“Daybreakers” is set ten years in the future after the world has been overrun by an “Epidemic” that turns most of the world into Vampires, and the population is running out of the most valuable resource on the planet – human blood. Hawke stars as Edward Dalton, the leading hematologist searching for a blood substitute in order to save the vampires from morphing into huge human/bat hybrids due to lack of the red man-juice. The obvious tie in to the world’s oil reserves is never hidden, and the fact that all of the cars in the picture are noiseless and electric only serves to heighten the allegory. However the fact that the Spierig brothers have no interest in hiding the “Point” of the movie makes it all the better. This isn’t a film about cerebral commentary on international amenities, it is just pure B-Movie fun.

As more and more of the population slip into decline, starved for the diminished supply of real blood, Dalton refuses to feed on even a drop of the “Real Stuff,” harboring sympathies for the few remaining humans. After a car accident with some honest to God sun-lovers Dalton is drawn into the band of humans who have banded together to find a cure for the plague threatening to overtake the planet once and for all. Among the humans is ex-vamp Elvis played by Willem Defoe. Coming off a decidedly different type of Horror picture, Lars Von Trier’s “Anti-Christ,” Defoe isn’t really swinging for the fences here, but his stunted, even clumsy, performance actually adds to the Midnight Movie feel. Even Ethan Hawke, who usually comes off uber-melodramatic, fits perfectly into the role of the Vampire yearning for his own humanity – think a tougher Edward Cullen with less poofy hair.