Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig. Starring Harriet Minto-Day, Jay Laga'aia and Damien Garvey. Horror/Sci-fi. Austrlia/USA, 98 minutes. UK-15

DVD release date 31st May 2010. DVD RRP: £19.99. BUY NOW

Our original plan was to open last August’s FrightFest with the Spierig Brothers’ long-on-the-shelf horror sci-fi hybrid. In their wisdom Lionsgate decided to hang on to it some more although they did give the go ahead to a Toronto world premiere to test out if it would play to fans piqued by the Australian duo’s debut zombie feature UNDEAD.

The result of that screening has seen Michael and Peter’s engagingly skilful blend of John Carpenter, Bram Stoker, Philip K. Dick and film noir cut for a 15 rating to reduce it’s massive blood loss. But what’s left is still amiably weird, cleverly devised and pretty wonderful. In 2019 a mysterious plague has swept around the globe transforming the majority population into vampires. Humans are now the minority, an endangered species forced into hiding as they are hunted and farmed for their blood. Humans on the verge of extinction forces the price of real blood sky high, meaning social disorder and dissent. So it’s up to principled vampire scientist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) to create a synthetic plasma substitute to ensure mankind’s survival although his boss Bromley (Sam Neill) has a slightly different agenda. It’s when he helps out a group of scared humans that Edward discovers there just might be a cure for the vampire affliction. But a cure is not what it’s all about in Bromley’s book, especially when he finds his own alienated daughter amongst the pack of human survivors. A pointed allegory on corporate greed and a smart genre staple revitalization, the co-directors coolly and confidently deliver on the raw talent displayed in UNDEAD. True, it’s a bit ragged around the budgetary edges – the BLADE RUNNER-esque cityscapes not quite as convincing as they should be. However the graphic novel design and dark tone is a stylish triumph, the elegantly conceived vampire detailing (sun-proof cars, video mirrors, blood coffee bars) an inspiring feature of the well conceived whole. With inventively engineered shocks (bats flying into view) and great gore gags (the Subsider under-classes being torn apart), DAY BREAKERS is the perfect antidote to the sappy, soppy likes of TWILIGHT trashiness.

Hawke is absolutely terrific as the hero haematologist – his signature role in BEFORE SUNRISE taking on a whole new meaning here – while Willem Dafoe ramps up the fun factor as Elvis Cormac, a Van Helsing/Snake Plissken type with a Big Secret. A word too for Michael Dalton playing Hawke’s conflicted human hunter brother Frankie. Good in ACOLYTES and particularly noteworthy here, Dalton fits into the Spierig’s imaginatively created future like a glove. 

ALAN JONES

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