Daybreak

I began watching this with second thoughts, there are a few lines in it that came off as cringey or dumb. But after getting to about the 3rd episode I was hooked. It's hilarious and the writing is great. All around unique and satisfying.

There are two distinct audience groups for this. Those who are in their teens to mid twenties who came for the high school part and gore, and those 80s kids who came for Ferris. No one is trying to hide the fact that it's so obviously built to some degree around Brodericks reputation and iconic performance. The 4th wall, the high school situation, even the poster screams Ferris Bueller, and then he's cast as the Principal. To the story then. Hardly credible and pushed to extremes with extra gore and gloopy bits as you'd expect in the zombie genre, it doesn't actually matter to me as one of the 80s generation viewers. I did feel mid series that, though I did get the his and hers cross story line episodes and flashbacks, you started to wonder what the point was besides introducing new ideas for apps, overdoing the stereotyping and sob stories angles. As well as the gradual elimination of golf as a sport. Would this have worked without Broderick? Not sure. Without him it would have been just another teen series that would appeal to the 16-22y olds. Maybe I'm being harsh, I did really quite enjoy it, even if I did mainly come to see Broderick. And yes, Ferris I think would have liked it.

But this show is a blast and it's goofy and fun, has a lot of heart and really feels like the creators' passion project.

No, it's not perfect but it's not trying to be and its quirks are part of its charm. It's a super refreshing take on/ parody of lots of t.v. and movie tropes but pokes fun at them with a respectful wit.

The acting is pretty solid all around, especially considering kid actors usually struggle. The girl that plays Angelica is shockingly good at going from foul mouthed aggressive badass to vulnerable emotional scenes.

I feel like the negative reviewers on here were expecting something super serious and high brow and don't know how to just enjoy a filmmaker having fun with the medium.

Now the cancellation has been confirmed by Netflix, I thought I'd rework my review of season one of "Daybreak" a little, to post it here. I have a lot of mixed feelings about "Daybreak". There were elements that I liked, elements that I didn't. . but I did watch all of it and I think I'd have watched more, if a second season had been produced.

Following a nuclear/dirty bomb apocalypse that leaves all adults transformed into braindead blood-hungry wraiths, the teenagers of Glendale form themselves into groups based on their social traits or interests and battle for territory. Into this terrain steps outsider Josh Wheeler (Colin Ford) a Canadian student who transferred to the school and as such has no social circle, but he did have a girlfriend, Sam (Sophie Simnett) and he begins a quest to reunite with her.

As I said, there were elements of the show I really liked. It reminded me a lot of the Xbox game "Sunset Overdrive", the mutated humans, the wild gangs of kids with OTT gimmicks, even the skateboarding felt like it might have been a nod. I enjoyed the 4th wall breaking narration and the nods within that to the other films that utilise that device. I thought the visual effects were really good, the CGI work especially is good. My favourite aspect though was how quickly "Daybreak" began playing with the form of the show, passing the narration on to other characters, changing how flashbacks worked and how deceptively intelligent it was with foreshadowing. Another key factor, and the one that probably got me through the run is that I actually liked the characters and was interested in what would happen. There are a couple of romances, a few switched allegiances and some twists along the way.

Where it's less successful is tonally, it is a bit all over the place. There's an episode towards the end that explains the true nature of Sam and Josh's relationship that, whilst making a number of valid (if perhaps a little dated) points about present day social conformity and prejudices - feels wildly out of place in a series with its' Ronin warriors, mutant squirrels and cannibal villains. Some characters earn their redemption arcs whilst other seem to have it foisted upon them with a quick flashback. Also, a few bits of the story disappear without a trace and are never explored or explained.

So yes, kinda wayward and I understand the people that dropped it after a couple of episodes as it does take a bit of getting used to but it had enough for me and if the second season had come to fruition, I'd have been back.

It's no Romero, but have a few and expect some cheesiness and it's fun.