What can Lionsgate do with only about $20 million dollars?
This horror flick features Ethan Hawke, Willam Dafoe, Sam Niell, and uuhh….I think there was a girl involved.
Due to the introduction of The Twilight Saga our film community has embraced a new era of vampire lovers! Hollywood decided not to slowly dip there toes in the water but to go headfirst making a splash about the kind of vampires we all grew up watching. You and I remember watching Buffy take down some nasty vampires(but mostly demons) and we watched Angel struggle through the most depressing yet fulfilling non-life ever! However those stories, as clever as they were, never deemed worthy a $20 million budget!
Brothers Michael and Peter Spierig directed the film and they must be ecstatic for it to have grossed over $15 million and hit #4 on IMDB on it’s opening weekend. Oh and by the way…this is
their 3rd movie to direct! WOW! Way to go guys! Too bad the momentum has slowed down severely. As of Jan 18th over 59% of their total gross was made opening weekend.I must admit that I LOVE vampire movies! I love the idea of a creature dealing with a “blood lust” not easily subdued. It is an extreme representation of the Human Condition. Have you ever wondered why you get so angry for no legitimate reason? Have you ever considered why you might “get up on the wrong side of the bed”? Lets face it, some days we just don’t feel like dealing with things the way we should. Some days Gandhi woke up saying…”whew! These political activists really piss me off!” …….Well, ok……you know he at least thought about it and then retorted to himself why he was being ridiculous. It’s just like you; when you pass a homeless guy. A part of you wants to help, and the other part of you wants to condemn him for the situation he’s in. So you do nothing. Oh wait…my bad! You’re not the person who struggles with that? We all struggle with something on this level. You’ll know what you struggle with when you start a conversation with, “It might be wrong of me to think this way, BUT…” and of course we ALL help you justify your ethical fallibility. This little rant was all to say that maybe I relate to a vampire. Maybe you relate to them too!
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A vampire needs blood to survive. It’s biology requires it. The vampire can’t change this. However in Daybreakers, they do end up with an alternative! A salvation! Or is it a regression?
Sam Niel’s character would have died of cancer if it weren’t for the advantage of a vampire’s immortality. In this case being a vampire saved his life from being snatched away. However there were many people who became immortal vampires, couldn’t continue to fulfill their blood lust, and it caused them to become something worse than death. Sam Niel’s blood lust ultimately drove him to kill his own daughter whom he genuinely loved. The world became overrun with Vampires of a sophisticated mentality rather than the animals scurrying the underworld like we’re used to. These were intelligent business men/women, artists, Doctor’s, and politicians. These were people, not much different than you and I, struggling with blood lusts of their own.
HOW DO WE REDEEM A SILLY VAMPIRE MOVIE TO BE RELEVANT TO OUR LIVES?
Anyone who has spent time in a third world country will tell you of the horrors of starvation, genocide, and relentless war. Vampires require blood for survival. They will do anything to get it! In this movie there are a few vampires who have a bad conscience about killing humans and so they sacrifice themselves as way of starvation. Regrettably most of the vampires are not so considerate. Let’s set up a scenario; If the Vampires are the bigger, stronger, selfishly aggressive, and the Humans are the oppressed, weak, and chaotic….
who is:
American Society in regards to 3rd world starving nations?
British Empire as is to Native Americans?
Technology to old generations?
You’re front yard to your neighbor’s front yard?
The SAT way of looking at this is: Vampires are to Humans as ___You______ are to _Your neighbor _.
Get it? Got it? Good!
