By 2010, we thought we had seen it all in the way of vampire movies. From Bram Stoker’s Dracula to 30 Days of Night and Interview with the Vampire (and yes, even the Twilight franchise), we were never at a loss for films revolving around these nocturnal creatures of the night. Despite the horror subgenre having plenty of representation, 2010 also saw a spectacularly different type of vampire movie premiere, one that showed a new side to vampires that we may have never imagined before. The underrated sci-fi horror movie Daybreakers, set a few years in our world’s future, showed us what life would be like if vampires were the new norm.
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A New and Futuristic Take on Vampires
The premise behind Daybreakers initially sounds like what you would expect from a vampire movie: An infected vampire bat starts a plague that spreads to a large portion of the world, turning many into bloodthirsty creatures by 2019. More and more people are being turned, which means that those who become vampires are left with a horrific blood shortage that turns them into monsters known as subsiders when they are left too long without blood (which are super creepy). As the blood shortage takes hold, the remaining humans are being captured so that scientists can figure out the perfect blood substitute that will prevent more vampires from turning into irreversible monsters.
What makes Daybreakers so unique is not just the performances by Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neil, and many other familiar faces, but also the fact that they truly thought of everything in this movie. Wondering how everybody gets around during the daytime if most of them are vampires who can’t be in the sun? Daybreakers introduced us to cars that are built to protect them as they travel from one area to the next. And what are they doing about the subsider problem as more people are left turning into these creatures due to the blood shortage? That turns into a job for the military, as they impose martial law.
As we follow the plot of Daybreakers, it becomes apparent that there are many problems in this society that continue to present themselves and both normal people and vampires are left to solve them. Ethan Hawke plays the charismatic and highly intelligent Edward Dalton, who continues to show sympathy for humans throughout the movie and only drinks the blood of animals. We also have Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac (Dafoe), who cracked the code for turning back into a human through a car accident. You’ll definitely find yourself rooting for a cure as you watch this movie develop, wondering what will happen next.
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Should We Expect a Daybreakers Sequel?
According to Ethan Hawke himself, the sleeper hit Daybreakers deserves so much more – including a sequel. He compared the movie to the Mad Max series in previous interview: “I imagine sometimes that Daybreakers could be Mad Max and the sequel to it could be Road Warrior. You know how different Mad Max was to Road Warrior, maybe Road Warrior is such a great sequel because it was completely different. But I’m really interested to see what it’s like in Nebraska with the subsiders.”
It never seemed too far-fetched to expect a sequel. In fact, even filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig have also revealed that they would be interested in a sequel or even a prequel, going as far as to write out a massive back-story surrounding the possible series.
“We’ve written a series of graphic novels which explains the entire history of things prior to the movie,” Peter Spierig told MovieWeb back in 2010. “So maybe that will come out in that form or maybe it will come out in another form. Who knows. Maybe it will just be for us.”
Even though they have been interested in the possibility, there are currently no plans in the works for a sequel. Despite this, Daybreakers is incredibly rewatchable so we can enjoy this sci-fi take on vampires again and again. We can even tie the movie’s ideas into our lives today, as they deal greatly with classism, politics, and going against the norm.
You can stream Daybreakers for free on Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Pluto TV.
