Lincoln’s quotes. I think 80 percent of his lines in the movie came out of actual Lincoln quotes … I really hope some history buffs out there appreciate the lengths we went to.”
Lukeman is no scholar of Abe, but his star is. “He’s currently a Lincoln interpreter. He brought some of the lines.” Lukeman found his vampire, Michael Krebs, on online Lincoln forums. Krebs had recently been in another vampire production, and as Lukeman told me, “He had a set of $200 dental fangs … so he came with his own fangs.”
The Transient was recently featured on io9, a popular science-fiction blog. “Oh, that was wonderful,” Lukeman said. “We’ve had some really good national recognition on that blog. We’ve been popping up on vampire blogs. It’s fun to get on some of them and read their gripes about how we don’t follow vampire lore.”
The film, which premiered at the Lincoln Bicentennial Festival, also recently showed at a comic convention in Ohio and at the Route 66 Film Festival in Springfield. The Transient is available in its entirety online and for sale on DVD on http://www.killvampirelincoln.com. The special features on the DVD are stocked with shorts made by Lukeman in-between larger projects, so you really get your money’s worth. They are all deliciously offbeat and hilarious just like The Transient. The film will also be broadcasting on UI-7 Thursday at 11 p.m., Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 9 p.m. and midnight.
Sound Off
Last post: Apr. 26, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Sarah (unregistered user) said on Apr. 26, 2009 at 6:59 pm:
Everyone also still totally needs to see "The University of Illinois vs. a Mummy" too.
Hilarity will abound, I swear.