Daybreakers

I really love the idea of this movie and am quite surprised it hasn’t been done before. I Am Legend had a plot along these lines (I am referring to the book); however, the infected humans were not civilized. And with the Twilight bringing on a claustrophobic abundance of vampire movies, books, magazines, stickers, and cults, Daybreakers is really as refreshing as putting on a brand new pair of socks.

In a world where a plague has turned most of the population into vampires, Ethan Hawke plays a hematologist of a human harvesting corporation working to find a blood substitute while the current blood supply is approaching an end. Lack of blood causes the vampires to become an almost bat-like underground monster, which is actually a part of the story that is quite minimal and only needed to be there to emphasize the severity of the extinction of the human race.

It’s kind of cool seeing the vampires running the city at night doing everyday activities – riding the subway, buying coffee (with blood added of course), and since they can’t die they smoke like chimneys. There was also a fang adorned Uncle Sam billboard recruiting for the Vampire Army, whose sole purpose is to hunt and capture humans. Of course to add some distress to Hawke’s character, his brother is part of said army… didn’t see that one coming did you ::said with sarcasm::

The real treat is Willem Dafoe as the badass car junkie, and somewhat leader of a small group of humans fighting for a way to repopulate. His character offers a comic relief of sorts with mannerisms that only Dafoe can pull off so well. The other characters don’t even need to be on screen because he carries your attention so well.

Chad: His ‘five dollar whore’ line made the movie for me!

The Spierig Bro’s directorial excellence was displayed in one of the films final scenes where a massive pack of blood hungry vampires turn to ripping each other limb from limb. The slow motion effect of blood droplets flying through the air being intercepted by an arm swiftly thrust though the air and snarling teeth flashing before they sink into their target has what could be an epic final climax… except it only lasts for three seconds! A little disappointing, and just one of the few down points of the otherwise smart and creative movie. Funny that it was also my favorite scene (visually) of the movie.

There is an also amazingly agitating scene in the lab where a blood substitute is being tested on a vampire volunteer. They couldn’t have done it better, except to maybe bring some of that intensity to the ‘barbeque’ scene.

So all in all, yes this is a guys movie with a good amount of blood.

Gina: All it did was kill the horror genre by making it as grotesque as possible.

Kevin: It is a movie about vampires after all… REAL vampires, not ones that sparkle!

But there is a lot of thought put into it, and it is more of a sci-fi thriller than a horror film. I give it 8 of 10 stars, Gina gives it 6 of 10 stars, and Chad, with his usual beer scale, gives it 4 of 5 beers. Which averages out to our combined total of:

7.333 of 10 stars, and no I won’t just round it off!