Daybreakers
Year: 2010
Directors: Matt Spierig, Peter Spierig
Stars: Ethan Hawke, William Defoe, Claudia Karvan
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Lionsgate
Running Time: 98 Mins
I know it’s been a while since this film hit theaters, but here’s my review for “Daybreakers” anyway.
Going into “Daybreakers”, I was hoping for a good descent horror film to kick off the 2010 film season, considering that this film sat on a shelf for a while before getting released. Never, did I expect to come out of the film the film thinking that this has the potential to become a cult classic.
The film takes place in the future, where a plague has turned just about every human into a vampire. Now faced with a major blood shortage, the vampires are forced to find a way to keep their blood supply from dwindling to nothing.
Dr. Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke), a vampire who doesn’t drink human blood and works for a pharmaceutical company that’s trying to find an artificial blood supply to keep the blood demand up. While trying to find these answers to the growing dilemma, he comes across a person (William Defoe), who has found a way to transform himself into a human. Now with the knowledge of this cure, Edward Dalton must find a way to perfect this method, before the pharmaceutical company takes his cure away take away their immortality and all of their power.
“Daybreakers” is a very dark vampire film that keeps you interest throughout. The reason that it keeps your interest well is the way that that blends in elements of darker sci-fi/ horror films such as “Blade Runner”, “Dark City” and “Near Dark” All of those film had dark views of a bleak future weather it was personal or a look at the future.
Matt and Peter Spierig direction was very good, This film felt dark and gloomy, while having a b-movie feel that was needed for the story because if that isn’t there then you’re probably looking at a typical good vampire film that you’ve seen before. They go for a “Dark City vibe with the all the scenery and the way the vampires look. It attributes to the gloomy tone of the film. Their direction keeps the action intense, by using the gory elements so that it appeals to genre fans. They also did a very good job keeping their actors interested in the material. It shows in the performances, as Ethan Hawke, William Defoe and Sam Neil were good in their roles. It’s tough to do consider that they are three talented actors in the film and have done good stuff in the past, but they did it very well, as the chemistry is there.
I also liked the film’s screenplay. The Spierig Bothers do a very good job creating a story that you’ve hasn’t been seen before in vampire films. I like it, when I see some sort of originality with these films. To me, it shows that there was actual thought to each of the scenes and the creative process. You don’t see that often with horror films, as it follows a certain formula. It doesn’t because it gives it more of a science fiction feel to it. They also do a good job developing the characters and subplots here. They set them up very well here, as I enjoyed the characters here. They were developed well enough so the characters are engaging. This film also has some hidden messages about today climate, but thankfully it doesn’t get preachy enough to ruin the intensity that the film’s story has.
“Daybreakers” is one of the vampire films that seem destined to hit some sort of cult status for years to come, as the action makes this a very entertaining horror film.
Review Rating: Four Stars
“Daybreakers”: Official Trailer
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