REVIEW: ‘Daybreakers’

While there are a dozen plot holes in it big enough to drive a fistful of stakes through, “Daybreakers” is an enjoyable look at what modern society would be if it succumbed to rampant vampirism.

“Daybreakers” Rated R • 98 minutes Starring Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, Willem Dafoe Written And Directed By: The Speirig Brothers RCC Rating: Worth Watching On DVD

The third movie written and directed by the Speirig Brothers takes place ten years after a mysterious virus has turned over six billion human beings into vampires. As long as they receive some quotient of human blood, the new inhabitants of planet Earth are still respectable – they hold down jobs, go to work when the sun goes down, watch talking heads quibble about the politics of hunting down the few remaining humans. At some point, scientists stopped looking for a cure to the disease and now focus on a human blood substitute. The clock is ticking on that breakthrough – the finite number of bona fide humans grows smaller each day, and they’re farmed for blood. Once that supply is gone, nastiness ensues: the vampires change from the civilized folk with fangs into the grotesque monsters we normally associate vampires to be, with wings, pustules and pointed ears.

Mainly, the plot of the movie hinges around Ethan Hawke’s researcher (oh, look, another vampire named Edward) who despises his vampirism, shuns drinking human blood, and heads up the project to develop a blood substitute. He’s contacted by a small band of humans who feel they’ve stumbled on the cure for the vampiric disease.

Honestly, though, the movie works best when it delves into the world we’re forced to create when there’s zero tolerance for sunlight (cars come equipped with a “day driving” mode that blacks out the windows and uses top-mounted cameras for visibility) and people heading to work need their daily blood fix (coffee shops mix in blood the way you ask for soy milk in your Starbucks latte).

Hawke is sufficiently earnest as Edward, and Sam Neill can still chew scenery with the best of ‘em as the head of the company that provides the United States with its blood supply.

It’s a fun horror movie, with a lot of good “jumps” and enough gore to satisfy genre fans many times over. The Speirigs have a great visual sense, but stumble a bit when trying to solve the problems their story generates. The cure the humans discover is a laughable solution, and its delivery system is even worse. But, as my mentor Joe Bob Briggs always told me, never let plot get in the way of a good story. “Daybreakers” is a good January distraction, as long as you can take your brain out of your head long enough.