Daybreakers: Matrix with Vampires?

[TheLogman]

So, just saw an ad for this new movie, Daybreakers.

In the near future everyone becomes vampires, except for some people. So now, in a case of pure irony, the spread of the vampires means they are starving, because they can't drink their own blood, and there are more vampires than humans.

And all the humans are stuck in these coma-boxes that look like the Matrix tubes.

So now the good vampires gotta save the humans or something. But that would mean that the entire world would starve.

Or something.

And now the remaining humans are protesting, even though not having humans would kill all the vampires.

Not real sure on the plot, or any moral lesson there might be.

Be assured there will be questionable science and blood and vampire doctors abound!

[SurlySeraph]

...and they can't find a way to grow blood cells artificially? Or extract bone marrow stem cells to produce more blood cells? Or have a big old civil war to reduce their population until it's sustainable? Or just continue their human-farming operations except with more artificial insemination to increase the population? Granted, the way that guy's face was swelling in the trailer suggested to me that there was some kind of disease the normal humans were getting, which would be a good excuse for them running out of blood - kind of like a crop plague. /mandatorycomplaints.

Anyway, looks entertaining enough to me, and it does look like they put actual thought into it. I'm guessing the plot is going to be that the human resistance is on the brink of finding an artificial blood substitute like they mentioned in the trailer (presumably one that the vampire scientists can't find due to needing sunlight to make it or the Indomitable Human Spirit or something), and the vampires who realize this are trying to keep the humans alive long enough to produce the substitute, while the vampire authorities just want to take them to the blood farms since they're running out of food now. There will, of course, be plenty of semi-pointless fighting and explosions and special effects.

[golentan]

I will love them to pieces if they use the phrase "Peak Blood."

It looks like it could be cool, or it could be a dumb Rick flick. We'll find out.

And they can't use vat marrow cultivation because it needs a human soul, of course (I actually have no idea).

[bosssmiley]

Blade did the vampire-in-mirrorshades aesthetic first.
Ultraviolet (the 90s TV series, not the crappy films) did the vampires farming humans idea first.

Pass.

[Hunter Noventa]

One of the trailers mentioned something about a cure, presumably for the vampirism, haven't seen it since though.

[reorith]

i will see this film. it might suck, it might be awesome, but the deal was sealed as soon as the trailer included running up that hill by placebo. that said, i will most definitely see this film in 3B, three beers.

[endoperez]

Blade did the vampire-in-mirrorshades aesthetic first.
Ultraviolet (the 90s TV series, not the crappy films) did the vampires farming humans idea first.

Pass.

Dracula did vampires first.

Pass - wait, it looks like they're doing it differently, possibly better, in this movie than in that book, so actually I'm moderately interested. Who'd have thought about reusing an old idea!


My first thoughts were actually something like "this is like the idea of I Am Legend (the book), except they took it and went to a different direction" - and that's quite promising. I'll wait for the reviews, but I might see it at some point.

[Fin]

I would be worried about this merely being a film created to cash in on those that protest the Twilight Series (which I hate by the way). It would be so easy for film makers right now to make a film and say 'Look our vampires don't sparkle, we did em right.... but our film otherwise sucks real hard!' and the many people that have a hatred for Twilight, only rivaled by the love those many many fangirls have for it, will literally throw themselves at it not realizing the mistake they have made.

However I do hope it is good and probably will be seeing it :smallcool:

[Vizzerdrix]

.... The only happy ending this can possibly have is if every last filthy bloodsucker gets staked out in the sun. Every. Last. One.

Yes. When it comes to vampires, I am a racist. The only good one is a dead one.

[Jamin]

.... The only happy ending this can possibly have is if every last filthy bloodsucker gets staked out in the sun. Every. Last. One.

Yes. When it comes to vampires, I am a racist. The only good one is a dead one.

Than they are all good.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Dracula did vampires first.

coughcarmillacoughjohnpolidoricough

[GallóglachMaxim]

Yes. When it comes to vampires, I am a racist. The only good one is a dead one.

Vampires aren't a race, they're an acquired template.

[xPANCAKEx]

trust nerds to ruin what could possibly be quite an entertaining movie

it could suck
it could be immense

lets wait and see

and the only thing that should sparkle about a vampire is the jewelery they've stolen/bought/aquired over hundreds of years of existence

[Cheesegear]

...So...I'm going to be the first to mention Last Blood (http://lastblood.keenspot.com/) am I? The third-best webcomic around...

[Tyrant]

Well, I went to go see this earlier today. I thought the movie was okay. I was entertained but I won't call it groundbreaking or anything like that. There was a certain amount of fridge logic (assuming you made it to the fridge and not, say, your car in the parking lot) but if you can look part it, the movie is good. The last 10-15 minutes do seem a little out of place with the rest of the movie though, in my opinion. It also feels like there was either material cut or a few things simply weren't thought out.

Spoilers for anyone interested. Heavy spoilers.
These are, for the most part, classical vampires. They have no reflection (which means they need cameras and vid screens to check their appearance), a stake through the heart or sunlight causes them to burst into flames. The humans seem to favor crossbows. I would have thought guns would work if you used high caliber bullets, but maybe it really did need to be wood through the heart. Despite these things, it is apparently a virus. A virus started by a bat, no less. Society has been transformed into a nighttime society. The windows either reflect sunlight or they have armored shutters that cover them during the daylight hours. Their cars have top mounted dome cameras and glass that can black out for daytime driving. They also have a tunnel system to get around during the day. They never mention if they sleep or not that I recall. There are public warnings to remind everyone that dawn is approaching. It takes place in 2019.

So, that's their world in a nutshell. Hawke works for the company in charge of distributing blood. He is trying to find a substitute because the supply is running out. We are also shown that if the vampires go for a while without blood, they become more monsterous and bat like. They attack other vampires and have tremendous strength. This raises a few questions and the movie doesn't do itself any favors here. One has to wonder how they haven't seen this coming. They act like they are just now realising this is what happens if they don't get blood. They have had 10 years and they only now find that out. They don't really go into why they don't drink animal blood, or if they are or aren't for that matter. I assumed that the dwindling human stock meant that animals were either long since drank dry or only human would do. Oddly enough though, they test their substitute on monkeys. Monkeys that have fangs, meaning they have vampire monkeys. So, if you can gloss over this part, the movie is decent. I hope there are cut scenes that address these points because they seem like kind of obvious flaws.

The movie does do a decent job of conveying how society would possibly stop progressing if everyone were made immortal. There are those in the movie who revel in their immortality and of course there are those who gripe and moan about it. There are vampire kids too. I don't know if post apocalyptic is really the best descriptor because civiliation is still there. It's just that it isn't humans living in it anymore.

The end had the potential for something interesting. They do find a cure for vampirism (one that isn't a stake through the heart) and they also develop synthetic blood that works (after a rather spectacular set back earlier in the movie). The hero seems to completely blow off the synthetic blood even though it could stop what's left of society from tearing itself apart. The one mass distribution of the cure didn't leave very many people standing so I question it's ability to save humanity. They never really addressed the possibility of people wanting to stay as vampires. Or rather, the one guy who obviously did was a soulless monster before he became a vampire.

They don't save the planet at the end of the movie. They drive off into the sun. It might have been the dawn actually, which was a nice twist on the usual sunset if it was.

Oh well, I was entertained.

Edit to add: The only way it is like the Matrix is the whole "humans farmed for blood" being similar to "humans farmed for energy". The vampires are nowhere near as conservative or far thinking and most of the movies centers on vampire characters. It would be like if someone like The Oracle were the main character of the Matrix instead of Neo or maybe if Neo were an agent or something.

[FuegoAzul]

The weird thing is, in the original Dracula novel, Vampires can drink the blood of other Vampires. (Dracula drinks the blood of the people he infects)

But it looks pretty cool. Combining Vampires and the matrix is an admirable idea.

[Minstrel Cowboy]

I'm looking forward to seeing it in the near future. Do you mean that it has a sci-fi twist? I hope so. I love a nice surprise like that.

[SuperMuldoon]

Saw it last night. I enjoyed it. I felt it was a good movie and entertaining, but like mentioned above its not groundbreaking. Its got some fun gore though, and thats always a plus in my book!

[The Glyphstone]

...So...I'm going to be the first to mention Last Blood (http://lastblood.keenspot.com/) am I? The third-best webcomic around...

Now if only it hadn't stopped updating.

[Tyrant]

The weird thing is, in the original Dracula novel, Vampires can drink the blood of other Vampires. (Dracula drinks the blood of the people he infects)
I think they were going for it being a degenerating condition so further exposure to it would just speed things up. Honestly, I always assumed it worked like it does in the Anne Rice novels where vampire can become more powerful by drinking the blood of other vampires. I always thought that made sense with their blood being more powerful.

But it looks pretty cool. Combining Vampires and the matrix is an admirable idea.
I wish I would have said a little more there, if you're referring to my point on not simply the thread title. The idea in the movie of using humans like that is at least as old as the first Blade movie (probably older, but that's where I first recall seeing it large scale like this). I believe they were deleted scenes in that one, but one of the characters does question Deacon about where they will get blood once he transforms the world into vampires and he shows her that they are already stockpiling humans to keep alive and keep pumping blood. I know the idea was working in full by Blade 3.

I'm looking forward to seeing it in the near future. Do you mean that it has a sci-fi twist? I hope so. I love a nice surprise like that.
Not sure if this was directed at me, but if you're asking about the end of my spoilered comment, what I mean is In movies where the character rides off, it's usually into the sunset. In this movie, if I recall it correctly, they rode off into the sun rise. The sunset would symbolise darkness falling once more in a world full of vampires whereas the sunrise can be seen as heralding a new day when humanity can once again walk free.. If you weren't asking about that, ignore all that.

[alchemyprime]

.... The only happy ending this can possibly have is if every last filthy bloodsucker gets staked out in the sun. Every. Last. One.

Yes. When it comes to vampires, I am a racist. The only good one is a dead one.
What? How could you?

Amen, Brother. DEATH TO THE BLOOD SUCKERS!

Or at least the all of them.

[comicshorse]

Seems to me that unless the cure works on the subsiders ( ?) Vamps the entire world is doomed

[Mr. Scaly]

I got the feeling that there was a sub theme of 'capitalism = bad' by the very end. Spoilered in case no one cares about my wild guessing. :smallwink:

I mean what exactly is the villain's motivation? To make money. He'd control the synthetic blood output he'd stand to make a killing...the demand for it would be huge. And millions would be helped by it. Society could continue without turning into the bloodbaths caused by the hero's cure. And of course he'd oppose the hero's cure since it would cut into the market. Thus he becomes the bad guy instead of the man with a solution.

And there's also that other scientist who actually developed the synthetic blood. Why exactly does he turn on the hero in the end? I could only guess that it was because a cure would mean he'd lose a lot of money from royalties...I can't think of any other reason.

All done. Overall, I didn't think the movie was too bad...as long as you ignore all the scientific aspects of it and take it as a corny vampire movie with lots of blood and special effects. I did like the portrayal of vampires though...being one sucks! It's not romantic or cool at all, it's a miserable existence dependent on blood to retain rational thought. After years of twilight, that was gratifying, I'll tell you that

[FuegoAzul]

I got the feeling that there was a sub theme of 'capitalism = bad' by the very end. Spoilered in case no one cares about my wild guessing. :smallwink:

I mean what exactly is the villain's motivation? To make money. He'd control the synthetic blood output he'd stand to make a killing...the demand for it would be huge. And millions would be helped by it. Society could continue without turning into the bloodbaths caused by the hero's cure. And of course he'd oppose the hero's cure since it would cut into the market. Thus he becomes the bad guy instead of the man with a solution.

And there's also that other scientist who actually developed the synthetic blood. Why exactly does he turn on the hero in the end? I could only guess that it was because a cure would mean he'd lose a lot of money from royalties...I can't think of any other reason.

All done. Overall, I didn't think the movie was too bad...as long as you ignore all the scientific aspects of it and take it as a corny vampire movie with lots of blood and special effects. I did like the portrayal of vampires though...being one sucks! It's not romantic or cool at all, it's a miserable existence dependent on blood to retain rational thought. After years of twilight, that was gratifying, I'll tell you that

Agreed. Evil, badass Vampires beat good, romantic vampires any day.

[Dienekes]

I was lost with the term "good vampire" came up.

One day vampires will go back to true evil psychopaths with deep seated hatred toward all humanity. Someday.

[chiasaur11]

What? How could you?

Amen, Brother. DEATH TO THE BLOOD SUCKERS!

Or at least the all of them.

Well, maybe not the one guy who works at the Times. He seems a decent enough sort of chap.

In fact, maybe not many Black Ribboners.

Other than that, though...

[Mauve Shirt]

I was laughing since I learned the good vampire who doesn't drink blood was named Edward, and I didn't stop for the entire film. :smalltongue: Gory at times, but silly.