Daybreakers is one of those movies where one cannot really discern from the trailers and ads what it might be all about.

I actually like that; I hate movie trailers that tell you the entire story from start to finish - what's the point of going to see the movie then? But back to Daybreakers of which I knew very little before purchasing my ticket and the popcorn (sweet).

Daybreakers is interesting. It's a vampire movie, so that's good to say it outright, because it's about vampires and people and the usual vampiric hero who doesn't like to suck blood and kill his nearest and dearest.

So far, so good.

Daybreakers is unusual because it is set in a Universe where nearly everyone is a vampire, and society has adjusted accordingly. The vampires go to work, watch ads, write subway trains, just not in the daytime, of course ...

However, there's a major problem - they've run out of humans to provide their blood. Our vampiric vegetarian hero is one of the top researchers racing to invent a synthetic blood substitute before the last drops of blood have been consumed.

He's not very successful ...

So I'm going to stop here as I'm about to tell the whole story of Daybreakers and that's not a review, but it is an indication that THERE IS A STORY - hurray! heureka! wow! a movie with a story!!! - and that must always be celebrated, and more urgently so with every year that passes and plots getting ever thinner, and good stories further and further apart ...

There is a story.

There is design and an attempt at making the vampire world come to life and be very real; I thought it was curiously 1980's "Vienna" but then, that did have a very vampiric vibe, so it's a good match.

There is even a suprise ending which is entertaining, and the whole movie runs along from one thing to another in a satisfying and unboring fashion.

There is also a turn-away from 28 Days style uber-bloodsplatter and pointless violence; there is some of it but I was very relieved that most of it wasn't like that, and that the car chases and such were also kept in check in favour of telling the rest of the story.

So I would say that Daybreakers is well worth a visit. It's a cohesive world and a reasonable story; it's entertaining and you'll probably remember it when someone mentions the name in a couple of years time. And we might see a spin off TV series, it had that feel about it.

Good effort, 72 out of 100 Dragon Stars.

SFX Jan 2010