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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Daybreakers

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Daybreakers reviews
57
6.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 59 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Drama  |  Horror  |  Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Peter Spierig
Michael Spierig

Directed by: Peter Spierig
Michael Spierig

Release Date:
Theatrical: January 8, 2010
DVD: May 11, 2010

Running Time: 98 minutes, Color

Origin: Australia | USA

Summary

RATING: R for strong bloody violence, language and brief nudity

Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Michael Dorman, Vince Colosimo, Isabel Lucas, and Sam Neill

Two-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, in which an unknown plague has transformed the world's population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race. (Lionsgate)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Time Out New York Joshua Rothkopf

A darkly stylish horror film.

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75

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Daybreakers is more serious, from its A-list cast to its political commentary, with blood as a metaphor for oil. Like the best genre films, it has something on its mind.

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75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Peter and Michael Spierig's earlier, campier horror outing, the zombie picture known as "Undead," was even bloodier than this one. The movie-makers are after bigger game here, and a subtler mixture of speculative nightmare and action film.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

While the characters are B-movie thin, the dialogue standard-issue, and the CG and matte effects only passable at best, it's undeniable fun to behold the likes of serious thespians Hawke and Dafoe slumming around in this cheeseball stuff.

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75

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Daybreakers has unexpected flashes of brilliance.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The symbolism is about as subtle as a fang to the neck. Really, Daybreakers is more fun than foreboding; it's fright-lite, yet that's par for the bloody course in these busy apocalyptic days.

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75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

On balance, however, there are more things to like about Daybreakers than to dislike. The production is loaded with impressive touches, some more nuanced than others.

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70

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

The narrative may flag, but the doomsday atmosphere and George Liddle’s production design remain vivid until the final, blood-splattered reel.

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70

Chicago Reader Cliff Doerksen

Just when it seemed as if the vampire narrative had degenerated into terminal suckitude, along comes this gleefully gory little gem.

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70

Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz

Daybreakers isn't a great film, but it's a good one, and in a market oddly lousy with vampire tales, it's an original.

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67

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

It’s a little bit silly – as is Dafoe’s Kentucky-fried cowboy mechanic named Elvis – but silly is fun. In fact, one wishes it were sillier still.

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63

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This intriguing premise, alas, ends as so many movies do these days, with fierce fights and bloodshed.

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63

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Daybreakers, despite the star presence of Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, is a B movie, with all the disreputable low rent, lowbrow pleasures that implies. I'll take that over pompous any day.

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63

Premiere Nick Starkey

A slick, bloody, fast-paced, and ultimately enjoyable B-movie.

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63

USA Today Claudia Puig

Daybreakers is entertaining, though not quite up to the standards of "28 Days Later."

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63

New York Post Kyle Smith

Possibly the least sexy vampire flick ever to crawl out of the crypt (it never occurs to anyone that biting someone's neck is kinda intimate; the act is strictly utilitarian), but it's unusually detailed in its imagining.

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60

Empire Helen O'Hara

Lots of interesting concepts competing for limited running time make for more of a TV pilot than a feature film.

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60

Boxoffice Magazine Steve Ramos

The Spierigs make exciting use of their clever vampire premise and the result is a potential horror/action franchise equal to "Underworld."

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60

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The idea goes only so far--roughly halfway through the 98-minute running time--in staining narrative clarity. Daybreakers finally comes up with some comments on the predatory practices of Big Pharma, but that's an awful comedown from the blood-rushing brilliance of the early scenes.

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60

Variety Dennis Harvey

The script doesn't wring many surprises or much character involvement from the premise, and the brothers' helming, while slick, is short on scares, action setpieces and humor.

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58

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

After a while, Daybreakers settles into the lulling rhythms of too many horror movies, as the characters ponder what to do in darkened rooms instead of doing much of anything.

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50

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

Wearisome "Ain't it cool?" video-game splatter-violence is all that's memorable of the action, while a (mixed) metaphorical subtext of conservationism can't save a text that squanders its actors.

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50

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Daybreakers turns
into a ponderous apocalyptic chase film -- it's like "Children of Men" with exploding-plasma shock effects.

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50

Time Richard Corliss

In standard-narrative terms, Daybreakers suffers from tired blood. No question the Spierigs are prime film imagineers. What they needed here was a director.

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50

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Hawke gives his all here -- or maybe just half his all -- and it isn't quite enough: He's trying to be soulful, but he really just looks a little tired. The real delight is Willem Dafoe, as the rednecky leader of the survivor humans.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Hawke is half-assed throughout, showing passion only when he's screaming like a little girl when something scary happens. The visuals have a dingy, unfocused quality, especially in the muddy visual-effects-enhanced backdrops. And some of the plot turns are awful. The vampire "cure" is so stupid, you'll want to walk out of the theater, even if you normally like this kind of movie.

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50

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Despite the Spierig brothers' punchy visual style and satiric tone, Daybreakers eventually devolves, though Dafoe and his Southern drawl goose things up and Hawke has a greasy romanticism.

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50

The Hollywood Reporter Maitland McDonagh

The Spierigs have assembled a strong cast, but even their best efforts -- notably by Neill, whose Bromley is the ultimate vampire squid, tentacles wrapped around the face of this scary new world -- can't pump any real life into the bloodless script.

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38

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

In the end, Daybreakers doesn't really want to make anyone think too hard. If that were to happen, they might stop to wonder why all the human survivors out there hiding in fear of their lives don't just become garlic farmers and call it a day.

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38

Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore

Daybreakers is a stylish but unavoidably silly sci-fi vampire thriller.

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30

Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona

Any higher intentions are brought crashing down by predictability, wooden characters, giggle-inducing attempts at scares (shrieking bats, anyone?) and cinematography so gloomy it should be checked for serotonin deficiency.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 59 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Edward D. gave it an8:
I can't believe all the nitpicking about this movie. I initially did not go to see this because of what I read. I thought it was a very interesting story....a new twist for a vampire story. It was very well done from start to finish.......quality acting, well known and interesting actors. I read one comment that Sam Neil's daughter added nothing. Wrong again, it added horror and pathos to the story. I enjoyed this movie more than "Sherlock Holmes". This held my interest where Sherlock started to bore me. I recommend this movie to anyone who is a horror fan.

Nerijus D. gave it a2:
A pretty bad film.

Caleb R. gave it a7:
I honestly really enjoyed this movie. but i just felt that it couldve been better as a television series on a channel such as hbo or showtime so that way it could keep the gruesome vampireness but also add to the story maybe flesh certain things out a little more and maybe stretch the original plot of the movie out a little to maybe make a first season as i felt like the movie kindave moved to fast without really explaining certain things to just move on to the next scene. also WHY THE HELL IS THE MAIN CHARACTER NAMED EDWARD! I WANTED A REAL VAMPIRE MOVIE NOT A HOMAGE TO A SPARKLY POSER!

Joe S. gave it a5:
This movie could've had better and more entertaining ways of killing vampires, I kind of thought it sucked to with everyone a vampire and the sun was the cure to convert you back into a human lol, usually it's used to kill vampires lol, I didn't think it was the best vampire movie, From Dusk Till Dawn was way better the one with George Clooney and Qintan Tarentino not any of the other sequels though lol.

Timothy K. gave it a5:
Style over substance. This movie is like a Corvette with a moped engine. Looks cool and small snippets are visually stunning but overall the movie is a simple Meh on the scoreboard of fun. I didn't really want to see this movie because I did see these directors first movie "Undead" which is probably the worst zombie movie ever created. Dafoe's role as "Elvis" and Niel's role as "the bad boss guy" both felt contrived. The characters were so 1 dimensional you probably could guess what they were going to say before they said it, I guess cliche' would be a good way to describe. I was overall hoping that the transformed vampires deprived of blood would be more bad ass but instead they were simply caught and killed by the vampire army like it was no big deal. The story of Sam Neil's daughter was completely unnecessary. I would wait to rent it or better yet for TV.

Mike M. gave it a7:
I thought the detail of the Vampire society was very good. The acting wasn't as bad as I've been reading, aside from some pretty cheesy lines. This isn't going to be a deep story to begin with so I had no real problem with, "the cure", even though I can see how someone who wasn't enjoying the first hour could be turned off by it. If your in the mood to see a good horror type movie, and don't go into it wanted to pick it apart I think you'll be thoroughly entertained.

K L gave it a5:
Even though "Daybreakers" is pure fantasy........it would help if the premise it was set in was halfway believable. In less than 10 years we are led to believe that humans have virtually been wiped out and replaced by the vampires. But not even the black death,The Spanish flu, AIDS ,small pox couldn't come close to decimating the human race to such epic proportions as depicted in "DayBreakers". If Daybreakers was set 100 years from now then you might just have a more credible setting......but set just 10 years from now........not very credible at all. The action was okay.....but nothing not seen countless times before, but what let the film down most was the TERRIBLE.....TERRIBLE script......not even Sam Niell or Dafoe could improve things. There is most likely going to be a sequel......but please please employ somone that can write a decent script next time!

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