Daybreakers -- Review

For the past month I have been anticipating the release of Daybreakers. I was not sure what to expect, however the trailer caught my attention in a way that left me always wanting to search for more footage and featurettes online. Two hours after entering the theater I exited both happy with the final film and disgusted by the simple fact that anyone could come up with such a film. It was a pornography of blood, guts and gore with such graphic cinematography that not only could I not take my eyes off the screen, but I could not help begging for more.

Although the back-story of how the world came to be over populated by vampires is a little hard to weed out through newscasts and newspaper clippings that appear at various points during the film, it did not take away from the overall storyline. The power hungry Charles Bromley, played by Sam Neill, is a minor character with a large role for the current state of their world. The film felt like a nod to the original horror that is a classic vampire story. Rather than emphasizing the romanticism created for vampires like Dracula, Lestat, Louis, and Edward, we are given a story where all of the cards are laid out on the table and we are taken back to the brutality of these night creatures. We are given vampires that are a mash-up of the collective folklore and legends that are combined into one particular race. It is the concept of what happens to them physically as their bodies become starved of blood that I found so interesting. The digression of vampires from what would have been their human counter part to a creature that resembles a nosferatu with wings. But as the story progressed a thought came to me.

Over the past several years we have been introduced to several different styles of vampires. We originally had reformed vampires, we were then given the rebellious vampires and sexual deviants, we were given a morally conscious vampire with the Cullen’s who also gave us a “righteous vampire” who followed the "no sex before marriage", and now we are given a sort of “born again” vampire. It was interesting to watch William Dafoe and Ethan Hawk in their respective roles as Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac and Dr. Edward Dalton. With Dafoe as a former vampire who hypothetically "saw the light" in a blazing glory and was given his mortality again, and with the extinction of the human race becoming a growing threat he goes in search of a vampire he can trust to perfect and then share a solution for the world’s growing problems. It is Dr. Dalton who in the end "saves" the race.

The overall cheese of the film, with its quick one liners and over the top story concept is an entertaining film for any horror and gorror fan. The eminence amount of blood and brutality of the creatures is unbelievable. Sometimes taken so far that it becomes laughable as you sit there saying "are you serious?" and "he didn't really just do that did he?". Daybreakers takes the suspension of disbelief to the furthest extent possible, crosses the line, and then comes right back. But if you have a stomach for it, and can get through the majority of the film, you will eventually just laugh at the extreme gore and carnage that directors Michael and Peter Spierig give us in this film.

If you are a fan of horror, true horror and not just the psychological thrillers that sometimes slip into the genre and you have a strong stomach, then I would recommend this film. It takes a trip back to the horror that is what makes the creatures of the night so scary. For me it was a hit. It would run a close race with Zombieland as far as the believability level goes, but none the less, a fun and bloody film. Take it for what it is, cheese factor included, and I give this film a 4.5 out of 5.