Daybreakers (2009)

Directors:

Michael Spierig
Peter Spierig

Writers:

Michael Spierig (writer)
Peter Spierig (writer)

Release Date:

8 January 2010 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind. |

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | One Word Title

Cast

Ethan Hawke	...	Edward
Willem Dafoe	...	Elvis
Isabel Lucas	...	Alison Bromley
Sam Neill	...	Charles Bromley
Claudia Karvan	...	Audrey Bennett
Emma Randall	...	Ellie Landon
Jay Laga'aia	...	Senator Turner
Michelle Atkinson	...	Mother
Vince Colosimo	...	Christopher
Robyn Moore	...	Forensic Investigator
Christopher Kirby	...	Jarvis Bayom
Selina Kadell	...	Debate News Anchorwoman
Michael Dorman	...	Frankie Dalton
Renai Caruso	...	Coffee Shop Attendant
Mark Finden	...	Young Vampire Cadet
Mungo McKay	...	Colin Briggs
Joel Amos Byrnes	...	Security Guard (as Joel Byrnes)
David Knijnenburg	...	Vampire Commuter
Jack Bradford	...	Security Guard
Paul Sonkkila	...	General Williams
Gavin Coleman	...	Vampire Chief
Joel Spreadborough	...	Vampire Subject
Peter Welman	...	Policeman #2

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

UK:15 (cut) | UK:18 | Australia:MA (2009) | Ireland:16 | USA:R (certificate #44213)

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC)

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Charles Bromley: Immortality is the miracle, we are blessed.

Clever and fun

Screw team Edward and team Jacob, i'm with the team in favor of giving vampires back their balls. The Spierig brother's "Daybreakers" is one such movie, a bloody good time where people get ripped apart, heads explode and get chopped off, and we get a fairly decent action thriller that presents some cool vampirific ideas and some suspense to boot. It's the future. Vampires have taken over. Only the blood supply is dwindling. Ethan Hawke plays Ed, a kindly vampire/hematologist who likes the humans and is, for many reasons, developing a blood substitute so that Vamps will stop human hunting. Others at the blood distribution center he works at are less sympathetic, including boss Charles Bromley (Sam Neil).

Willem Dafoe gives the movie's best performance as Elvis, a former vampire who managed to somehow be "born again" human. Ed eventually winds up working with humans to figure out how Elvis managed to do such a thing. The Spierig brothers film most scenes in either a darkly chilly blue or in a variation of lighting (in one scene, Ed is protected from sunlight because it's coming thru tree branches), both of which look great on film. And the creature effects are scare as well as thrill. Hawke gives a nicely understated performance and Neil again proves he's underrated as an actor. Newcomer Isabel Lucas, who plays Bromley's human daughter, does nice work as well. The flick has a few flaws. The screenplay has a real hollow middle (Neil could have used a little more oomph as the villain during this time) and it feels more like a ragtag bunch of subplots and different ideas. But the ideas are amusing enough and it doesn't go too long without being entertaining enough to recommend.