Film Review: DAYBREAKERS

Being a huge fan of the Spierig Brothers’ previous film UNDEAD, I couldn’t wait to see what they had in store for the vampire genre. In their previous film they rewrote everything we know about the zombie genre and turned it on its head and I had faith that they were going to do the same thing for the vampire genre (a genre I personally loathe). I was not disappointed!

In their new film DAYBREAKERS a plague has turned most of the populace into vampires and those who have not been turned hide in fear of becoming a victim of blood farming by a nefarious corporation run by Charles Bromley (Sam Neil). Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) who loathes his existence as a vampire works for Bromley trying to find a synthetic blood substitute because the human population is almost extinct and the corporation’s current blood supply will not last them more than a month. Just when Edward believes that there is no more hope for their kind in steps Elvis (Willem Dafoe) who was once a vampire but through happenstance has discovered a cure for vampirism and a hope for humanity. With Edward’s help Elvis and what’s left of the human resistance hope to cultivate this cure before time runs out and all of humanity is extinct.

Like UNDEAD, DAYBREAKERS is not only a horror film but an action film as well. The Spierig Bros. have outdone themselves this time as this film is a huge step up from their zombie film in terms not only of production values but the caliber of actors and action. DAYBREAKERS is a grandiose film in terms of low budget futuristic films and they don’t skimp out on the horror either (what their fans really want to see) as there is plenty of the red stuff to go around. Everyone is on their “A” game in this film

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I was a little skeptical about the film. The last futuristic vampire film was the abysmal ULTRAVIOLET so you can probably guess why I was apprehensive about this film despite the high caliber talent on display, but the Speirig Bros. present such a fully realized world with DAYBREAKERS that you can’t help but take notice. It’s a shame that this film sat on the studio shelf for a couple years before finally being released (perhaps because of the popularity of vampires after the two TWILIGHT films) but it was well worth the wait as this film is truly a definition of good things to come not only for the Speirig Bros. but for the vampire genre as well.