Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2010

©2008 Lionsgate and Paradise Pty Limited, Film Finance Corporation Australia Limited and Pacific Film and Television Commission Pty Limited

One would wonder why the pointy-toothed undead in countless vampire movies never foresaw the little complication upon which this speculative B-movie nightmare is built: what happens when the bloodsuckers have been so successful in “turning” humans that almost everyone’s a vampire and there’s no one left to drink? (A visually diverting subplot graphically demonstrates how drinking their own blood just mutates vampires into rapidly degenerating monsters.) The chief hematologist at an agribusiness giant (Ethan Hawke) has been tasked by the company’s greedy CEO (Sam Neill) to come up with a marketable blood substitute, but his conscience tells him it would be better to find a cure instead. Where’s the profit in that? Anyway, after a few stylishly washed-out fights and obligatory chase scenes and such, he hooks up with a rogue human named Elvis (Willem Dafoe, the best thing in the movie) who has accidentally discovered such a cure, and it’s cheap. Lots of exploding heads and gleefully copious bloodshed, but most intriguing is the film’s depiction of the everyday workings of an all-vampire society (you stir blood into your coffee at Starbucks). Bottom line: points for originality, but not all that scary.