Movie Minx: Daybreakers

What's with the vampire pop-culture overload lately?  Has Twilight ruined vampirism forever?  I've loved vampire stories since I was first introduced to Anne Rice novels too long ago to say here, but now I'm almost ashamed of my indulgence because it's such a tween fad.  I've eagerly consumed vampire stories in both books and film for as long as I can remember, but the backlash against the Twilight series has me considering taking my vamp-love to the closet.  Don't judge me for it, but I even loved Stephanie Meyers' books.  However, I didn't love the first Twilight movie adaptation and I'm waiting for DVD to see the next one.  That being said, I rushed right out on opening weekend to see a new movie with a fresh take on the whole vampire genre.  This time, it's the humans who are hunted down while the vampires run the world.  I was intrigued by the concept and pretty excited to go see Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe in Daybreakers.

I used to like Ethan Hawke.  I don't know why he's become the butt of so many jokes, and I really don't know what happened to make me not really like him anymore but I'm just not drawn to him at all. 

Picture this: the year is 2019 and vampires have taken over the world.  With the human population dwindling, blood supply is dangerously low causing vampire mutations and hysteria around the globe.  The search for a blood substitute is dire after the effects of human-blood deprivation cause even the most normal vampires to degenerate and mutate into mindless, violent creatures with wings.  The few humans who remain free desperately try to avoid the Vampire Army who would turn them over to the mega-corporation who farms human blood to sell.  Ethan Hawke plays a vampire hematologist who sympathizes with the remaining humans and endeavors to help them find a cure for vampirism in order to save humanity.  How cool a concept is that?!  It's super cool to see vamped out ads for teeth whitener and blood served like milk at coffee shops.  Stylistically, I loved the look of the film.  It just lacked something when it came to the flow and had a few too many little holes in the plot. 

Daybreakers reverts to the vampire-horror genre but with social satire thrown in to make it a thinking-person's horror, like something Cronenberg would create but not quite as good.

The one thing that's really sticking with me is, if all the technology is so great (and it does look pretty great), why can't the vampires figure out how to keep the humans alive while they farm their blood?  I mean, we see this crazy Matrix-esque facility where they hook humans up to drain them, while on the other side of the company hematologists run lab trials for blood substitutes, but with all this technology can't they just keep the farmed humans alive to sustain the blood supply?  Humans can regenerate their own blood if in good health so it would make sense to me to just take enough blood from each donor at a time that the body will still be well enough to make more.  Look at cow farmers- they slaughter their stock but know how to sustain their resources.  Maybe I'm just putting way too much thought into this, but that one aspect of the movie bugged me enough to distraction.  Luckily the movie was just good enough to keep me from dwelling too much on that during the screening and left me to ponder it afterwards.   

Willem Dafoe clearly steals the show with his cheeky, drawling character who quips the best lines of the film.  Had there been a few more of those gems, it would've taken the movie up a notch.  "Being human in a world of vampires is about as safe as bare-backing a $5 whore."  Classic!

All in all, I think Daybreakers was a worthy addition to the vampire movie genre. It was imaginative and artistic mixed with action, gore, and social commentary.  Yes, it could've (and should've) been better than it was, but it's still worth a peek in my books.  The third act twist will twist your mind if you think about it too much.  If vampire-horror is your cup of tea, Daybreakers is for you.

Daybreakers is now playing in theaters everywhere and sits in the top 5 at the box office.  I need to go home and watch The Lost Boys now

Movie Minx video pick of the week:

Do vampires make good role models?  Check out what the panel on HoTTTTopiXXXX had to say on that!