Review of Daybreakers (2010) by James C — 07 Mar 2011

Daybreakers is an action horror set in 2019, where 90% of the population are now vampires with a primary objective of hunting the last of the human race in order to survive.Humans are now 'farmed' for thier blood, but the ever increasing vamp population means supplies of blood are dwindling..and fast! The premise of the film seems quite intresting from the start and were presented with a good cast ensemble that seem to gel well together on screen. The film does a good job of explaining the simple backstory and introduces a 'guilty' vampire played by Ethan Hawke, determined to help the human survivors in finding a blood substitute for the vamps before the human species is wiped out for good. One thing that must be said is Daybreakers looks fantastic.. From the CGI used in the 'blood farming process' to the light shining over a vampires eyes in the dead of night, the Spiereg brothers have acheived some interesting art direction in this film. The basic vampire core elements are still there- crossbows, sunlight and stakes- so die hard vamp fans shouldnt feel too far away from thier comfort zone, but there seems to be a classy edge to the film that puts it a tier above other films of its kind. Perhaps its the setting of a modern, suburban backdrop... who knows? It has to be seen to be appreciated, but something is definitley present there....

So why 3 stars then? Well... where Daybreakers falls short is not in its presentation or story, but in its length. In my opinion its just not that bit long enough to provide a satisfying conclusion. At 1hr 35 most may think that may be adequate for your average horror film. However, while the film does a good job of getting the audience engaged, it fails to hold attention towards the latter parts of the film with a rushed and frankly predictably lazy ending. It's a shame as the Spiereg bros. obviously had a lot of vision for this film and it could have just done with that extra polish at the end to make it really stand out. That aside though, the film is definitley worth a watch- even just for William Dafoe. He shines through yet again with great acting and brings a sense of wit and humour to parts of the film with his ego-centric character. At one point Hawke turns to Dafoe saying "Aint you scared that your living in a world full of vampires?" to which Dafoe replies "Hell yeah, as scared as going bareback with a $5 dollar whore".

Its that kind of raw manly gritty dialogue which makes Dafoes character interesting and we get the sense from him during most of the film, that hes a person of many walks of life. Sam Niell is also good here as the 'empire' vamp in charge of all operations with a hauntingly dark side to him. As mentioned before, the characters gel well together on screen and make this film very much worth watching. Had it not been for a lazy ending, Daybreakers could have been up thier with the modern horror greats.

3/5.

Daybreakers is out now on Bluray and DVD.