Daybreakers (2010)
Daybreakers (2010) — So I saw this yesterday and I dug it. It has that future-noir look of a much darker Gattaca and a nifty little allegory about overconsumption of natural resources. But first and foremost: it’s a blood-drenched vampire movie where they are NOT sparkling douchebags who just want to cuddle, but rather are mean motherfuckers who want to rip your god damn throat open and slurp down your blood. Or rather that’s what they are in essence. When they have blood they’re pretty much the same as people. Ethan Hawke even is an animal-drinker who feels bad about what he is, much like the characters of a far-shittier franchise. But when he hasn’t had blood in a while his new human friends start to look like a mighty fine meal. Because in addition to thirst, without human blood they turn into weird bat monsters, who are even nastier. Just as blood-hungry, but without the humanlike social niceties. Sam Neill is the prick vampire head of a major corporation who factory-farms human blood and sees no reason why vampire-kind should change. He funds research for a blood substitute because human blood is running out, but just to buy time to repopulate the human herds. He likes what he is and is set to destroy pretty much anyone who doesn’t agree. But this is a movie best not overanalyzed (the clichés are readily apparent) this is a bat monster-filled, exploding vampire-filled (mostly on fire, once more mushy) movie where humans are gruesomely dismembered, especially the climax, which is orgiastic in its gore (narratively the movie doesn’t hold up so well at the end, but fuck it, it’s a gore flick). Another glorious reminder that vampires do not fucking sparkle…
Persistence of Vision 