At the time the movie begins, only 5% of the human population remains, a cause for concern as not only does this mean the likely extinction of the human race, but also the likely demise of vampire society – vampires who are blood deprived quickly mutate into mindless nightmarish creatures called ‘sub-siders’ who incapable of reason or feeling. These are vampires even the vampires are scared of – and for good reason – this will be their own future if they don’t find a solution to their dwindling blood supply.

Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is a young vampire hematologist who is employed by Bromley Marks, the largest supplier of blood in the US. His job is to find a blood substitute that will be able to keep the vampires satisfied, and the humans alive. His life is changed very quickly when he crashes (literally) into a group of humans, who are not only in hiding and gathering force, but have a very powerful secret – they have discovered the cure to vampirism. Led by a human woman called Audrey (Claudia Karvan), and a vamp-turned-human who goes by the name of Elvis (Willem Dafoe), Edward joins the human group, in a bid to try and recreate how Elvis turned human.

With a vampire army quickly approaching, the three attempt to put their knowledge into practice, and recreate the process of how Elvis became human on Edward. At the last possible moment, their plan succeeds, and Edward finally is human again. One of my favourite moments in the movie is when Edward steps into the sun again, embracing both the fragility and warmth that comes from being human. This signals a turning point in the story – Edward himself is evidence of the cure, and it is discovered later that feeding on him, will now also cure other vampires.

While the vampires may sparkle in this movie, that is the only connection it has with the world of Twilight, and even that is a stretch – the vamps in this movie technically only sparkle when they die/combust/explode, and this kind of sparkling I’m sorry to say is far more noticeable than the faint glimmer of Edward Cullen’s pale chest.

Needless to say, while I won’t ruin the ending for you, there is a lot of combustion, amongst other things in the final scenes of this movie that will probably make you think and squirm at the same time. But hey, if you’re a fan of decapitation, and mass vamp mauling (and I know there are some of you out there), I’d say you’re in for a good time – the elderly couple sitting next to me seemed to enjoy it!

This is definitely a movie worth seeing if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if the world’s population suddenly turned into vampires (as opposed to zombies and ghouls). These vampires are not like any other fictional vampires you might have encountered however – they are businessmen, children, middle-aged women, high school deadbeats, and your neighbours – basically everyday people. With one exception of course, this being that they’re dead and drink blood.

Jen Morgan
February 5, 2010