What I Think Of: Daybreakers (2010)

God I love the poster for this film. It's just so freaky, so noir-ish, so cyber-punky that it literally feels like it was made for me since it fits so many of my tastes. Nice to see there are others who share my love for the odd. Anyway, I didn't get the chance to see Daybreakers, this 2010 film about a vampire world and how their food supply is nearly extinct because the human race is almost wiped out, when it was first released back in January. Sure it was a vampire movie, and besides the Twilight film franchise, I get excited for any movie starring the fanged creatures, but as life goes, things came up, other movies to see to review for the podcast, and it took me over a month to finally see this film, and damn if I'm not upset that I waited that long. Daybreakers is everything a modern vampire film should be, fresh with a unique spin on the vampire mythos. In short this is everything the film, I am Legend should have been (especially since that movie was nothing like the original story). Here are some of the thoughts I had while watching this film:

• It seems like a lot of vampire films are going with the blue Underworld/Point Blank look and I have to admit, as much as it's played out, I still love it.
• I love how this is one of the first modern vampire films that doesn't feel like a Vampire: The Masquerade rip-off. [For those unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, Vampire: The Masquerade was a role-playing game (similar to dungeons and dragons) released in 1991 that was all about how vampires fought other mythical creatures like werewolves, frankenstein's etc, but more political-like, and how vampires were on top of the food chain. Basically almost every movie (and book) with vampires since, from Twilight to Underworld has ripped-off this idea paring it with Anne Rice's romanticized version of vampires from Interview with a Vampire.]
• Ethan Hawk has really become one of my favorite actors. I can't remember anything he's done that I haven't liked, and hell he could star in endless sequels of Great Expectations and I would still love him purely for the fact that he is part of the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset duology. Damn he's a good actor.
• How many vampire movies must William Defoe star in? From 1983's The Hunger to 2000's Shadow of the Vampire to 1997's Speed 2: Cruse Control. Wait! That wasn't a vampire movie, just a bad movie that felt like someone was draining the life from me while I watched it.
• I mentioned this before, but Daybreakers had a really unique take on the vampire mythos. What if the majority of people were infected by the vampire virus and they were slowly running out of their food supply since there were only a handful of humans left. What would happen if they went to long without blood? In Daybreakers they turn into giant vampire bats. Damn that's good. I also liked how the film had a cure for "vampirism" but there were corporate bigwigs that didn't want the cure known because they could make money farming human blood to the rich who could afford it, regardless if the rest of the world went to hell. It's like I'm watching the film Wall Street all over and the vampires are all Gordon Gekko's.
• This is a much better film than the director's, The Spierig Brother's, first film the 2003 Australian film, Undead, which has built up a bit of a cult following, but which I find absolutely abysmal.
  
• I really want one of the cars from this film that shutter all the windows and have computer monitors inside the car so vampires can drive around during daytime.
• There's a really damn good sequel that can be made from this.
  

So yeah, in the end this film is one bloody and gory mess of a good time and one of the better vampire movies to come out in a long while. If like me, you like some gore and blood to go with your vampire movies, where vampires aren't lovey-dovey with humans, then definitely run out to see this one. I give Daybreakers a "bring your lunch from home because you do not want to miss this one" rating.