Daybreakers

J: I have lately heard critics lamenting the recent glut of vampire movies and, while I agree to some extent, I have to say that “Daybreakers” provides at least an entertaining new twist on the genre.

It’s the year 2019 and the vampires haven’t been made in the traditional way, they are a result of a viral epidemic. As most of the world’s population is turned to bloodsuckers (how could the politicians stand the competition?) the powerbrokers naturally figure out a way to make money off the misery. As the virus spreads and humans become outnumbered by vampires some allow themselves to be turned while others decide that little scenario bites. Those poor schmucks have only two choices, go underground to retain their humanity or be captured and farmed for their blood by the new super-corporation run by Charles Bromley, played by a wonderfully creepy Sam Neill (guess Bill Nighy was busy!). And so the world keeps perking along although with a few MINOR differences, like blood in the Starbucks coffee, everything happening at night and cars customized for driving in the daylight if absolutely necessary.

There’s one itsy-bitsy problem, however. These suckers are running rapidly out of blood. So, to preserve their cash flow, the corporation puts their crack hematologists, headed by Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) on the fast track to developing a synthetic substitute, but it’s not going well and the results are pretty ugly. Meantime, riots are breaking out all over the world as the supply trickles down to nearly nothing and Mr. Bromley is suffering a bottom line breakdown because the rich vamps are removing their personal supplies from his ghastly hanging garden of human blood bovines. Oh yeah, and when deprived of blood, these pretty little fanged humans turn into neat creatures that we would normally associate with being a vampire – human façade gone poof!

A happy accident, well car accident actually, leads Edward to Lionel “Elvis” Cormac, played by Willem Dafoe, who was a vampire and accidently (again a car accident) cured himself by burning in the daylight before dowsing himself in water. This leads Edward to the cure he’s looking for but he has a little trouble selling that to the corporate geeks. See, they are more interested in the steady cash from the rich vampires than watching their profits burn up as everyone returns to non-sucking humans.

Now, even though I approached this flick with low expectations and was at this point guessing at the predictable ending for all this blood and gore, I was pleasantly surprised with a pretty nifty twist to the end. Not to mention, copious amounts of the aforementioned blood and gore – something that I will not hesitate to remind my PIC about next time she says “no” to a zombie movie! So, I will not be the spoiler here but will suggest that anyone who adores a well acted bloodbath ooze on over to their Cineplex and indulge in Daybreakers. Oh yeah, it actually made me jump once and believe me when I say that does not happen very often – BONUS!

K: I, like my PIC, was also pleasantly surprised. I liked that it wasn't your typical rehashed vampire movie plot. I'm always a sucker for an original story - and vampires running out of blood is pretty original. And I loved the little twists in the story that I didn't see coming. I also have to say that I enjoyed the gore, much to my surprise. I haven't seen a gory movie in a long time so it was good to get into a couple scenes that were bloodbaths.

In addition to good story, Sam Neill, Ethan Hawke, and Willem Defoe all did a tremendous job with their roles. I love when good actors aren't afraid to take on a fantasy/sci-fi role when presented with a good script. This was a darn good movie. I don't know why it was shelved for two years. I'm glad it finally got to see the light of day (pun intended).