Finally, a vampire movie with a little bite! Sorry, I couldn't resist that one, but seriously, this movie did something more with the genre than the recent trend of romance-infused flicks have dared tried to, and that's to make you think. So that's definitely an early plus. Daybreakers offers us a more fleshed out world where vampires rule and humans are cattle, and doing it with a style and class benefitting the classic vampires core. It also brings back more of the traditional horror values that made this subgenre so horrific in the first place.
The story revolves around a vampire scientist, played aptly by Ethan Hawke, who is trying to perfect a highly volatile blood substitute because humans are becoming scarce. And the less blood the vampires have, the more they devolve into Nosferatu type creatures. By accident, though, Hawke meets up with the human resistance who are both trying to survive and find a cure for the vampire disease. Yes, it is treated as such, and with that moral dilemmas abound. Hawke soon sides with the humans as society begins to break down because of the growing blood shortage.
Daybreakers is all executed rather well by the Spierig Brothers, who's debut film, the Aussie Undead, proved that they can handle this material with a flair all their own. They drive the story through interesting, action packed avenures as they get to a rather sick ending. This is a well shot movie that looks really good in every way. The FX are rather well done, and the devolved creatures are both disgusting and fantastical. The set design has a sort of Bladerunneresque feel to it, while the costume design for the vampires is wonderfully retro. To complement all of this creativity, the acting is pretty decent led by the aforementioned Hawke, and followed by good performances by Willem Dafoe and a devilish Sam Neil.
Overall, this us a great addition to a genre that sorely needed a kick in the Twilight. I definitely recommend it for horror and sci-fi fans who are tired of the watered down vampire movies Hollywood has been cranking out. Give it a rent today.
No comments:
Post a Comment