The Movie Diorama An original vampire flick? Impossible! Yet, the Spierig brothers managed to flip a typical clichéd vampire story on its head to create something as fresh as human blood. That doesn't prevent the overall production from feeling inexpensive, but it maintains your attention throughout. A vampire hematologist is tasked with researching for a blood substitute as the remaining human population dwindles, meaning vampires will have no blood left. Just the originality alone is enough to quench our bloodythirstiness, considering it was released during a period of genre saturation (no thanks to 'Twilight'). The Spierig brothers fortunately managed to perpetuate a sense of intellectual world building, particularly in the first act. Immediately, this dark futuristic world is thoroughly explored, from the degenerative "subsiders" to the laboratory farms that harvest humans. Retaining dark gothic aesthetics without requiring towering spires and grand cathedrals. The story, whilst executed basically, illustrates the desperation that the vampire race is facing. Humanity faces extinction and the chic vampires face degenerating into psychotic bat creatures. There was just enough meat in the plot to keep me invested. Hawke is consistently decent as always, same can be said about Dafoe, both giving convincing and moody performances. Neill was perfect casting as the corporate antagonist, exhuming a menacingly calm demeanour. The visual effects however, were B-grade at best. So horrendously cheap looking that the production value deteriorated instantly and, on multiple occasions, took me out of the film. Laughably poor. The final act loses its intellectual plot and succumbs to mindless action with blood gushing everywhere. Whilst I appreciate the practical effects during these sequences, it just lets the overall narrative down. All that build up with minimal payoff, ultimately leaving a metallic aftertaste. For what it is worth though, the innovative premise, world building and performances converted me.

Andy Van Scoyoc This movie is amazing in one aspect...the way the vampires live, at night, the way the rest of us do in the daylight.During the day, the world is barren and empty. It looks as if everyone just disappeared.At night though, it's busy. There's jobs, bills to pay, cars have been altered in case of the need for daytime driving, news anchors, senators, police...everyone , every person, is a vampire...with only a handful of survivng humans...and any that are captured, are "farmed" for their blood.But...like any group or majority in power, there's always going to be someone who feels sorry for the minority/underdog...and in this movie, the humans couldn't have gotten a better ally in the form of Ed, a Hematologist with a heart who is tasked with finding a way to synthesize a blood substitute against the ever dwindling human population.With no blood, when humans are finally extinct...so are vampires...or worse yet, turn into these pitiful, grotesque creatures that, in popular fiction, have always been the base animal of what is, a vampire. Savage, feeding on their own bodies, they are powerful and insane...a bad combination for the vampires who consider them a disgusting sub species. The ending was lack luster and a let down, but the rest of the movie makes up for the disappointing finish.Definitely worth a watch.

imizrahi2002 but i really didn't like that this movie only has a 6.5 rating... so in order to factor in the 'vote'i've given it, i'll write this, too...it deserves more of a 6.8-7.0, really... it DOES seem to suffer in places for lack of budget...and it might've been a GREAT, underground sort of film with a less physical, more cerebral resolution...but great endings are what good writers get paid for...this was a good one. at least adequate to the task... but it was no follow through for an imaginative story/take. still...i think they did well with what they had. provided an atmosphere that, i think, was hard for some to 'dwell in'. contributing to its low rating. but that's part of the subtlety of the film's artistry. just as a good writer will make you feel uncomfortable, reading about a place with humidity in the 90 percentile, so did these filmmakers help me sense the 'stench'...the decay and desperation of the world they created... i'd like to see what these guys do with more money. it's been a while since this film...gotta look and see if they got another chance...

Lundgrenja I've returned to this movie once after it's initial release and I'd imagine that I'll find myself doing that more and more even though I don't rate it all that high. The reason for that is the movies incredibly strong core concept that puts a fascinating twist on a vampire dystopian mythos. In Daybreakers vampires rule the earth and they are scavenging for the last humans in order to feed and survive. The story is told from the perspective of a vampire scientist working on a blood substitute but as the story unfolds it is clear that he's sympathetic to the human cause, which puts him in a minority amongst other vampires. Soon the vampiric society starts falling apart as the blood dries up and starving vamps go insane due to their hunger and turn into beings ruled by instinct rather than reason.What makes Daybreakers a movie worth returning to are these ideas of a vampire society on the brink of toppling itself due to it's own greed and hunger rather than the vampires being a mythological minority. This makes for an interesting twist on classical human tropes of greed, justice and morality. Unfortunately, and this is what ultimately holds the movie back from being great, the writers never seized this potential and instead this is a run of the mill action movie that chooses to use cheap plot points for thrills and effects rather than the larger themes for afterthought and world building.In a perfect world this movie would be slower paced and forty minutes longer where the plot isn't about Ethan Hawkes character Edward Dalton trying to find a cure and later survive, instead it's about Dalton slowly realizing his disgust with the way of the vampiric society as it's dark side becomes clearer and clearer as the blood starts to drain up. Willing human donors are quickly replaced by forced human donors and individual cases of blood charity becomes an industrialized farming. I want to see more of how the greed and desperation is a driving force and how that drives Dalton into exile and from trying to feed vampires through other means into seeing their greed as a road block that can not be solved without viewing vampirism as a decease. I'm rambling now but lost potential will do that sometimes. I recommend this movie strongly to anyone that is looking for one of the good vampire movies that are out there and especially to anyone that is able to see the greatness that this could have been.