Out for Blood

The notion of vampires taking over the world is a scary one to swallow. Imagine, if you will, living in a nightmarish reality where there is a great chance that you will encounter one of these vicious bloodsuckers. In “Daybreakers,” vampires are incredibly common, and humans are in the minority. However, finding a cure is the only way to get everything back to normal, and survival is the key in order to have that chance.

The human race is in danger of becoming extinct because of the mysterious plague that has taken over, causing almost everyone to transform into a vampire. Being faced with a decreasing blood supply, the dominant race of vampires, including Charles Bromley (Sam Neil), the head of a research facility for vampires, comes up with a way for them to survive by farming the blood. A researcher named Ed Dalton (Ethan Hawke) joins a group of humans, including Lionel Elvis Comac (Willem Dafoe), who was once a vampire and has miraculously turned back into a homo sapien, sans blood-sucking. This leads Dalton to find a cure, one that can possibly save the human race.

“Daybreakers” is a fun and witty vampire movie, similar to what we have seen in the past, but what is so unique about this film is that it has a plot that flows, and can be quite enjoyable for vampire-movie fans.

The acting is also quite good. Hawke and Dafoe are the charismatic, likeable good guys with several funny one-liners. Neil is engaging as the quintessential villain, one who you have no choice but to hate. Overall, the actors do a good job of portraying their roles properly.

There are also a few heart-pounding scenes that will make you jump during this film, which gives a mean kick to the old adrenaline. Several of them involve sub-siders, which are vampires that are mutated.

Knowing that, “Daybreakers” is not “Twilight.” Nothing about it resembles a love-story vampire flick that you would cuddle up next to a date to go watch. It is much gorier and scarier, leaving chills down your spine, instead of warm tears streaming down your face.

With that said, “Daybreakers” is definitely worth the watch, and captures a much more interesting aspect of the vampire flick.

Leave your teenage daughters home for this one.