Daybreakers

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Daybreakers

R

2010

1h 38m

Horror

Sci-Fi

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

69%

Tomatometer

155 Reviews

49%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Ten years after a plague turns most of the world's population into vampires, a critical blood shortage causes panic and gruesome mutations among the reanimated. Edward (Ethan Hawke), a vampire hematologist, tries to develop a blood substitute when he meets Lionel (Willem Dafoe) and Audrey (Claudia Karvan), two fugitive humans who claim to have a possible cure. Edward casts his lot with them in the hope of perfecting the cure before it's too late.

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Critics Consensus

Though it arrives during an unfortunate glut of vampire movies, Daybreakers offers enough dark sci-fi thrills -- and enough of a unique twist on the genre -- to satisfy filmgoers.

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

The conceit is worked out in whiz-bang diabolical detail... and brought to life with imaginative effects.

Oct 26, 2020

Full Review

Laura Kern

Film Comment Magazine

A slick, violent, and intensely gloomy horror/action/sci-fi hybrid that stands out in a crowded field of end-of-mankind movie scenarios.

Sep 24, 2014

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C. Robert Cargill

Film.com

Daybreakers is the pinnacle of fun, modern sci-fi horror actioners.

Rated: A

May 6, 2011

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Joe Lipsett

Queer.Horror.Movies.

The film's climax is so lurid and operatic that it nearly punts the film into camp territory, but the story and world building is strong enough that the Spierig Brothers’ tendency to fall back on familiar tropes is forgivable.

Rated: 3.5/5

Sep 22, 2025

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Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

As a vigorous reclamation of what vampire-genre movies should be, "Daybreakers" is, oh, positive.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 20, 2023

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Daybreakers proves Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig have the potential to become great genre filmmakers

Rated: 3/4

Aug 25, 2023

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MA A.

Interesting taking on vampires. I enjoyed the movie and would watch it again

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/05/25

Full Review

Oaklee D

An odd dystopian vampire film with some 50/50 special effects. Half the time they're great and the other half are cheese. The opening title sequence is one of the cheapest things I've seen this year. Overall it's an ok film if you want to waste some time on a rainy day.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/30/25

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K P

I enjoyed the film, and I thought the music was great!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/14/25

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babarizam D

Idea is good but script is way too weak to break even.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/30/25

Full Review

Jason W

This one rides the fine line between horror and sci-fi, but the drama is a tad dry for me. The look is fantastic and story is decent, just wasn't enough there for me to give it a high rating.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

05/25/25

Full Review

John J

This movie is the best vampire movie since Blade, I'm tired of Rotten Tomatoes giving stupid low scores to genuine entertainment and giving 100% to artsy indie BS that is totally unrelatable. How does Face off get A 98 but this gets 69? I hate this place.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/12/25

Full Review

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Michael Spierig

Director

Peter Spierig

Director

Ethan Hawke

Edward Dalton

Willem Dafoe

Lionel "Elvis" Cormac

Claudia Karvan

Audrey Bennett

Michael Dorman

Frankie Dalton

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Daybreakers: Trailer 2

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Daybreakers: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Ten years after a plague turns most of the world's population into vampires, a critical blood shortage causes panic and gruesome mutations among the reanimated. Edward (Ethan Hawke), a vampire hematologist, tries to develop a blood substitute when he meets Lionel (Willem Dafoe) and Audrey (Claudia Karvan), two fugitive humans who claim to have a possible cure. Edward casts his lot with them in the hope of perfecting the cure before it's too late.

Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Producer: Chris Brown, Bryan Furst, Sean Furst
Screenwriter: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
Production Co: Australian Film Finance Corporation, Furst Films, Paradise Productions, Lionsgate Films, Pacific Film and Television Commission
Rating: R (Language|Brief Nudity|Strong Bloody Violence)
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 8, 2010, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 17, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $30.0M
Runtime: 1h 38m
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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