Usually guts and gore isn’t my thing. Horror films often fill me with concern over who is going to clean up the mess and as such, I tend to leave the more gnarly film reviews to our resident horror hound Sebastian Cordoba. But I decided to review new Australian vampire flick Daybreakers myself because it’s home grown content and I was keen to see what our fellow countrymen did with the vampire theme.

I must admit I was fearful – blood-sucking films are a dime a dozen at the moment and I was afraid that this film would simply be a shameful grab for a bite of the vampire pie. But thankfully Daybreakers is a shining light in this rather dimly lit genre.

The film is written and directed by twins Peter and Michael Spierig. The boys seem to have stepped things up since their 2003 low-budget feature Undead – they’ve made a visually spectacular flick with an excellent cast, an intelligent script and more blood and mucus than you can poke a wooden stake at.

The premise goes a little something like this: the year is 2019 and the vampire epidemic has spread to the point where humans only make up 5 per cent of the population. To feed the starving vampire population humans are captured and ‘farmed’ for their blood in a horrible Matrix-style body tree. Ethan Hawke plays Ed – a scientist who is racing against the clock to develop a suitable blood substitute before the vampires’ natural food source dies out.

The thing is, Ed is an okay guy and he’s not so down with the humans-as-a-commodity thing. That’s why he hooks up with human folk Elvis (Willem Dafoe) and Audrey (Claudia Karvan) to try and find a way to save the human race.

And they need to get their skates on as things are getting rather out of hand – desperate hunger is causing the vampires to start feeding on one another, causing them to mutate into horrifically snappy monsters with incredibly large talons.

Pleasing, this film succeeds due to a few key ingredients.

First and foremost, it’s a clever concept. This is not your run-of-the-mill teen vampire romp. It boasts a tight and pacey script, a rather unique story line and it treats the audience like intelligent individuals – not every little piece of the plot is spelled out in excruciating detail.

It also has enough blood and gore and monsters to turn your stomach. Vampires and humans alike have their heads ripped off, their guts pulled out and their blood sprayed all over the camera lens. Horror fans will be squealing with glee.

Then there is the wonderfully stylised world of vampire earth, 2019. It is filled with cool gadgets (cars which can be driven around in the daylight, a city based on underground tunnels and some fairly snappy crossbows), sharp mod-goth fashion and coffee stands selling A+ laced lattes. It seems that the Spierig brothers have spent a lot of time getting this apocalyptic world just right, and their pain-staking attention to detail has really paid off.

I also like the fact that while there is a mild hint of romance in the film, they don’t give in to the temptation to provide a bit of warm/fuzzy stuff for the more sensitive audience members. And for this I’m grateful. I prefer my hugs and kisses well clear of my splattered brain membrane. It’s also admirable that not every “good guy” gets miraculously saved - yet another tempting action-movie cliche avoided.

The cast is also excellent, though I must admit, Claudia Karvan’s accent worried me a few times and her character seemed a little two-dimensional. But Willem Dafoe completely made up for this slight niggle ... I could watch that man drop something off at the post office and still be mesmerised. He plays the character of Elvis with just the right amount of swagger - he's not so confident that he becomes a cock, he's just effortlessly cool. As an Australian it’s thrilling seeing the likes of Dafoe and Ethan Hawke rub acting chops (?) with some of our home grown talent; Isabel Lucas, Sam Neill, Jay Laga’aia, Vince Colosimo and Michael Dorman all do their country proud.

So thumbs up, boys. Thanks for giving me a local film that I can heartily recommend … to those who don’t mind their films dripping with body fluids.

Daybreakers opens in cinemas on February 4, 2010.
You can view the Daybreakers movie trailer here on TheVine.