Daybreakers

Release Date: Jan 08, 2010 

Runtime: 1 hr. 38 min. 

Director: Peter Spierig, Michael Spierig 

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, Claudia Karvan, Michael Dorman, Vince Colosimo.

If there is one way of capitalizing on the vampire genre for the grown-up audience, it's making a film that's the very antithesis of "Twilight" and turning everyone into bloodsuckers. This is the case, in the year 2019, when everyone has tiny, yellow irises and are jonesing for hemo-spiked coffee. The human population is dwindling and only Ethan Hawke, a researcher, can save our race from extinction. And you thought you had it bad at work. Though the premise is intriguing and traveling beyond typical vampire stories, the substantial plot-holes outweigh any good. There is no in-depth explanation as to how everyone came to be night-dwellers or why this supposed 'cure' works the way it does. There's also a fine difference between being tasteful and being kitschy when it comes to hardcore gore, the film falling into the latter part. After all the cheap scare tactics and bloody appendages, the story abruptly ends with what could be discerned as a setup for a sequel. Or just the end product of the filmmakers being too lazy to finish the script. Either way, I need a long-needed break from fangs or anyone named Edward. 

Rating: 1½ stars