At the Movies with Fatwayne

In this latest vampire saga, the blood suckers are in control and make up the majority of the Earth’s population. All of this because of a viral outbreak that appeared in 2009 and turned most of the world’s population into vampires. Jump ahead 10 years to 2019 and there are very few humans left as almost all of them have been “farmed” for their blood to feed the starving vampires. With only a few humans left to provide them with nourishment, they are forced to find a blood substitute or face the very real threat of extinction. To further complicate matters, if a vampire does not receive adequate nutrition he will turn into an even more hideous creature that resembles a very ugly bat on steroids! These creatures have no trouble feeding on their healthier cohorts.

Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, who is a vamp but also a doctor charged with coming up with a suitable blood substitute. He was “converted” by his brother against his will and now has a soft spot in his heart for the remaining humans. If he is successful in his efforts, he reasons that humans will no longer be hunted and farmed for their blood. Through an act of kindness after an automobile accident, Edward meets some humans who he saves from the vampire authorities. One of these people is Audrey Bennet (Claudia Karvan) who tracks Edward down and persuades him to assist the humans. Eventually he meets the leader of the movement to save the hiding humans. This man is Lionel “Elvis” Cormac (Willem Dafoe) who was a vampire himself before a miraculous accident that cured him and transformed him back into a human. Edward realizes that if he can recreate the circumstances that changed Elvis back to human all of his concerns will be answered since this will be a cure for the virus.

Now we meet Charles Bromley (Sam Neill) who heads a large pharmaceutical company in charge of harvesting the human’s blood and finding a substitute. The problem is that he isn’t really anxious to find a cure because he likes being a vampire since as a human he was dying of cancer and now he is immortal. Bromley marshals his forces in an attempt to stop Edward and continue the status quo.

This movie offers the usual exploding vampires and gross feeding frenzies as well as some very good special effects and twists. I found it very interesting that many, if not most, of the blood suckers seemed to be addicted to tobacco! That’s right, they huff and puff all over the place. I guess when you are immortal you no longer fear any threats to your health and who really cares if you smell like an ashtray anyway?!

Quotes from Daybreakers
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Fatwayne’s Rating  -    -