Entertainment, Movies - Navy Times

Return of the undead

Blame it on Wesley Snipes. Vampires never truly go out of fashion. But we’re now awash in the undead, including the latest feature film, “Daybreakers.”

I would argue that the current wave was jump-started by Snipes, who made vampires sexy with the first film in his “Blade” trilogy in 1998.

Among the permutations we’ve seen since then:

Kate Beckinsale in fangs and black leather in the “Underworld” film franchise; Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” books and their film adaptations that have spawned a new “vampire angst” subgenre; HBO’s deliriously whacked-out “True Blood”; and the CW Network’s teen bloodsucker drama, “Vampire Diaries.”

The ability of the folks who churn out our pop-culture spackle to keep crafting new variations on an old theme is remarkable.

“Daybreakers,” written and directed by Aussie sibs Peter and Michael Spierig, has lots of viscera for the gorehead demographic. But it’s also notable for a subtext that riffs on the excesses of the early 21st century’s headlining crop of amoral corporate profiteers.

The military-industrial complex, fat-cat financiers, major pharmaceutical firms and oil conglomerates ravaging Mother Earth all have subtle cameos amid the blood geysers.

The action takes place nine years after a worldwide plague has turned 95 percent of humanity into vampires. The plague hasn’t spared the fauna, either; in one of my favorite lines of the young year, a TV newscaster tells viewers that “vampiric wildlife wandering into the sunlight has become the leading cause of forest fires.”

The humans are hunted and penned like cattle into “Matrix”-ish warehouses, where they’re perpetually bled to provide vampiredom with sustenance.

But the supply is inevitably dwindling as Bromley Marks, the major player in the blood market, and other companies have overharvested. Government blood rationing is in effect, and starving vamps are rioting in the streets.

Adding to the unrest are growing legions of “subsiders” — mutated vampires gone feral for lack of fresh blood, with leathery bat wings and awesome strength matched by frenzied savagery.

Bromley Marks hematologist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is seeking a safe blood substitute for his boss, CEO Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), a corporate bloodsucker, literally and figuratively.

By chance, Edward — who fancies himself a moral purist because he won’t drink human blood — crosses paths with some rebel humans led by crossbow-wielding good ol’ boy Lionel “Elvis” Cormac (Willem Dafoe), who appear to have stumbled upon a cure for vampirism.

But Bromley doesn’t want to hear it. “It’s not about a cure, it’s about repeat business,” he purrs. “Besides, what is there to ‘cure’?”

The film’s flaws are abundant, starting with Dafoe’s wobbly Southern-fried accent. But there are rockin’, shockin’ moments, including a government mass execution by UV rays of a group of captured subsiders and an over-the-top climax that is an orgy of vampire bloodlust.

When you enter the annual post-holiday octoplex dead zone that usually lasts until late April, you learn to take what you can get. Fans of the B-movie vampire ascetic — and you know who you are — could do worse (and surely have, many times) than the moody, stylish “Daybreakers.”

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Rated R for graphic scenes of bloody vampire savagery. Got a rant or rave about the movies? E-mail cvinch@atpco.com.