The end is nigh, or so many on the planet believe. Whether it be terrorism, climate change, plague, or war, many people believe the human race has not long to live. Unless we adapt and fast, we’re pretty much screwed. Is it even possible for us to adapt? And should we adapt to suit the society we have created (inadvertently or not), or should we try to change that society presumably for the better?
In Michael and Peter Spierig’s second feature film Daybreakers, the year is 2019 and due to a plague ten years previous, 95% of the human race have become vampires. The few remaining humans are either in hiding or farmed for blood. But that blood is running out and fast. Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a hematologist working for a large blood corporation in search of a blood substitute. They have discovered that if vampires do not get regular doses of human blood (or an appropriate substitute), they will become strange human-bat hybrids with purely animal instincts. Most of the vampires are content with the way things are (after all they are now immortal), but Dalton is not. His sympathies align him with one of the large groups of humans, who believe they have found a cure for vampirism.
