day 8 - Daybreakers

OK film fans, here's the 1st NEW film I've seen in 2010. Not exactly the one I thought it would be, but some of my co-workers wanted to see it and since certain genres lend themselves to a group atmosphere, I went for it. Well, that was a mistake. There is no atmosphere that would have improved this movie.

To call Daybreakers a bad film isn't completely accurate. But it's not a bad place to start. I'm not sure what was more surprising the amateurish directing; the placid pacing created by shoddy editing or the lack of any actual thrills and chills (but not laughs!). When the only moments that make you flinch are based on the sound of a shrieking bat as it streaks across the screen, you're in deep trouble. The only word I can use to describe my feelings during the film: bored.

Let's get this straight, I LOVE B-movies! You don't grow up spending as much quality time at a drive-in as I did and not cultivate a love for finer points of crap films. And this is quite clearly a B-movie, despite the presence of "name" stars (Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill), a not so subtle subtext of global dependence on oil/our dwindling natural resources as a whole and a mainstream budget. The film drops us into a world where vampires are the norm and simple humans are hunted and stored for their blood.

But this world is running dry, desperate to find a blood substitute before it unravels completely. We get glimpses of the impending crisis, which could have created a vastly different film if properly explored, but the peripherals are not really important to the directors. The metamorphosis of these vampires when deprived of human blood for extended periods is one of the more interesting concepts I've seen come out of a modern horror film and even this is only briefly explored. While the fledgling Spierig Brothers, who wrote and directed the film, may have a future in the horror genre, no one will confuse this film with a masterpiece. In fact, they have a ways to go before they are even directing on a level with modern B-movie master Rob Zombie.

But my biggest problem with this film is that it's ambitions belie its base desires. Despite the glossy exterior, marketing campaign and "name" actors, it wants to be a blood and guts horror film. You can feel it trying to escape the banality of the slower exposition scenes. There are a few times where the brothers really let loose and enjoy themselves, especially in a scene consisting of a literal orgy of blood. But that is the core of great B-movies, the ability to embrace the basest of desires whether it's sex, drugs or violence! You have to give in, tongue firmly in cheek, and revel in it. But that never happens here. And in this wanna be mainstream blockbuster, ironically, all we get is a soulless vampire film with no real bite.