The Horror Show
Daybreakers
by The Spiereg Brothers
Recently while channel surfing I noticed that 2009’s vampire horror film, Daybreakers was coming on. I set my DVR to record and then came back to watch the movie0 again later. I hadn’t seen the movie since it was released in theaters 5 years ago but I was quickly reminded why I loved the movie so much.
It’s set in the year 2019, ten years after a mysterious virus infects the world’s population, turning them into vampires. Only a small percentage of the human race remains and they hide out in small pockets from the vampires who seek to capture them and farm them for blood. The vampire’s supply of blood is quickly dwindling as they’ve pretty much wiped out the human race over the last decade and Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is a hematologist working round the clock to find a blood substitute to save the vampire race and also keep the humans from going extinct.
We find out that Edward is basically the odd equivalent of a human vegetarian. He does not feed on human blood and instead feeds only on animal blood. But even animal blood is becoming increasingly harder to find. When a meeting is called at his laboratory (which also happens to be the world’s blood supply farm) we learn that the vampires are suffering terrible mutations in response to their lack of blood, transforming them into hideous creatures that feed on not only other vampires, but themselves. On the way home from work one night, Edward is involved in a car accident and stumbles across a small group of humans who he decides to hide from the police. He is revisited by one of the humans and sucked into the fight for human survival as a vampire ally when he is introduced to Lionel (aka Elvis, played by Willem Dafoe) who was once a vampire like Edward; but he has a cure to turn all vampires back into humans. What ensues is a non-stop adventure as Edward and his new human friends fight for the cure and run from the government and pharmaceutical companies that are trying to stop them. In addition to Hawke and Dafoe, other stellar cast members such as Sam Neill, Michael Dorman, and Claudia Karvan adorn this Lionsgate film. It’s truly one of my all-time favorite vampire genre films.
Daybreakers is not only a post-apocalyptic film, but it takes the “vampire” and unravels it along its own spectrum, putting the vampire on display in different ways. You’ve got the sophisticated, functional vamp who lives as they normally would and goes to work. They smoke heavily and do not fear death, they’re beautiful and thankful for the virus that transformed them. Then you have the crazed vamp, the one in the initial stages of mutation. Their frontal lobe is degraded and they have impulse control issues; attacking other vampires and having violent outbursts. They are increasingly ugly, non-functional and violent. Finally you have the nightmarish vamp. The one that is the true vampire, the vicious demon that lurks in the night and stalks its prey. They are hideous and bat-like, with demonic intentions and only have one need: to feed. Neither human nor vampire are safe from these creatures.
The quality of the film is wonderful. For a major release, this film is impressive. Typically I would assume the film would be full of bullshit clichés, which to an extent, there are some. (For example, in a scene in which Edward is getting out of his vehicle, we are shown the car’s side mirror and Edward is not visible in its reflection.) But for the most part, the film’s story is delightful and fast paced. It’s a world of vampires who actually like being vampires. These people welcomed the virus with open arms and allowed it to inadvertently plunge them into the depths of dystopia. There is no bad acting on anyone’s part and the cinematography is beautiful. You’re thrust into a dark world torn between the beautiful mirage of immortality and the degradation of a society that has driven its only food source to extinction due to over-indulgence. Sounds pretty realistic if you ask me. (And if you’re looking for blood and gore, this film has got plenty of it.)
I’d also like to point out that I am a snob when it comes to vampire fiction. I cannot stand how romanticized the genre has become. Even in my HMS review of Byzantium I make it perfectly clear that the movie is reminiscent of a young adult vampire romance. There’s just so much disappointment in the last decade with the vampire craze, but Daybreakers stands out from the rest of the pack and has proven itself worthy both times I’ve watched it.
Daybreakers has been out since 2009 but there are still quite a few people who haven’t seen it. If you’re one of those people, I would definitely look for a copy of the film and then set some time aside to indulge yourself.
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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