The CALM Scramble

ESPAÑOL

This movie has many interesting things. Also, an important warning to read at the end of this post, which as usual keeps my promise not to spoil the movie. It is a good one, but be careful. It isn’t for everyone! We can start as usual by the trailer:

There’s a longer trailer, but this does a good job at not giving too much away (You will have to go to YouTube to watch it). The only problem is that it doesn’t do a great job at setting the right tone for the movie. For that, we have the poster:

Poster for Daybreakers

Indeed, this is above all, a scary movie. Additionally, the first two scenes before the opening credits, make sure that you don’t have a doubt about it. However, it has also action, and a little of corporate intrigue. After all, a corporation runs the farming for the blood supply needed by the vampire populated world. I may add that the opening credits are amazingly composed against images which colors help to keep driving the mood of the movie.

The plot is entertaining and interesting, without being the most brilliant. The beginning of the movie goes planting many of the issues related to this vampire world, but it’s so straight forward about it that it would be overwhelming if we wouldn’t already know so many things about vampires. Some are just planted, but aren’t seen again! The music again is functional in supporting the mood, but not really exceptional. One scene in particular had me remember Psycho, but it was lacking the intensity of it’s clever strings. I’m not a music expert, but that was my take on it. Special effects are what you can expect of Weta Workshop, who’s work you’ve seen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the first two installments of The Chronicles of Narnia. The casting is also remarkable with Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe

For me the most interesting part was how it portrayed a world were almost everyone is immortal. It had that power usually found in science fiction stories. To make it one, you would just need to change being a vampire with having a technology that makes everyone immortal. However, my particular thoughts on the immortality issue were already written in my previous post titled Fear and the Quest for Immortality, and I will keep them out of context as they are there, so that I don’t need to spoil anything as I promised.

In conclusion, it is a good horror movie to watch, with a lot of action and power struggles. But I did mention there would be a warning, and here it is. It is perhaps one of the most gory movies I’ve watched in a long time. Remember I said about District 9 having a lot of blood and gore? Well, this one has more. This isn’t just the type you come out soaked and dripping. It is a little ironic, as this movie comes from the Australian Film Finance Corporation, while Australians are well known for their stringent rating requirements.

For this reason, I would say you don’t watch this one if you can’t stand a lot of blood and gore. You will be closing your eyes a lot, and waiting for those credits to start rolling. However, if you do make it until they roll, you will get a fruit salad for your efforts. Watch it and you’ll know what I’m talking about.