It’s hard to believe that there once was a time when vampires were not the subject of a multitude of TV shows and films. Heck, even Buffy had to mix it up and slay demons from time to time because the vampires did what they did best and lurked in the shadows. However, now that the slayer has been off the screen for the better part of a decade it appears that the vampires feel it is safe to roam free. Which leads us to Daybreakers.
Among the Twilight films and True Blood episodes it is hard to come up with a concept that seems original for this genre, but Daybreakers comes as close as we have in a while. It takes place in 2019, years after the majority of the world’s population has been turned to vampires. Though it seems most of these individuals welcomed this drastic life change, there are some who don’t see it as a gift. One such individual is Edward Dalton (yes, another vampire named Edward), a scientist who works for the company that hunts down and drains the remaining humans of their blood. Edward (Ethan Hawke) is the classic brooding vampire who hates what he is and feels horrible about what has been done to the human population. This self-loathing gives him the drive to help create a synthetic blood to sustain the population once the real stuff runs dry at the end of the month, though he knows it’s not a cure. Unfortunately the work hasn’t been showing positive results, and the looming danger of what is going to become of the vampires without this fix stalks closer every day.
The story is entertaining and strong enough to sustain the movie, but the real draw to the film is the world created by Michael and Peter Spierig, who both wrote and directed the film. On the surface level it is clear that much has changed. The cities and residential areas have become cold, dead places of grays and blues, similar to the look of the Underworld series, with buildings made of metal and glass. When the sun rises the daylight seems to overexpose the world, but preventative measures like underground walkways and blackout windows on cars make it safe to move around. However, the night remains the time when this world comes alive, and the lack of people moving around during the day makes it noticeable that there is an eerie lack of animals roaming around (minus the randomly placed bats).
Though these bats are obnoxious enough, they do constantly remind the audience of what the vampires are morphing into as the blood supply runs low. In a short period of time they are going to completely transform into batlike beasts ruled by instinct with all bits of humanity gone, far less glamorous than Dracula’s poof into a bat ability. These creatures are amazing to look at and provide some minor scary moments in the film, but they are most affective in showing the fear in the vampires around them. There are some poignant moments in the film when the looks on some of the average citizens remind us that they still have their humanity. Plus, the evolution process is also effectively presented, especially when the vampires begin to act based on survival instincts and less on thought. When that happens the blood really starts gushing, culminating in an orgy of gore that is much more beautiful to see than one would think.
Among all the blood and gore there is a blatantly obvious comparison being drawn between the vampires draining their resources (AKA humans) dry, to the present day situation of humans draining the world’s resources dry without concern for what happens because of these actions. This film makes the argument that we are our own destruction, presenting characters that would rather put a band-aid over the wound instead of trying to find a better way to fix the problem. However, the biggest argument it makes is for change to happen now. If this plea had remained subtle then the film would have been more affective in this area, but instead it starts to feel a little preachy in both the dialog and in the overload of symbolism, such as the choice of a firebird for transportation and having a character named Elvis. We get it, things can rise again from the wreckage and something that appears dead may not be.
The message of Daybreakers may cause some eyes to roll, but it is still an entertaining film that brings something new to the vampire genre.

Final Grade: B-