Vampire Flicks: Daybreakers (2009)

This is a movie that really came out of nowhere, at least for me. All of a sudden, at the start of 2010 (its first real screening was at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2009, but it went into general release the following year), I saw a couple of ads for it. They didn't leave much of an impression on me, though, other than to inform me that this was a vampire movie featuring Sam Neill. And while it got a bit of a buzz when it was released, with those I knew who saw it giving it pretty good notices, and the plot definitely sounded interesting, it came and went, and then fell into obscurity. Thus, I didn't see it until many years later, in the early 2020's, when I found the Blu-Ray cheap at McKay's. It was something I picked up purely because of the opportunity, but when I watched it, I thought it was a shame that it didn't get more attention, as it's really good. The overall concept is what initially draws you in since, if you're a fan of this subgenre, it's a scenario you've likely considered, and the movie does a really good job of both realizing that core idea, yet grounding it in a manner to where it feels believable (and sadly, relevant, especially nowadays). But it has a lot more to offer, such as great characters and performances, a cool visual style, a lot of gruesome makeup and creature effects, a pace that, while fairly fast, isn't so quick that you're not able to process everything, and, above all else, a well-told story with what I think is a satisfying ending. In fact, other than some dodgy CGI, a score that works in the moment but isn't memorable in and of itself, and some minor nitpicks here and there, the only major qualm I have with Daybreakers is that it's not longer and you don't get to explore this world more, as well as that there wasn't a sequel, which the ending seems to invite, that would've allowed for it.

In 2009, an outbreak of vampirism began spreading across the globe due to an infected bat. By 2019, nearly all of the world's population consists of vampires, who sleep during the day and go about their business like regular humans come nightfall. However, as the human population dwindles, so does the vampires' blood supply, and those who go without blood begin to deteriorate into ravenous, bat-like monsters called "Subsiders." Thus, humans are now a valuable commodity, and are captured and kept alive for blood harvesting. Meanwhile, various corporations are working to create a synthetic substitute, chief among them Bromley Marks, a powerful pharmaceutical company. Following a meeting with the board, where it's determined that their blood supply will run out within a month, Edward Dalton, the company's head hematologist, is ordered to begin testing the current blood substitute by company CEO Charles Bromley. However, the test subject, a soldier, dies a horrific death after it's administered. On his way home, Edward, who has sympathy for humans and refuses to drink their blood, instead getting by on the blood of animals, sees the first signs that he's becoming a Subsider. In his distraction, he accidentally runs a van off the road, and finds that the occupants are a band of humans. He helps them by allowing them to hide inside his car when the police show up, and allows them to escape once the police have gone. Upon arriving home, he gets a visit from his brother Frankie, who's a soldier, and the one who forcibly turned him into a vampire. As it's Edward's birthday, Frankie gifts him with a bottle of pure human blood, which he refuses to drink, reigniting their conflict. A Subsider then breaks into the house and the two of them are forced to kill him. Afterward, it's revealed to be someone Edward knew, and that he turned from feeding on the blood of other vampires, as well as his own. Edward later gets another unexpected visit, this time from Audrey, the woman leading the humans he helped. She gives him a piece of paper, which turns out to be a map telling him to come to a certain spot at noon that Wednesday. After learning that Bromley has no intention of making the blood substitute a permanent alternative, Edward heads to the meet-up, where he encounters Lionel Cormac, aka "Elvis": a man who was cured of his vampirism. Following an attack by the military that forces him to go on the run with the humans, Edward agrees to work with them to recreate the conditions that cured Elvis, hopefully to completely wipe out vampirism and save the human race.

Daybreakers was the second feature film for Peter and Michael Spierig, a pair of German-Australian-born identical twin filmmakers. Following a short film, The Big Picture, that they made in 2000, their first feature was 2003's Undead, a low budget horror-comedy that they funded with their life-savings. While it didn't garner much attention when it was released, its distributor, Lions Gate, was impressed enough to where they bought the brothers' screenplay for Daybreakers. In stark contrast to Undead, which only had a budget of around $750,000, they managed to put together a budget of $21 million for Daybreakers, thanks to Film Finance Corporation Australia and the government of Queensland, where the movie was shot. They also managed to get big name actors like Ethan Hawke (whom they specifically wrote the lead role for), Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill involved. While not a huge hit, it did respectable business, making $50 million, and the Spierig Brothers have since gone on to do films like 2014's Predestination, which also starred Ethan Hawke; Jigsaw, the eighth Saw movie (I gave up on that series after Saw III, so I can't comment); Winchester, about the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California; and Fall 2: Deadpoint.

Ethan Hawke's character of Dr. Edward Dalton could be considered something of a cliche: a vampire who refuses to feed on humans. However, his circumstances, as well as Hawke's performance, help make him stand out. Working for Bromley Marks Pharmaceuticals, Edward, along with his colleague, Christopher Caruso, has been trying to develop a synthetic blood substitute to counteract the dwindling human blood supply. Despite how serious the situation is getting, with Subsiders increasing in number, Edward is reluctant to test the blood substitute they currently have, feeling it's not ready. However, Charles Bromley pushes him into it, with disastrous results for the Major who acts as the test subject. The only reason why Edward agreed in the first place was because Bromley preyed on his sympathy for humans, telling him that getting the substitute working was the one hope the human race had left. His sympathy for humans proves especially significant when, on his way home, he unintentionally causes a van filled with human passengers to skid off the road, then helps them hide from the vampire police and sends them on their way. The next day, after he and his brother, Frankie, have had to kill a Subsider that broke into his home, Edward is met by Audrey, part of the human group. Feeling he's a vampire whom they can trust, she tells him there's another solution besides a blood substitute, and gives him a map showing him where he's to meet up with someone at noon on Wednesday. Between learning that the Subsider, who was someone he knew, came about from feeding on both his own blood and that of other vampires, and that the greedy, power-hungry Bromley doesn't intend to make the substitute a permanent replacement for human blood, Edward does head to the meet-up. There he meets Audrey again, as well as Lionel "Elvis" Cormac, whom he's shocked to learn was able to cure his vampirism. Naturally, he's eager to learn how he did it, but they're ambushed by Frankie and a military team, and are forced to make a run for it.

Part of Edward's motivation for trying to find a blood substitute is because, ever since he became a vampire, he's been trying to hold onto what humanity he has left by refusing to drink human blood, instead living on the blood of animals. He hopes that the substitute will ensure he won't have to worry about that anymore, especially since he discovers early on that he's beginning to show the first signs of becoming a Subsider himself. Still, nothing can erase the inner turmoil he feels over both what he is and how it

happened. He later reveals that Frankie was the one who, forcibly, turned him, resulting in their tense relationship. Whatever happened exactly (he doesn't go into the details), it still cuts deep, as he describes it as a betrayal. And while he may have initially fought against what he'd become, there's a sense that Edward, though still despising being a vampire, has now come to accept it. In fact, by this point, Edward doesn't really "live," as his existence just consists of his work, then going home and sleeping away from

the sun during the day. Since he never ages, the fact that the movie's opening scene takes place on his birthday doesn't register with him, as he considers it meaningless since he'll always be 35. He then jokes to Frankie, "Life's a bitch and... then you don't die," and later tells Audrey, "I can't even remember what it's like to be human." But, once Elvis provides him with the possibility of a cure, Edward is eager to find out how it happened. Theorizing that it had something to do with Elvis being briefly exposed to sunlight, he 

decides to recreate the circumstances, using himself as the guinea pig. Despite it being potentially deadly to him, as well as that the military, having learned where their hideout is, is closing in, he figures he has nothing to lose and goes through with it when the sun rises. He repeatedly allows himself to be exposed to sunlight in a specially outfitted wine fermentation tank, while wrapped in a wet towel, and with the tank's fermentation equipment being used to put out the flames that develop. After several such painful trials, he manages to cure himself, eventually leading 

to a great moment where he's able to walk out into the sun for the first time in years. He then hopes to get help in spreading the cure. But unfortunately, he, Audrey, and Elvis learn that a viable, and profitable, blood substitute has been developed, and a number of vampires in power are now even less interested in an actual cure.

When Edward helps the group of humans in the van, Audrey (Claudia Karvan) takes it as a sign that he can be trusted. And when she gets a look at his identification tag, learning who he is and his occupation, she figures he could be useful in helping affect a cure for vampirism. Thus, she sneaks into his house the following day, tells him of another way forward besides the blood substitute, and leaves him the map that leads him to meet Elvis. After the three of them are forced to flee the military, and Edward most definitely becomes their ally, they take him to a vineyard that once belonged to Audrey's parents, which she's now turned into a refuge for surviving humans, as well as as an armory and research laboratory. She explains that she was away at college when the pandemic began, and continually searches for more survivors whenever the opportunity arises. She also has an ally in Wes Turner, a vampire Senator who knows others who are in favor of the cure. And while she and Edward do grow close, with Audrey coming to sympathize with him, as well as stay with him at the vineyard to help him in his experiment, along with Elvis, it never develops into a full-on romance (which I appreciate). Still, she's a pretty so-so character overall, one whom I'm kind of indifferent towards. She's definitely tough, though, as she manages to fight off Frankie when he attempts to take her hostage, forces Edward to drink some of her own blood early on so he won't be tempted to attack any of the refugees, and, despite being abducted and taken to Bromley Marks headquarters during the climax, is still able to hold her own once Edward manages to help her.

As he often does, Willem Dafoe steals the show as Lionel Cormac, or "Elvis," the most significant character. When Edward first meets him in the shade of a large tree, Elvis tells him about how trees are the oldest living things on the planet, but that they will all eventually die. He also tells him that that last little bit of humanity he's trying to keep will go as soon as the human blood supply runs out. He then reveals how he was once a vampire but is now cured, and when he gets a chance, explains that he was a mechanic, as well as one of the first to adapt cars for use in the daytime. One day, while taking advantage of the lack of vehicles on the road, driving up to 140 MPH, Elvis felt the effects of not having had any human blood for a long time, and this distraction caused him to crash his car. The impact sent him flying through the windshield and out into the sunlight, but, while he burst into flames like usual, he immediately felt into a river and surfaced in a tunnel. When he walked out of the tunnel, he discovered he was no longer a vampire. Fortunately for him, he was found by Audrey, who gave him a place to stay at the vineyard. And as the one who holds the key to curing vampirism, he's a major part of Audrey's group and allows Edward to study him when he joins. He also becomes a trusted ally to Edward as well, aiding him in the sun exposure experiment, and proves to be quite handy with their special gun/crossbow weapons. Though missing for almost the entire climax, at the end of the movie, Elvis saves both Edward and Audrey from being killed at Bromley Marks headquarters, and rides off with them to spread the cure.

Dafoe not only brings his trademark unusual yet likable charisma, with a memorable introduction where you, initially, only seem him in shadow, with a close-up of his mouth as he talks, but he's also the source of much of the movie's humor and memorable lines. Talking with a Southern twang, he tells Edward, when he first approaches him, "I ain't gonna bite," and then sings a bit of Burning Love when Edward questions his nickname. He's notably a lover of classic cars and is not too thrilled when the military 

destroys the one he has when they ambush the meet-up, angrily calling them motherfuckers. It turns out, he has another one at the vineyard, though. When Edward realizes that the sun is what led to Elvis' cure, Elvis emphasizes this with, "Hurt like hell," and when Audrey insists that Edward drink some of her blood to curb any temptation, Elvis tells him, "She ain't askin', Doc." When they first arrive at the vineyard, Edward asks if it's safe, and Elvis says, "Bein' human in a world full of vampires is about as safe as bare-backin' a five-dollar whore. This is home, Doc. But 

none of us are safe." And when Edward insists on trying the experiment, despite the threat of the approaching military, Elvis decides, "Fuck it. I do love a good barbecue." After they've broken into Christopher Caruso's home to get him to help them, only to be left alone in the living room, Elvis, after a bit of awkward silence, comments, "This is one fuckin' ugly house." Finally, near the end of the movie, we get this nice soliloquy from him once they've learned what the key to the cure is: "Vampires think they own this world. That the humans have to

hide from 'em. That ain't true. Every day, the sun comes up, and every day, the vamps have to hide. Vampires can never survive. That's the truth. Elvis Presley once said, 'Truth is like the sun: you can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.'"

Unlike Edward, his brother, Frankie (Michael Dorman) enjoys being a vampire, mainly because, as he tells Charles Bromley in one scene, "I'm good at this. I was never good at being human." In fact, he now works as a soldier, rounding up any surviving humans to help curb the dwindling blood supply. However, because he forcibly turned Edward, it's resulted in serious estrangement between them. Said estrangement is only exacerbated when Frankie shows up at Edward's house, gifting him with a bottle of human blood for his birthday, which he refuses. Frankie then calls him a self-righteous hypocrite, noting how he works for a company that uses humans like cattle and says that, for all their talk of a blood substitute, Bromley Marks makes the most money from the real thing. Their argument culminates in Edward pouring much of the blood down the sink, and Frankie angrily throwing the nearly empty bottle against the wall. But then, the two of them then have to work together to kill a Subsider who breaks in upon smelling the blood. Regardless, Frankie's job soon puts him into direct conflict with his brother, as he overhears Edward's brief talk with Audrey at the house. He reports this, and then follows him when he goes to meet up with Elvis. He ambushes them after managing to take Audrey hostage, and nearly gets them captured by the military unit that follows, but gets shoved into the sunlight and then knocked out, enabling them to flee. 

When he later personally meets Charles Bromley, Frankie is tasked with finding and bringing his brother in. But when he takes part in an attack on a human convoy heading for the vineyard, that also allows them to determines its location, Frankie gets an arrow in the shoulder and is forced to sit out the raid on the hideout. However, Bromley assures him that he's doing the right thing, and goes as far as to have Frankie turn his long-lost daughter Alison, who was among the refugees in the convoy, into a

vampire. Thinking he's doing her a favor and freeing her from a life of fear, he goes through with it. He also leads a team in rounding up some Subsiders down in the subway as part of a major crackdown on them. However, when Alison refuses to drink blood, becomes a Subsider herself, and is destroyed along with those that were rounded up, Frankie begins to question if what he's doing really is the right thing. You can see it in his face when the other soldiers are cheering the Subsiders' destruction, seeing them only as animals, while he knows firsthand that they were once regular vampire citizens.

Frankie reunites with Edward after he and Elvis manage to escape Christopher Caruso's home and make it back to Elvis' old garage, saving them from a Subsider there. Shocked to find that Edward is human again, he initially rejects the offered cure, saying, "Do you know why I turned you, Ed? You used to say to me that you'd rather die than be like the rest of us. I didn't turn you because it was convenient, or because of some selfish need for blood. I turned you because... you would've died if I didn't. I couldn't lose ya, Ed. I 

fucked up bad." He then offers to help Edward escape the city, but when Edward says that he and Elvis aren't going to leave without Audrey, Frankie agrees to help them rescue her. However, his instincts and thirst for blood prompt him to attack and bite into Elvis' neck, which, in turn, leads to the discovery that treated vampire blood is the cure, as it changes Frankie back and prevents Elvis from becoming a vampire again. He then later does aid Edward in rescuing Audrey, crashing into Bromley Marks' lobby and gunning down some of his former fellow soldiers 

when they have them cornered. But before they can escape, numerous other soldiers rush in and surroun Frankie. He tries to reason with them, telling them about the cure, but the soldiers, sensing that he's no longer human, attack and massacre him. But, of course, due to the cure's cumulative nature, many of those who feed him get turned back to humans, only to be fed upon themselves, and so on.

The late great Sam Neill has a very memorable role here as the story's true antagonist, Charles Bromley. The CEO of Bromley Marks, the largest provider of human blood in the United States, he also finances Edward's research to find a blood substitute before the regular supply runs out completely. In a private meeting with him, Bromley claims that he also sympathizes with humans, insisting that's why they must begin testing the substitute they've recently come up with. He similarly uses the attack from a Subsider that Edward experiences at his home as another reason for them to continue on, as such break-ins are becoming more common. But when Edward asks for his assurance that the substitute will be used as a permanent replacement, Bromley reveals his true colors when he tells him, "Well, it's important that we allow the human race time to repopulate... The majority of the population with be content with a blood substitute, yes. But there will always be those who are willing to pay a little extra for the real thing." Seeing Edward's despondent expression, Bromley continues, "Come on, Edward. We have to be realistic. If we don't cater to all markets, someone else will." Because of this viewpoint, he's staunchly against the idea of a cure for vampirism, telling Edward, once he has a substitute that works, "It's never been about a cure. It's about a repeat business," before adding, "And besides, what's to cure?" Obviously, Bromley relishes being a vampire, especially since becoming one saved his life. Right before the pandemic, he was diagnosed with a fatal type of cancer (and yeah, even though it's not what he died from, that hits harder now since Neill himself had a type of blood cancer at one point), saying, "I prayed for a miracle, but I was realistic. And then, the world changed. My prayers were answered. Immortality gave me my cure... No, we are blessed, Edward. Blessed."

But, while becoming a vampire may have saved Bromley's life, it destroyed his relationship with his daughter, Alison. It seems as though the two of them were fairly close, and she was hit hard when he was diagnosed with cancer, but when he willing became a vampire, Alison was aghast. As Bromley says, "She saw this evolution as a disease, worse than any cancer. She refused to turn. I was a monster to her. And she ran, like so many did." Despite how evil and manipulative he may be, especially in how he tries to

completely turn Frankie against Edward when he sends him after him, Bromley does still yearn to have his daughter in his life again. When Alison is captured and brought to Bromley Marks, that possibility seems within reach. However, when he sees her, despite being happy and assuring her that she's safe, he adds that he can't do anything to save her friends, who were also captured. That prompts her to stab him, which he doesn't feel or even realize happened right away, and she's knocked out when she

tries to escape. Since she refused her father's offer to "help" her, Bromley has Frankie forcibly bite and turn her. But, much to Bromley's horror, she refuses to drink the human blood rations she's given and, instead, feeds on her own blood, accelerating her degeneration into a Subsider. She attacks him in her holding cell, blaming him for everything, and even tries to make him drink some of her blood, before she's dragged away. In the powerful scene where she's destroyed, along with a number of other Subsiders, Bromley is shown taking one last look at a 

photograph of her. This also act happens to be the last bit of humanity he displays, suggesting that what was left of the good man he likely once was died with Alison.

Truth is, we don't really know what kind of person Bromley was as a human, but being blessed with immortality has clearly given him a feeling of superiority, and he intends to use the blood substitute to become the richest person in the world and stay that way for all eternity. While at the start of the third act, he does come off like a bit of a Bond villain, which clashes with the poignant scene we last saw him in, Neill still manages to play it really well. When Edward is brought into his office, where he has

Audrey held hostage, Bromley is drinking some of her blood from a fancy glass and, noting that Edward "got a tan," comments, "You know, Edward, her blood has a scent that no substitute could ever replace: fear." Though Edward feigns wanting to become a vampire again, asking Bromley to turn both him and Audrey and then let them go, in exchange for the cure so he can repopulate the human race, Bromley is not interested, as he now has a viable substitute set to go into mass production in a few days. He proceeds to rub that in Edward's face, calling him weak and a 

coward, and that it's not surprising he couldn't hack it as a human. But then, Edward, having learned this from Frankie, hits Bromley with how he couldn't turn Alison himself and had to get someone else to do it, saying he's the coward. This goads Bromley into biting Edward, after which he learns firsthand that cured vampire blood is itself the cure, as he becomes human again, as well as likely stricken with cancer again. Edward tells him, "Welcome back to humanity. Now, you get to die," and sends him down to the building's underground parking lot in an elevator, where the starving vampire soldiers tear him apart.

While the drama surrounding her is very effective, I feel that Alison (Isabel Lucas) could've been introduced into the actual story with more finesse. Though her existence is established early on, when Bromley tells Edward about her, there's no hint that she's going to factor into things. But then, we get the scene where Bromley is looking at a picture of her, probably taken by a covert op (though we've never seen her before, we can guess who she is). And not too long after that, she's introduced as part of the human convoy being taken to the vineyard. But then, the convoy is ambushed, she's taken prisoner, and wakes up at Bromley Marks headquarters, where she comes face-to-face with her father for the first time in a decade. Terrified of him, she begs him to let her friends go. He, in turn, embraces her and assures her that she's safe, but then says, "But your friends... there's nothing I can do. I'm sorry." Alison angrily stabs him in his midsection, screams that she knows he's not really sorry, and attempts to escape, only to be knocked unconscious by Frankie. Frankie is later sent to her holding cell, with orders from Bromley to turn her, and though she tries to fight back, she is bitten (that scene has very uncomfortable overtones of sexual assault). However, she refuses to feed on human blood afterward, and goes as far as to feed on herself out of desperation and hunger, causing her to quickly degenerate into a Subsider. The final scene between her and her father is truly tragic, as Bromley is aghast at what's happened, while Alison asks him if this is what he wanted, then screams that it's his fault and tries to make him drink her blood. She's restrained and removed from the cell, and the last time we see her, she's a full on Subsider, and is dragged out into the sunlight and destroyed, along with a big group of them, as part of an extermination program. But, before she dies, she shows that she still has enough self-awareness left to angrily swipe at Frankie when she sees him standing nearby, watching.

Not only did she need to be introduced into the story in a more graceful and effective manner, but I feel Alison's downfall would've been more emotional if she were more developed. We get something of an understanding of her relationship with her father and how it changed for the worse when he became a vampire, thanks to Bromley himself. And in her first scene in the convoy, she talks about how bad things have gotten, and that she was hiding out in the desert because it's not the most vampire-friendly 

environment during the daytime. But, if she'd been introduced much earlier, and we'd been able to hear her personally talk about her father, how much she loved him, and how horrified she was when he turned, then her ultimate fate would've been all the more devastating. Again, it still works, mainly due to how seemingly well-meaning but misguided her father's actions are, his reaction when he realizes that Alison is doomed, and her very quick de-evolution into a Subsider, culminating in her being destroyed in the sunlight, but it had the potential to work even better.

In his first scene with Edward early on, his colleague, Christopher Caruso (Vince Colosimo) is all for moving ahead with testing the blood substitute, telling Edward that it's getting to the point where graveyards are being broken into by vampires desperate for human blood. But after that and the disastrous testing trial, Caruso isn't seen again until the third act, when he, unbeknownst to the audience, has just come up with a viable blood substitute. He then comes home to find the newly-cured Edward, Audrey, and Elvis waiting for him. Astonished to see that Edward is human again, he assures him that he can trust him. But before Edward can tell him how the cure works, they're seemingly interrupted by a phone call from Caruso's ex-wife, which he takes in the next room. Before they know it, he's bolted, and they learn he contacted the office, which leads to the army arriving and Audrey getting captured, while Edward and Elvis have to run for it. As he looks to get really rich off of the substitute, Caruso isn't too thrilled about a cure for vampirism. At the end of the movie, he tries to conceal its existence by killing the remaining soldiers who were cured after feeding on Frankie's blood, then goes to kill Edward and Audrey, but is shot by Elvis' crossbow before he can.

Daybreakers' biggest accomplishments are in its visuals and world-building, with one of the major ones being how they distinguish the bright, sunny daytime world of the humans and the dark nighttime one of the vampires. Though very dreary and depressing, I can't deny that the vampires' world is also the most visually interesting, with its limited color palette, consisting of blues, grays, and whites, as well as deep shadows that give off a definite film noir vibe (Edward and some other vampires' suits and hats add all the more to that feeling). Though this is 

certainly the case in the exteriors, with the opening scene made to look even more morose thanks to a constant downpour, it also extends to the interiors, specifically those of Bromley Marks headquarters, where there's a lot of harsh, white fluorescent lighting., and even inside Edward's car, with its daytime safety mode. Notably, this feeling is not as prevalent in his house, given his determination to hang on to his humanity, but because he has to live away from the sun, it still has a bit of a gloomy feel about it. The only bits of vibrant color you get in 

these scenes are some instances of deep blue lights in the Bromley Marks building, the red from the blood (which is plentiful during the climax), and the orange color of the vampires' eyes. Naturally, the human world has a warmer, brighter feel, with lots of orange, yellow, and amber in the palette, both in the exteriors and interiors, as their artificial lighting feels much less depressing. This change is also notable in that the vampires have taken over the urban and suburban areas, whereas the humans now live out in the 

countryside. The Spierig Brothers' direction is also quite solid, with an opening sequence that nicely establishes how this world operates, with the credits appearing over a montage of a city that seems completely deserted during the day, but is bustling with activity when the sun goes down. It also shows how desperate and slowly decaying this world is, with the very first scene being a girl committing suicide by exposing herself to the rising sun, during which we get glimpses of the suicide note she left in her

bedroom, talking about how she can't stand being stuck as a young kid forever. And as the movie goes on, we see Bromley Marks' supply of harvested humans slowly decreasing until they're completely gone, as well as scenes of how the dwindling blood supply is affecting the populace.

As expected, there are many memorable visuals and shots to be found here, like the opening with the girl walking outside her house and sitting in her yard; a moment during the opening, down in the subway, where a train pass by the vampires waiting on the platform and you see their eyes glowing in the darkness; that aforementioned image of all the humans in Bromley Marks headquarters that are being drained of their blood; a close-up of Frankie pouring blood into a glass full of ice; the backlit scene beneath the tree where Edward meets Elvis, specifically the

close-up of Elvis' mouth before we see him in full, as well as a wide shot of the landscape with the tree in the middle; a similar shot of the nighttime desert landscape in the lead-up to the convoy attack; another backlit shot of Edward and Audrey in the fermentation tank before they begin their testing; a close-up of Edward's eyes becoming normal, signifying that he's now human; that moment where he walks out into the sun for the first time in a long time and we get a close-up of him and Audrey holding each other's hands; the devastating visual of

the Subsiders being forcibly pulled out into the sunlight, where they're instantly destroyed; Bromley being fed upon by the vampire soldiers, which is done in one long, overhead shot that gradually turns upside down, ending on a close-up of his severed head being held up towards the camera; and the penultimate shot of the trio standing in the lobby, as the sun rises. And as I've already touched upon, the editing in this film is very effective. Not only does that include the use of montage, like in the opening, where the girl's suicide 

is intercut with the shots of her room, particularly old photos of her and her suicide note; the flashback to Elvis' crash while he personally tells Edward the story; the rapid cutting of the experiment, while the military approaches the vineyard; and Bromley looking at the picture of Alison while she's being exterminated as a Subsider, but also some non-linear editing near the end. When Frankie bites into Elvis' neck and Edward yanks him away, the scene ends abruptly, and you initially assume that Elvis got 

turned back into a vampire again and Edward had to kill him, as well as Frankie, whom he was preparing to kill when it cut. But, in the scene in Bromley's office afterward, where Edward goads him into biting him, it cuts back to the aftermath of that scene, where it was discovered that treated vampire blood is the cure, so that now you understand what's happening to Bromley after he's bitten Edward.

A notable visual motif that you see a few times throughout the movie is that of a bat, making this one of the first modern vampire movies in a long time that directly deals with them. You first see the bat at the very beginning, flying across a shot of the sky at the start of the credits, and it occasionally pops up again here and there afterward, like when you see it hanging upside beneath an elevated platform when Edward drives out to meet Elvis, and when it startles Elvis in one scene (it's the only real animal you see in the whole movie). It also bookends the movie, flying

across the screen right before it cuts to black. Of course, the pandemic of vampirism was started by a bat, and, while it's never hinted at, I kind of like to think this bat that we keep seeing is not only the same one each time, but is also the one that started it all, still hanging around years after it changed the world.

Again, during the opening credits, as well as in the scene where Edward goes to meet up with Audrey and Elvis, we see how this city and the nearby suburbs look virtually deserted. But once night falls, the vampire populace comes out and the place is positively bustling. In fact, it looks and feels perfectly normal, even mundane, as they just go about their business like regular people. They watch TV, complete with news and various advertisements, at home, drive around in cars, ride to work on the subway, stop and get coffee (with blood added to it

instead of cream and sugar), talk on cellphones, smoke cigarettes, and, in the case of some teenagers that Edward spots in his introduction, just hang around on a street corner. There are even the underprivileged, as we see an old vampire standing on the sidewalk, holding a sign that reads, "STARVING. NEED BLOOD," while Subsiders tend to congregate down in the sewers. You also see early on how this is very much like a police state, as that old vampire is apprehended and taken away by some police officers 

when he acts aggressive towards some passersby who ignore him, a prelude to what happens later, when the Subsiders are rounded up. Moreover, there's a constant military presence almost from the beginning, and they drive around armored vehicles, wear special riot gear and helmets to shield them from the sun during the daytime, and often shoot tranquilizer darts, as they're typically out to capture rather than kill humans. Getting back to the general population, we're shown how they manage to survive the daytime as 

well. Their homes are completely sealed from the sun through steel shutters on the windows, and there are public warning systems that activate when sunrise isn't far off. If they absolutely have to move around during the day, many make use of "Sub Walk," a series of underground tunnels that can connect directly to their homes. As already mentioned, they also have vehicles equipped with a daytime driving mode, where the windows and windshield are completely blacked out and a special camera,

mounted on the cars' roofs, allows them to see where they're going, as well as what's behind them (they also have tires that can inflate and deflate to suit a situation). In fact, much of this is exactly what the vampires in Near Dark did to their vehicles and temporary hideouts, just taken to the ultimate level.

The depiction of the vampires' society is truly a reflection of actual modern human civilization, right down to how most of them live in the cities and suburbs, while humans have been pushed out into the wild, which makes me think of how, in real life, humans have become the dominant species in a similar manner. Unfortunately, it also mirrors our society's worst aspects, some of which have been exacerbated in the years since the movie's release. The most blatant parallels are how the vampires are using up and trying to find ways to conserve the 

human blood supply, just like how we're struggling to do the same with our natural resources, as well as how corporate greed and monopolization are still a major force. There's also still political tension, given the debates over whether humans have any rights, with vampire proponents for both sides of the argument, such as the character of Senator Wes Turner, who's pro-human and wants a cure to be found. By extension, there's the ever-present sense of racism and prejudice, with the Subsiders being looked upon as lesser creatures, even though they were once 

vampires like all the rest. The detective at the scene after the one Subsider broke into Edward's house derisively calls them "animals," among other nasty terms, and after the majority of them have been rounded up, it's decided that they're not worth the government spending funds on keeping them alive. Speaking of which, the martial law that's enforced to get rid of the influx of Subsiders, to me, is uncomfortably close to certain things that have happened to immigrants and perfectly legal U.S. 

citizens in recent years. Finally, the idea that this world came about because of an outbreak that got out of hand can, nowadays, almost inevitably make someone think of COVID-19, and it's especially unnerving that this takes place in the year before that pandemic happened. (It's kind of like how Blade Runner, another movie about a world that's falling apart, and whose themes are more relevant now than ever, also happened to be set in 2019.)

Make no mistake, you do see how this world is coming apart at the seams. Things are already bad from the very beginning, with the human blood supply running low, and in a meeting that Edward takes part in, he and the others are told that, with possibly only 5% of the human population remaining, they'll run out completely by the end of the month. Between that, his and his staff's inability to find a blood substitute that works, and the rising number of Subsiders, as well as Christopher Caruso telling him about some young vampires who broke into a

cemetery in a vain attempt to find blood, and you can see how this place is literally teetering on the edge. The actual issue is visualized by Bromley Marks' human containment area, which has fewer and fewer people within it as the movie goes on, while the subway station first shown at the beginning is used as a microcosm of just how badly things are going throughout the world. The second time you see it, it's juxtaposed with a shot of more Subsiders lurking in the sewers, and a news report of blood prices continuing to rise. You then see that the vampires 

waiting around for their train are badly suffering from being deprived of blood, with some already degenerating into Subsiders. One guy goes up to a coffee stand, which was serving 20% blood in its products at the beginning, and complains about what he was given. The woman in the stand points at a sign that says they can now only serve 5% blood (which even has FDA approval; yeah, apparently that still exists), but the guy flat-out says he doesn't care and demands more in his coffee. Upon being turned down, he grabs a bag of blood hanging inside and,

during the ensuing tug of war, the bag rips and blood splatters everywhere. This leads to a riot, with the vampires rushing the stand and needing to be restrained by the police, while those working inside the stand succumb to their own hunger and start feeding on the blood. And then, by the time the third act rolls around, the place is completely abandoned, with the stand closed up, and Frankie leads some troops down there in order to deal with the Subsiders, 

as part of a countrywide extermination campaign where they're being rounded up and later destroyed. In fact, at the start of the climax, Charles Bromley tells Edward that the blood supply is completely gone, and he himself was starting to feel the effects of blood deprivation.

My only real qualm with the film's world-building is simply that I wanted more of it. While we do get plenty, there are so many other aspects of this reality that we could've delved into further, like the political debate on literal human rights and the issue of whether or not Subsiders deserve to be viewed the same as everyone else, as well as the actual government, going into whether the military is completely in charge and if there's even still a President. But, with a final runtime of just 97 minutes, a generous but still rather low budget, and 

much of the plot being focused on Edward and his friends working to find a cure for vampirism, what you get is a film with a well-executed concept that still doesn't reach its full potential as it is. That's why I really wish there had been a sequel.

The most impactful setting is indeed the city, which I have a feeling is meant to be Los Angeles, for its absolutely striking visuals, with the muted color palette and whatnot. Aside from the subway station, the most notable place here is Bromley Marks headquarters, which is a large building with something of an extreme Art Deco design to it, and is connected to several others around it through some elevated walkways. Its immediate interior is a black marble lobby beyond a glass, automatic door, a space that pulses with blue light and where someone's face

is scanned for recognition before they're allowed in. When Edward first enters and takes the elevator up, we get our first glimpse at what has to be the building's most significant section, where the supply of humans is kept. It's a huge chamber behind a long window where humans are literally stored, attached to large columns and continually bled in order to cater to the vampire population's demand for blood. Needless to say, it's quite an image (especially since there are obviously pregnant women among them), and serves 

as another sign early on as to how dire the situation is, as you can see how the supply is really dwindling. You also have the sterile, white laboratory where Edward works alongside Christopher Caruso, the boardroom where he attends a meeting about how bad the situation is, Charles Bromley's immaculate office, this room where a potential blood substitute is tested on a soldier, with disastrous results, a claustrophobic holding cell where Alison is kept, a winding staircase that has a triangular shape to it when viewed from overhead, and a parking garage where Bromley meets his bloody end.

Edward lives in a housing area called Bromley Marks Estates, where the homes all have this very bizarre, sharply geometric look to their design, looking like a bunch of blocks stacked onto each other. The interior of Edward's home, while still fairly dim and colorless, isn't as oppressively blue and gray as the exteriors and interiors of the actual city, but its architecture is just as strange as that of its exterior, with weirdly-shaped examples of pottery, lighted, glass sections of wall and windows with unusual patterns on them, a 

claustrophobic interior stairway, and so on. Really, the only bit of normalcy in it are these plants that Edward cares for, and it's small wonder why, when they're in Caruso's home, which looks very similar, Elvis remarks how ugly this architecture looks. The house is also fully automated, as the TV in the living room comes on along with the lights, and there's a sensor that warns the homeowner when someone enters through the back door. You can also guess that the shutters over the windows to keep out the sunlight are also automatic. In stark contrast is Elvis' old 

garage, which has been left untouched in the same neighborhood, and is still an old-fashioned, blue collar type of place, despite it being connected to the Sub Walk system. In a further contrast, not only do the main group of humans live out in the lush, forested countryside, but Audrey and the humans she's rescued live in an old vineyard, the downstairs area of which is where everything essential is, from the kitchen and dining area, to where their weapons are stockpiled, and the work areas where Edward 

does his research on the possible cure. Most notably, the place contains large fermentation tanks that he and the others reconfigure for their experiment, so it can allow in sunlight and quickly extinguish the flames that engulf Edward when he's exposed. 

The landscape itself consists of a mixture of forests and hills, with remnants of human dwellings and other manmade structures. It looks perfectly lush and healthy for the most part, although after they first elude the military, Edward, Audrey, and Elvis drive through a spot that looks as though it's been recently burned, with some spots still smoking. No explanation for this is ever given. There's also a more desert-like landscape, as you can tell in the scene where the trio stops so Elvis can explain how he was cured, and this is the type of environment where

Alison is picked up by the convoy, and then abducted by the army. Finally, not all of the vampires live in the cities and suburbs, as the movie opens with that large mansion out in the country, where that girl lets the rising sun destroy her. And Senator Turner has a cabin from his human life that he and the other humans retreat to once the vineyard's location is discovered. Unfortunately, our main trio later find that place destroyed, and he and the humans are all brutally slaughtered.

The pandemic of vampirism is said to have been started by a single bat, though it's inaccurate to say it was a simple virus, as these vampires really walk the line between the more "grounded" type that started to become popular in the 80's and the classic, supernatural variety. On the one hand, they feel like people who simply have a strange medical condition that keeps them from aging but also requires them to feed on human blood and makes them unable to tolerate sunlight (they can be out in the daytime if they get in the shade and shield their eyes with

sunglasses). However, while crosses, holy water, garlic, and the like don't feature into this story, you do have the more supernatural tropes, like a lack of reflection in mirrors, as you see in Edward's side-mirror when he's first introduced. Speaking of which, this is something the vampires have attuned their technology to get around, given the face scanning device at Bromley Marks, as well as how the sun visor mirror in Edward's car has a video camera that projects his image where the mirror would be. In 

other words, in this reality, vampires can be filmed, as Edward's image is also picked up by a normal video camera during the sunlight experiment. In any case, impalements through the heart are not only fatal, but also cause them to explode. And, above all, it's made clear that these vampires are undead, as they don't have a pulse and their average body temperature is very low, like down in the 60's. (It makes me wonder just what that bat was carrying and how it got it, or if it even was a normal bat to begin with.)

And yet, despite these supernatural elements, it turns out that there's a cure for vampirism, something that was almost never possible in the past, when they were purely supernatural, save for those who were treated immediately after being bitten. In this case, the thing that's often been most deadly to vampires ends up being a way to treat them, if they're exposed to just the right amount of sunlight and then the ensuing flames are extinguished. Elvis just happened to get lucky, as he was thrown through his car's windshield, then hit the river right after his body burst into

flames. He says that, in addition to the burning pain, he felt something akin to a jolt of electricity restarting his heart, like a defibrillator. When examining a sample of his blood, Edward theorizes that this treatment only works on the overall body, as he mentions how they've exposed vampire blood to UV rays but it never worked. And while it proves particularly painful for him, Edward is eventually able to recreate the circumstances of Elvis' cure and turn himself back into a human as well. Moreover, 

it's discovered that a vampire who ingests this treated blood is themself cured, while the cured humans themselves are now immune to vampire bites. Some may find this idea to be an easy cop out but I think it works within the context of this particular story. (It feels more appropriate than the blood transfusion in Near Dark, that's for sure.)

I don't think that vampires have ever looked and felt more like normal people than they do here in Daybreakers. Save for their being very pale, having yellowish-orange eyes that glow in the dark, and their fangs, which are always out, as well as that they're truly active at night, they look, dress, and act like the populace of any city or suburb. The only times they really feel like traditional vampires are in the scene where those commuters go crazy over the lack of blood, and when you see Frankie and Bromley bite into someone's neck. However, if one of them goes a

long time without feeding on human blood, they begin to devolve into Subsiders: hideous, gargoyle-like creatures that really do look like a cross between humans and bats. Feeding on the blood of other vampires, as well as one's own blood, only increases the rate of deterioration. Its first physical signs are elongated ears, and this is followed by much of their hair falling out, as well as their mental facilities devolving to the point where they can't reason or even speak anymore. Instead, they're just mindless beasts 

who are only interested in seeking out human blood, wherever they can find it, and are quite ferocious and strong when they encounter other vampires. Physically they basically become humanoid bats, with pale-brown skin, gaunt physical features, nasty teeth, and wing-membranes that, in extreme cases, extend up the sides of their bodies, all the way to the undersides of their arms and between their fingers. They're even able to hang down from above by their feet. It definitely makes for an interesting twist on the trope of vampires turning into bats, doesn't it?

Weta Workshop were the ones behind the designs for both the normal vampires and the Subsiders, and they're both great stuff, particularly the latter. I'm sure there were instances of CGI in there, especially for the more physically impossible scenes, but, for the most part, I think the Subsiders were done through makeup and suit work, and it's really cool-looking. Weta were also likely in charge of the gore effects, which are considerable, to say the least, and not just in how the vampires casually drink blood. There are instances of severe gruesomeness throughout the 

movie, like the blood substitute test subject whose head explodes, splattering blood all over that room; the Subsider who breaks into Edward house getting his torso repeatedly sliced by Frankie, who then decapitates him, and the bloody aftermath when the police take a look at the scene; the riot for blood down in the subway station; Alison being bitten and her subsequent deterioration; the grisly sight that Edward, Audrey, and Elvis come across when they go to Senator Turner's cabin and find that he and 

everyone there have been slaughtered; and a vampire security guard getting stabbed in the neck and bleeding out profusely. But it's during the climax that all hell really breaks loose, as first Bromley and then Frankie are hideously disemboweled by the hordes of hungry vampire soldiers. In fact, for the former, which is done all in one shot, it looks as though they made a full dummy of Sam Neill, complete with his head being ripped off and then held up towards the camera. And those soldiers who feed on Frankie and

are cured as a result are they themselves feed upon, so the climax is a true gorefest. It gets to the point where it feels more like a scene from one of George Romero's zombie movies, with the vampires chewing chunks of flesh rather than just drinking the blood.

Unfortunately, this is another instance where the practical effects are great, but the visual effects are a mixed bag. When they're used to help create the world or augment the real locations and sets, they're very well done, and the same goes for the digital work used for the Subsiders in certain scenes, as well as in the scene with the blood substitute test subject, as blisters and welts develop on his flesh. But, as seems to be a theme with modern vampire movies, the effects of them burning up from the sunlight and exploding from being impaled, as well as the brief

moments where the vampires' true faces are revealed don't look too good (they just barely look better than they do in the Fright Night remake and the Lost Boys sequels). Similarly, in some of the action scenes, there's some dodgy CGI and compositing, with an egregious example being when the main trio drives over half-destroyed bridge, and a military armored vehicle crashes on it explodes.

The first major scene is when, under Bromley's orders, Edward and Christopher Caruso test the blood substitute that they currently have on a military volunteer, as Bromley and the other higher-ups watch through a window. The administration process begins and, at first, nothing really happens. Then, as more of the blood substitute is injected into him, the volunteer's, a Major, body temperature increases from the initial 60 degrees more than they expected it to, and he begins to sweat. Edward isn't concerned about

this, and then, the temperature hits 68 and holds there. He asks the Major how he feels, and he starts to say that he feels fine, when he suddenly turns his head to his right and projectile vomits onto the nurse standing there. He begins to violently convulse, with the flesh on his face and arms swelling up into ugly blisters, and as everyone else tries to hold him down, Caruso fills a needle with a counteractive. He administers it, as the Major yells in pain, but once it's in his system, the blisters quickly recede back within his skin and he calms down. Everything seems fine, and the Major starts to say, "Ow," when his head suddenly explodes, coating the entire room and everyone in there, in blood and guts.

On his way home afterward, Edward is watching the news on his car's built in television, which reports on riots in London over blood rationing (the footage is actual riot footage), when he scratches his ear and feels something he doesn't like. Looking at himself in his sun visor's mirror, he sees that his right ear is becoming pointy, indicating that he's starting to degenerate into a Subsider. He's so focused on this that he doesn't realize his car has swerved over into the other lane, putting him in the path of an oncoming

vehicle. Seeing its headlights in his face, he quickly turns to miss it, causing it to skid and slam its side into an energy transformer next to the road. Edward himself comes close to crashing his car straight on into something that has numerous metal bars sticking out right at him, managing to stop within just inches of them. He gets out and approaches the van to help those in it. He sees someone getting out of the front seat, but as soon as he asks if they're okay, he gets a small arrow in his arm. Recoiling from it, he then sees that the woman who was driving, Audrey, is

armed with a small crossbow/shotgun combo. As the other passengers climb out of the van, Edward realizes they're all humans. They're about to shoot him again, when they hear and then see an approaching police car. To their surprise, Edward offers to help, telling them to hide inside his car. With no other choice, they decide to trust him, and once they're inside, he activates its daytime protection mode, bringing up the UV filters on the windows. He also removes the small arrow from his arm and waits to meet the police as they pull up. Inside, Audrey, 

watching Edward through the car's built-in camera system, slides over into the driver's seat, just in case they need to bolt. But that idea goes out the window when she sees that Edward has the keys (if he had them when he first got out of the car, then he shouldn't have been able to activate the car's electric features). While Edward sends the police on the wrong path when they ask where those in the other vehicle went, Audrey glances at his ID tag on his coat in the passenger seat and notes his occupation. Once the police leave, the humans get out of the car and run for it. Audrey thanks Edward for his help and, as she joins the others, reveals that she knows his name now.

Following Edward and Frankie's argument in the former's home, Frankie is about to storm out, when a Subsider suddenly enters the house. Smelling the blood from the bottle, which Frankie angrily threw at the wall during their argument, the Subsider desperately runs to the wall and licks up the blood as it drips down. However, when Frankie steps on a piece of broken glass with a loud crack, he swings around and snarls at the both of them. He spreads his wings in a threatening manner, then moves in on

them. He next smells the blood that Frankie poured in a glass on the kitchen island and starts lapping it up, while Edward takes the opportunity to try to grab a knife from the rack there. The Subsider, seeing what he's trying to do, snarls at him and backs him away. Frankie then grabs a knife when he's distracted, but the Subsider hits him hard enough to send him flying out of the kitchen and into the small dining space next to it, hitting the wall and then crashing through the table. The Subsider moves towards Edward, who

grabs a stool and uses it as a shield, as he backs away. He yells at Frankie, who's unconscious, but manages to awaken him after yelling a second time. Seeing what's happening, Frankie grabs the knife from the floor, gets to his feet, and knocks the table and its chairs out of the way. Both of them lunge at the Subsider, when he jumps up and grabs onto the ceiling with his feet. He hangs upside down, spreads his wings, and swipes at Frankie. Frankie dodges and slices across the Subsider's belly, causing blood to spill out in torrents. He swipes at Frankie again and 

Frankie, in turn, cuts into his chest, slicing him open even more. As blood pours out of the Subsider, who screeches in pain, Frankie delivers another deep stab, causing him to go limp. He finishes him off by slicing off his head, and his body then drops from the ceiling. Afterward, when the police investigate the scene, they find a wedding ring on the Subsider's finger that identifies him as a local gardener whom Edward knew a little bit.

When Edward drives out to the spot in the countryside where he meets Elvis, Audrey, who's watching nearby, is suddenly taken hostage by someone who appears in daytime protection gear. Before Elvis can explain to Edward how he cured himself, Audrey appears around the corner of the tree trunk, the man in the gear forcing her to walk forward with a gun in her back. Elvis points his crossbow/shotgun at him, and when he speaks, Edward realizes it's Frankie. Frankie opens his helmet to show his face

and orders Edward to step away from Elvis. They then see a military vehicle approaching from nearby, when Audrey shoves Frankie from the side, causing him to blunder out of the tree's shade and into the sunlight, where his face is burned. Elvis then knocks him out, while Audrey takes his gun. The armored vehicle approaches and opens fire, striking Elvis' classic car, much to his anger. He fires a shot at the vehicle, but it doesn't get past the windshield, and they return fire with tranquilizer darts. Edward tells

Elvis and Audrey to get into his car, and they quickly flee the scene. When they get back onto the highway, another armored vehicle pursues them. Elvis sees this thanks to the car's rear camera, right before the vehicle opens fire on them. It shoots a hole in the back window, letting in a beam of sunlight that threatens to burn Edward. Audrey covers it with her hand, only for them to shoot another hole in it, and then, they take out the cameras, leaving Edward completely blind. Elvis has them trade seats, using his

body to block the sunlight from Edward, and then uses a small hole shot in the windshield to see where he's going. He pulls off the main road and onto a path through a wooded area, while his constants turns continuously force Edward to avoid the beam of sunlight coming through the back (at this time of day, sunlight beams shouldn't be that horizontal). He does get burned when Elvis has to swerve to miss a tractor parked on the side of the road, and they then drive through the middle of the woods, with both armored vehicles in hot pursuit. They get out of the woods 

and back onto the dirt road, and come to an intersection, where another armored vehicle joins the chase. With three of them now chasing them, Elvis heads for a closed bridge up ahead. Telling the others to hang on, he smashes through the sign and drives straight across the bare railing. While two of the armored vehicles stop, the one in front attempts it, only for the railing to break in half beneath it. The vehicle's front rams into the railing's horizontal other half, which pierces the windshield, and bloody chunks

proceed to blow out the back window. It then explodes, likely due to the vampire soldiers inside who got impaled through the heart, and drops down into the ravine. Meanwhile, Edward, Audrey, and Elvis drive off to safety, getting back onto the main road.

When they stop that night, Elvis tells Edward how he unintentionally cured his vampirism. It cuts to a flashback that shows Elvis flying down the road in his daytime-equipped classic Chrysler, accelerating to 140 MPH down the empty road. In his narration, Elvis notes that a vampire can only go so long without any blood before it makes them erratic; in this case, he became so distracted by the sight of his quivering hand that he went down a curving road next to a river, unaware that he was heading right for an

old wooden fence on the edge. By the time he saw it, ir was too late, and he slammed into it fast enough to send him through the windshield and down into the river, burning from the sunlight. He emerged from the water in a nearby tunnel and walked out into the sun, only for nothing to happen. Later, when they're driving, Edward begins to feel the effects of his own human blood deprivation, as he can't stop looking at Audrey's neck. She, in turn, notices his elongated right ear and, realizing he could be a potential danger

to everyone else, makes Elvis stop the car. When asked when he last had human blood, Edward dodges the question, simply answering that he's fine. Not accepting that, Audrey takes out a knife, cuts her palm open, and squeezes some blood into a paper cup. As much as it disgusts him, Audrey insists that he drink it, saying that she needs him focused on the task ahead, and doesn't want to worry about him attacking anybody at the vineyard. Thus, he very reluctantly drinks it, while Audrey wraps her hand up. In a later scene, at the vineyard, Edward is talking to her down 

in the lower level, when he notices one of the wine fermentation tanks. He gets an idea upon being told what their original function was, and they then get to work modifying one of the tanks so it can be used in their sunlight exposure experiment.

That night, a convoy of four vehicles filled with human refugees heads across the desert, towards the vineyard. Jasper, the one who heads these operations, is driving in a van up front, with Alison Bromley sitting in the passenger seat. Suddenly, one of the back tires blows out, though Jasper knows it likely wasn't accidental. The convoy stops dead in the middle of the road, with the vehicles switching on their mounted lights to illuminate their surroundings, and people who are armed disembark from the

vehicles. Inspecting the one tire, Jasper finds a tranquilizer dart in it, confirming that they're under attack. He warns the others and they get alongside their vehicles, looking out into the pitch black desert for any sign of their attackers. After a few beats of silence, one man gets a dart in his neck, while more darts hit the sides of the vehicles and down other humans. Wielding a crossbow/gun, Jasper fires an arrow into the darkness and manages to hit one of the vampire soldiers in the heart. When he explodes, it

illuminates the surrounding desert, exposing the large group of soldiers out there. Jasper is shocked at how many of them there are, as they charge towards the convoy, continuing to fire tranq darts. Also wielding one of the makeshift weapons, Alison shoots and manages to get another soldier in the heart as well. Jasper yells for her to move and they take shelter behind a camper amid the convoy. It then becomes clear that they're being attacked from both sides, and the remaining humans act accordingly, managing to score some more fatal hits on the soldiers. However, 

more and more humans are downed by the darts, and Jasper, despite managing to hold his own really well, is tagged in the shoulder by Frankie when he and another soldier come around behind an RV. Despite this, he manages to reload and get Frankie through the left shoulder (the same one where Frankie got him), but is then taken down with another tranquilizer dart. Grabbing a discarded walkie-talkie, Alison attempts to contact the base. Elvis answers her, but all she can do is warn everyone there that they've been found out, before she's also tranquilized. With all of their 

defenses gone, the soldiers move in and remove the unarmed humans from the vehicles. Frankie finds the walkie-talkie, and he and another soldier are able to use the frequency to pinpoint the vineyard's location.

Once everyone else has evacuated, Edward, Audrey, and Elvis stay behind at the vineyard to perform the experiment, as the military closes in on them. Final preparations are made, with Elvis in the fermentation tank with Edward, while Audrey sits at her desk, monitoring what's going on inside through a video camera that's hooked into her computer, as well as a heart monitor hooked up to Edward. Elvis then puts a wet towel around Edward, and grabs an oxygen tank for himself. Once they're all ready, Audrey counts to

three and Elvis opens a hatch on the interior wall, exposing Edward to the sunlight. He immediately bursts into flames and screams in agony, and Elvis then quickly closes the hatch, while Audrey activates the vent above that sucks out the oxygen, extinguishing the fire. She pumps in fresh air, and while nothing registers on the heart monitor, Edward confirms he's okay. He gets to his feet and insists that they do it again. With the military drawing ever closer, Elvis wets the towel again and puts it back on 

Edward. Audrey gives another three-count and Elvis, again, exposes Edward to the sunlight, after which the flames are quickly extinguished. This time, there's a spike in the heart monitor, although it's very brief. Once Edward confirms to Elvis that he's okay, he insists on doing it yet again, which they do. For the third time in a row, he's exposed to sunlight and bursts into flames. This time, the exposure lasts longer before the flames are put out. While the military arrives outside, a steady pulse develops on the heart monitor, though Edward collapses against 

the wall. Upstairs, the soldiers break down the front door and enter with their rifles drawn, while Audrey joins Elvis and Edward in the tank. There, the two of them see Edward's eyes turn from an inhuman amber to a natural blue, confirming that the experiment worked. However, the soldiers make their way down into that area and search everywhere, including in the tank. But they find it empty, unaware that the trio are hiding in a large, wooden, barrel-like container that's filled with water. 

Later, once they've determined that the soldiers have left the vineyard, the three of them climb out of the container (as they do, a bat suddenly flies by Elvis, startling him). Edward then walks outside, into the sun for the first time in years, and Audrey joins him and tells him, "Welcome back,"; meanwhile, Elvis finds another classic car on the property, one that has, "From the ashes springs new life," written on its side. Elsewhere, however, things don't feel so hopeful, as Charles Bromley finds that his company's supply of humans has completely run out. What's more, when

he goes to see Alison, who has since been turned by Frankie, in her holding cell, he finds that she's refusing the blood rations given to her, and is feeding on her own. Walking inside he sees how far she's already deteriorated, when she attacks him and tries to make him drink her blood, with the guard outside having to restrain and remove her. It's then shown that military action is being taken to curb the influx of Subsiders across the country, with Frankie leading a squadron of troops down into the subway. There, they

use a flare to flush some out of the dark using a flare. And after Edward, Audrey, and Elvis make their way up to Senator Turner's cabin, only to find everybody there dead, we get the scene where all of the rounded up Subsiders, including Alison, are destroyed by being chained to a vehicle that drags them out into the sunlight.

The climax begins after the trio arrives at Christopher Caruso's home to get his help in administering the cure. Their talk is interrupted by a phone call he says is from his ex-wife, which he takes in the next room. The three of them sit in the living room, waiting, when Audrey sees that Caruso's silhouette, which she could see through the glass wall across from them, is gone. She gets up and walks around the corner to see what's going on, approaching the open front door. Suddenly, a tranquilizer dart fires and hits her in the midsection; at the same time, Edward notices that

something seems to be glowing in Caruso's coat pocket, which he left on the chair he was sitting on. He finds that it's his cellphone, and sees that he alerted those at the office at some point. The two of them then see Audrey's silhouette collapse through the glass, and they run around the corner to see her being dragged away by a soldier. More of them appear on the other side of the door, using laser sighting to fire darts at them. They duck back behind the glass wall and Caruso shoots his crossbow through it, scoring a hit in the chest on one soldier. 

They quickly run before he explodes, rushing into the back of the house. Fortunately for them, Caruso's house has Sub Walk, allowing them to head down into the tunnels. They manage to elude their pursuers in the complex of tunnels, then continue on and head back up, entering a workroom that turns out to be the interior of Elvis' old garage: Cormac Custom Restorations. Just as they're about to settle in and try to figure out what to do next, Elvis switches on the lights to reveal that there's a Subsider in there as 

well. It goes to lunge at Edward, when a dart flies through the air and hits it in the heart, causing it to explode. This turns out to be Frankie's doing, who followed them from the Sub Walk tunnels. This leads into the standoff where Frankie admits why he turned Edward in the first place, and he instinctively attacks Elvis, despite agreeing to help them. But when Edward yanks him off Elvis and prepares to kill him, his reaction, as Frankie's offscreen gasping and coughing, indicate that something has changed.

Edward then marches straight into Bromley Marks and is apprehended by security. They bring him up to Bromley's office, where he has Audrey tied down to a chair and is enjoying some of her blood from a glass. Made to sit in the chair next to her, this is when it seems as though Edward has had a face-heel turn, as he begs to help Bromley repopulate the humans in exchange for being turned back into a vampire, along with Audrey. Eventually, he baits Bromley into biting him and he does so ferociously, digging into his neck and spilling a lot of blood. But no sooner does he

finish than it suddenly affects him in an unexpected way. He collapses to the floor, gasping and obviously in pain, as Edward blocks the door to impede the security who are coming up. He tells Bromley that he's just been made human again by his treated blood, while in the building's underground parking lot, a huge squadron of soldiers arrive in armored vehicles. They disembark and are about to head inside, when they hear the parking lot elevator ding. They turn their attention to it, aiming their guns. It opens to reveal the now human Bromley, who's gagged and

tied to a chair. It doesn't take long for the soldiers to sense his newfound humanity, and they all quickly rush in and tear him to pieces. Elsewhere, Edward and Audrey take the stairs down to the lobby, but are then faced by some other soldiers. Just as they surrender, Frankie crashes Elvis' car through the windows, then gets out and engages in a firefight, shooting the soldiers with tranquilizer darts, while Edward and Audrey take cover. One soldier runs in and tackles Frankie, but he manages to slam him down to the

floor and put a dart through his chest. That done, he gets up and tells Edward and Audrey to come on. But before they can, dozens more soldiers come in and surround Frankie. He tries to make them stand down, telling them about the cure, but as happened with Bromley, they sense that he's human and their thirst for blood takes hold of them (that said, these clearly aren't the soldiers that fed on Bromley, since they're all still vampires, so I don't know what became of them). Knowing what's coming, Frankie tells Edward 

and Audrey to run. He's then grabbed and completely eviscerated, but before Edward can do anything, Audrey is grabbed by a security guard and dragged through a door. Armed with a crowbar, Edward chases after them into the room, using the bar to wedge the door before it can close, and manages to kill two other guards by stabbing them each in the heart and causing them to explode.

In the security station, Audrey struggles with the one guard, jamming her thumb in his eye, then falls back and crawls across the counter, as he grabs at her. She gets a hold of a pen and jams it into his neck, causing him to stumble back while seriously bleeding out. He's then stabbed through the heart from behind by Edward and explodes. With that done, Edward and Audrey watch on one of the security monitors as the soldiers continue feeding on the now dead Frankie. Some of those who've fed on his treated blood suddenly find themselves turned back to human, but

unfortunately for them, that only makes them easy prey for those who are still vampires. An even more savage and gruesome feeding frenzy breaks out, with limbs being ripped off, chunks of flesh being chewed, and gore flying everywhere. When Edward and Audrey come out once it's over, they find only a few shuddering, shell-shocked, human soldiers standing there amid the gruesome scene. Suddenly, they're gunned down, and their killer is revealed to be Caruso, wielding an assault rifle. He tells them that

they're can't be a cure and prepares to kill them as well, when an arrow comes flying through the air and hits him in the heart, after which he explodes. This is revealed to be Elvis' doing, and he then silently walks into the lobby and embraces Audrey, while Edward looks down at Frankie one last time. The sun begins to rise, spilling into the lobby, and illuminating the three of them. The movie ends with them driving off in Elvis' car, while in voiceover, Edward says, "We have a cure. We can change you back. It's not too late."

The score, by Christopher Gordon, who previously did the music for the 1998 TV miniseries of Moby Dick, the 2005 version of Salem's Lot, and, along with three other composers, worked on 2004's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, is effective music in the moment, hitting all the right notes and moods, from epic and grand, to horrific, thrilling, beautiful, and emotional (special mention goes to the music you hear when the Subsiders are destroyed as an example of the latter). But, it's another one of those scores that I cannot remember a single piece of when it's not playing. It's crazy, because I know I thought the music was good when I was watching the movie and when I was collecting screenshots, but now, it has completely fallen out of my head.

It's a shame that Daybreakers has kind of been forgotten except by hardcore horror fans, as it has a lot going for it. You have a very interesting concept that's realized exceptionally well, with some truly great world-building; some awesome and memorable characters played by a number of superb actors; a dynamic and striking visual style; well done sets and real locations; well-executed scenes and sequences; great makeup designs for the vampires in their various forms, as well as a plethora of gruesome gore effects; and well-told, engaging story. Other than some dodgy visual effects here and there, and a music score that isn't likely to stick with you, the only real problem here is that you don't get to get explore this world even more, which is actually kind of another compliment in reality. If you're a fan of vampire movies and you missed this in the theater or you've never even heard of it, it's truly worth your time.