Daybreakers

In Daybreakers, almost everyone in the world has been turned into a vampire following an epidemic disease. The few normal humans left are hunted down and used as blood batteries, ala the Matrix. Unfortunately, they’re running out, and blood-starved vamps seem to turn into mindless bat monsters, permanently. So vampire-kind — led by Sam Neill, by the looks of it — is getting pretty desperate to find a workable artificial source.

Ethan Hawke is a (vampire) blood scientist who stumbles across a band of rogue vamps led by Willem Dafoe. They’ve found a (full or partial) cure for vampirism, which lets them eat food and enjoy sunlight again. I’m assuming that Sam Neill is going to be mightily pissed off at the possibility of losing his power and status, so is going to try to wipe them out before they can bring the good news to vampdom.  Certainly, lots of frenetic action ensues. It’s just a guess of course, but I’m suspecting Ethan will manage to free humanity by the skin of his teeth, killing Sam Neill in the process :)

Daybreakers is an Australian production, written and directed by Peter and Michael Spierig and released by Lionsgate.  It’s got a mid-range budget, but it’s been in post-production for two years now, so they’ve had plenty of time to cram in lots of fun visuals.

A movie with this sort of cookie-cutter adversarial premise can go one of two ways, and it’s almost always impossible to tell which from the trailer (here, via Apple). If it takes itself seriously, it will often fall flat on its face, like Ultraviolet or Jumpers. Alternatively, if it decides to just have fun and shoot for being entertaining, it can be glorious — Underworld, for example. Ethan Hawke has said in interview that the film is an allegory of humanity’s use and misuse of natural resources, but, fortunately, added that it was “completely unpretentious and silly.”

So keep your fingers crossed — it could be some great, cheesy fun! Daybreakers is out early January ‘10.