DAYBREAKERS

DAYBREAKERS

Vampires are still in. In fact, they are hotter than ever.

But of late they have become soft - I'm speaking directly to the silly "Twilight Saga" and HBO's True Blood. However, those productions have their place as they address the inevitable - the evolution of the vampire. Yes, vampires must evolve - just like zombies.

We haven't had much vampire evolving since the 60s and 70s with Baranbus Collins in Dark Shadows. "Daybreakers" is that leap forward in vampire evolution. It presents the complex vampire society in a neo-social viewpoint.

Like "I Am Legend", something has turned ordinary people into blood thirsty vampires. Keeping with tradition, the vampires are afflicted by the same problems as the classic vamps - sun equals a burning death.

However, addressing True Blood, "Daybreakers" has the vampires not just coexisting with humans, but now the dominate species. After turning into vampires individuals continue their lives. They work, they play, they function in a highly evolved society that also happens to include consumption of human blood.

There is just one problem - they are running out of people.

Once again, keeping with a realistic slant, a company called Bromley Marks is the main supplier of human blood to the world of vampires. They capture humans, keep them alive in harvesting rooms, siphon blood from them, package it, and sell it. Capitalism at work on the vampire level.

The company is headed by Charles Bromley (Sam Neill in a deliciously creepy-corporate-evil mode) and he is sweating bullets. Why? They are running out of humans and human blood.

In true necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention manner, Bromley has charged his top vampire scientist to create a synthetic blood to feed the masses. The scientist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is a softer Twilight-like vamp who has sympathies for humans. In fact he only drinks his bare minimum of blood - just enough to sustain.

He is hard at work on the formula but has encountered one slight problem - consuming the synthetic blood kills vampires in a violently grotesque manner - hardly suitable for marketing.

But they need something because as the blood supplies run out, vampires go nuts and attack each other looking for blood. Moreover, Bromley steps up it's efforts to find humans to harvest.

Edward runs across a group, led by Lionel Cormac (William Dafoe) and does his best to hide them from the vampire hunters. All while still researching the fake blood.

But while trying to develop the fake blood, Edward stumbles onto something - a cure for vampirism. But this won't make money either - it would wipe out Bromley. So now it becomes a game of good versus evil, compassion versus greed.

You can't go wrong when you stick with simple plots and that's what "Daybreakers" basically does. It succeeds despite some minor glitches and the need to ad a twist. For a January film, Daybreakers" is surprisingly good and offers an expanded choice after the December holiday season. --GEOFFREY BURTON

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