# Daybreakers

Daybreakers is a 2009 American-Australian sci-fi action horror vampire film written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. The film takes place in a futuristic world overrun by vampires, and centers around a vampiric corporation which sets out to capture and farm the remaining humans while researching a substitute for human blood. Ethan Hawke plays vampire hematologist Edward Dalton, whose work is interrupted by human survivors led by former vampire 'Elvis' (Willem Dafoe), who has a cure that can save the human species.
An international co-production between the United States and Australia, Daybreakers premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009. It was released in the United Kingdom on 6 January 2010 and in North America on 8 January 2010. The film grossed over $50 million worldwide and received mixed critical reception.

## Plot

A plague caused by an infected vampire bat transforms most of the world's population into vampires. As the human population plummets, vampires are faced with blood shortage, with those deprived of blood regressing into monstrous "subsiders." As sunlight is deadly to vampires, they are active during the night, while underground passages and UV-filtered cars are built for daytime travel.
Humans are captured and kept alive for their blood while scientists research a synthetic substitute. As the head hematologist for Bromley Marks, the largest supplier of human blood, Edward Dalton and his colleague Christopher Caruso develop a blood substitute.
While driving home, Dalton accidentally runs another vehicle off the road. Discovering the occupants are humans, Dalton hides them from the police. Before they leave, their leader, Audrey, learns of Edward's name and occupation. At home, Edward is surprised by his estranged brother Frankie with a gift of a bottle of pure human blood. The gift reignites a long-standing argument – Edward refuses to drink human blood, while Frankie enjoys it. A subsider invades the house, forcing the brothers to kill it.
The next morning, Audrey visits Edward and sets up a meeting with Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac, a human who was cured of vampirism. Before Cormac can explain his reversion, a military team arrives with Frankie, who follows Edward and intends to capture Cormac and Audrey. Audrey knocks Frankie unconscious, and the three escape. Cormac reveals that he was cured of vampirism when a car crash ejected him from his sun-proof vehicle. Elvis burst into flames but fell into a river before the sunlight killed him. He theorizes that the brief exposure to sunlight turned him human. Edward agrees to help Cormac recreate the cure and prevent humans from being wiped out.
Edward meets Senator Wes Turner, a human sympathizer secretly helping to develop a cure. Vampire soldiers capture an approaching human convoy and track the vineyard's location, forcing Turner and the humans to flee. Audrey, Cormac, and Edward stay behind. After many painful trials, they successfully cure Edward of vampirism. They later find Turner and all the humans dead.
Alison Bromley, one of the captured humans, is revealed to be the daughter of Charles Bromley (CEO of Bromley Marks). As she refuses to become a vampire, Charles has Frankie forcibly turn her. However, she refuses to drink human blood and devolves into a subsider, and is executed by being dragged into sunlight. Upset by her death, Frankie seeks out his brother. The military imposes martial law to curb the subsider population.
Edward, Cormac, and Audrey break into Christopher's home and ask him to help spread the cure. Having finally discovered a viable blood substitute, Christopher rejects the cure and calls in soldiers, who capture Audrey while Cormac and Edward escape. They are found by Frankie, who agrees to help, but instinctively bites and feeds on Cormac. As it turns out, a cured human is immune to vampire bites, while cured vampire blood is a cure in itself.
Trying to save Audrey, Edward surrenders himself to Charles. Edward taunts Charles into biting him, turning Charles human. Edward leaves Charles to be killed at the hands of blood-starved vampire troops. Frankie arrives and sacrifices himself to the soldiers, allowing Edward and Audrey to escape. In the ensuing feeding frenzy, only a few surviving soldiers are cured. To conceal the cure, Christopher kills the soldiers and is about to shoot Edward and Audrey when Cormac kills him. The three survivors drive off into the sunrise with the cure that will change the general population back to restore humanity.

## Cast

* Ethan Hawke as Edward Dalton. He is a 35-year-old vampire hematologist who was turned by his brother Frankie, and started working for the newly formed Bromley Marks to work on a blood substitute. He shows sympathy for the humans, since he refused to be turned at the start of the plague, and refuses to drink human blood, instead relying on blood from other animals. He volunteers for the project to be turned back into a human and leads a revolution to return the human race back.
* Willem Dafoe as Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac. A former professional mechanic, he was one of the first in the city to adapt cars for daylight driving, with retractable UV screens and exterior cameras. One time, while driving during the daytime, he was exhausted from not drinking blood, which caused him to be distracted and crash his black 1957 Chevy Bel Air into a fence, ejecting him into the sunshine; Elvis burst into flames, but his life was saved when he fell into the water, turning him back into a human due to the precise exposure to the sun. He was found by Audrey.
* Sam Neill as Charles Bromley, ruthless owner of Bromley Marks, the largest provider of blood in the U.S. In 2008, shortly before the plague, he was diagnosed with cancer and expected to live only a few years. He became a vampire to save himself from cancer, at the cost of being rejected by his beloved daughter Alison. He has no interest in becoming human again, since he wants to use the substitute to become the richest man alive and for all eternity.
* Claudia Karvan as Audrey Bennett, who was educating at college during the plague. She hid on her family's old vineyard, and refusing to become a vampire, she gathered humans and sheltered them. She also found the already cured Elvis and sheltered him. They led the group to try to find other survivors.
* Michael Dorman as Frankie Dalton, Edward's estranged younger brother, who turned his brother into a vampire since he was afraid of losing him. Ed had previously said that he would rather die than become a vampire, so Frankie turned him by force because he couldn't bear to have his brother die. Frankie has an epiphany after turning back into a human and wants to help, but is later killed while trying to help his brother.
* Isabel Lucas as Alison Bromley, Charles' estranged daughter, forcibly turned into a vampire by Frankie. She rejected her father and turned into a subsider after drinking her own blood. Her death caused Frankie to have an epiphany and change sides.
* Vince Colosimo as Christopher Caruso, a hematologist, Edward's coworker at Bromley Marks, although much less ambitious than Edward. He succeeds in creating a blood substitute, which would make him wealthy and powerful in a world of vampires, and so is hostile to the possibility of a cure for vampirism.
* Jay Laga'aia as Senator Wes Turner, another vampire who secretly harbors sympathies with humans and wants to help the human race.
* Renai Caruso as Coffee Shop Attendant

## Production

In November 2004, Lionsgate acquired the script to Daybreakers, written by Peter and Michael Spierig. The brothers, who directed Undead (2003), were attached to direct Daybreakers. In September 2006, the brothers received financing from Film Finance Corporation Australia, with production set to take place in Queensland. In May 2007, actor Ethan Hawke was cast in the lead role. Later in the month, actor Sam Neill joined the cast as the main antagonist. Daybreakers began filming on the Gold Coast at Warner Bros. Movie World studios and in Brisbane on 16 July 2007. The production budget was $US21 million, with the State Government contributing $US1 million to the filmmakers. Principal photography was completed on schedule in September 2007, with reshoots following to extend key sequences.
Weta Workshop created the creature effects for Daybreakers. The Spierig brothers wanted the vampires in the film to have a classical aesthetic to them while feeling like a more contemporary interpretation. After experimenting with complex makeup designs, they decided that a more minimalistic approach to makeup had a more powerful effect.
Hawke was initially hesitant to join the production as he was "not a big fan" of genre films. He ultimately accepted the role as Edward after deciding the story felt "different" from that of a typical B movie. Hawke described the film as an allegory of man's pacing with natural resources, "We're eating our own resources so people are trying to come up with blood substitutes, trying to get us off of foreign humans." The actor also said that despite the serious allegory, the film was "low art" and "completely unpretentious and silly".

## Release

Daybreakers premiered on 11 September 2009 at the 34th Annual Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released on 6 January 2010 in the UK and Ireland, 8 January 2010 in North America, and 4 February 2010 in Australia.

### Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 68% based on reviews from 155 critics, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Though it arrives during an unfortunate glut of vampire movies, Daybreakers offers enough dark sci-fi thrills — and enough of a unique twist on the genre — to satisfy filmgoers." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.
Variety gave the film a mixed review stating the film had a "cold, steely blue, black and gray 'Matrix'-y look" going on to say Daybreakers "emerges as a competent but routine chase thriller that lacks attention-getting dialogue, unique characters or memorable setpieces that might make it a genre keeper rather than a polished time-filler." Rolling Stone gave the film two and a half out of four stars and called the film a B movie and a "nifty genre piece".
Roger Ebert also gave the film two and a half stars stating the "intriguing premise ... ends as so many movies do these days, with fierce fights and bloodshed." Richard Roeper gave the film a B+ and called it "a bloody good time."

### Box office

As of October 2010, the global box gross was US$51,416,464, including $30,101,577 in the US. In its opening weekend in the United States, Daybreakers opened at No. 4 behind Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel with $15,146,692 in 2,523 theaters, averaging $6,003 per theater.

### Home media

Daybreakers was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on 11 May 2010 and in the United Kingdom on 31 May 2010. The UK DVD copy was rated as an 18 instead of the original 15 rating that was used for cinema release. A 3D Blu-ray version of the film was released in November 2011. The film was re-released in the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format on September 10, 2019.