Horror movie analysis- Daybreakers

Daybreakers was released in 2009 and was intended to be a vampire horror. It grossed over $50 million (US) and received a positive reception from its audiences.  I  think this movie cleverly fits into the genre of a thriller too with its fast paced plot diversions and twists during the film where we continue to follow our main characters. Many reviewers even thought the inclusion of vampires actually made the film more of a science fiction thriller due to the science basis behind it where a 'disease' had almost eradicated humans, leaving an overrun society of vampires. The beginning of the film is heavily orientated around the search and researching for a blood substitute by vampire scientists...however as the movie goes on, the gore, jump scares,deaths and un-easiness along with additional horror conventions implicate the plot. 

we can tell from the extreme close up of the calendar on the young girls wall during the first few minutes of the film that 'Daybreakers' is set in a futuristic, possibly dystopian world. the calendar is on the year 2019, making the film seem more chilling as this is a futuristic representation of what has become of society. Many horror movies adopt conventions that make their movies seem like they are happening currently as this often scares the viewing audience more when they are able to relate features of the film to their own world and lives. Films like paranormal activity,ouija, incidious and other horror movies can adopt  this sort of present day context to scare watchers however other films like woman in black or horrors with a religious or biblical basis can be set back in the past to have a scary, historical context to fictionally build on so it seems realistic. it is therefore rare to have futuristic films however with plots involving an apocalypse, invasion or world take over- films like Daybreakers would have to follow a future based path. 

back to the camera shot type. the calendar appears to be illuminated by lights, showing positivity. these lights are also floral and feminine, hinting a character we are soon to meet is a young girl. when looking in more detail- we can see that none of the dates on the calendar are marked with any events...this foreshadows why the girl may later on in the movie opening commit suicide and not be able to 'go on' as we see in writing in the extreme close up shot of the girls suicide note. There is very quiet non diegetic sound being played during the initial scenes of the film possibly to not distract the attention of viewers from the shots and the climax of the scream at the end. the scream of the girl is empathized and sounds even more dramatic simply because of it being one of the only prominent noises in the whole of the opening for the film.

as the girl walks outside, we hear the creak of the door. a typical synchronous sound used i n horror movies to reinforce a presence entering or leaving. the way the girl is shadowed in contrast to the light outside possibly suggests she is the darkness/ a dark,negative character in the movie. the contrast of light and dark almost makes her appearance seem shadowy and unreal, and we see her reflection in the floor cleverly reinforcing her presence. the actual use of a young girl in these first few shots is clever because it is often 'little scary children' that have a chilling inclusion in horror movies. also- the girl filmed is very young, vulnerable and we would connote young girls with carelessness,often un educated, cute and fragile....however we see that this girl has the ability to make her own decisions and commit suicide which is typically a last resort that older people who have experienced terrible, un-fixable or depression linked adopt. this also foreshadows how the girl is a vampire, suggesting the immortality of vampires who can live forever. being forever a young girl would be a hugely challenging and incapable thing.


The next shot is a still, establishing shot of a house. the house appears to stand alone in
rural land which is typical or horrors  because there is often nowhere else to go, nobody to call and nobody to help. this convention was followed in the other horror movie i analysed, scream. the establishing shot is very still and doesn't pan in reinforcing that there is almost no action because it is meant to be very early in the morning, just as the sun is rising so everyone would be asleep. the white painted color choice of the house connotes purity and if we were given this image alone we would probably assume that this is a peaceful yet isolated picturesque location for a house, however its large size and position within the woods suggests it is not all it seems. looking closer into the picture we see the house has no windows. I think if the camera were to pan in at the house with the absence of any windows it would have been a much more effective shot as the audience wouldnt typically notice the house not having windows straight away.

The young girl we see in this part of the opening is clearly recognized as abnormal due to her jaundiced eye color. the low lighting in the scene reinforces the prominence of her eye color. typically, vampires are associated with eye color like this...possibly because of mythical folklore associated with the context or even just the conventions of modern vampire movies where the likes of twilight, van helsing, underworld all give vampire characters the additional feature of colored eyes. this close up of her frames her face and shows her absence of emotion, her draped hair over her face is even prominent because other horrors (mostly Asian horrors) like the grudge and the ring hide any form of beauty or normality with dark, draped hair.


i thought this shot was very atypical of usual horror movie beginnings because most horror movies tend to use the darkness to their advantage with creatures of the shadows and the night. having the sunlight and a beautiful picturesque view in a long shot juxtaposes the typical dark, hidden shadowy scenes of most horror movies.

For me, this was the most prominent scene at the start of the movie because firstly, this was when the action actually took place, secondly it was the only point of diegetic, synchronous sound of screaming and burning when the rest of the film opening was almost in silence and thirdly because of the dramatic CGI of the flames. the surroundings looked so peaceful in the previous establishing shots and long shots however this burning shot of a young girl completely contrasts with the surroundings and happenings so far. it also reinforces the idea of vampirism in the film, because the suns morning glow would not set alight a normal person. this scene is also very graphic-following typical horror conventions and draws the begging to a dramatic climax. the audience are left in anticipation awaiting the rest of the film in hope it will be as dramatic as the begging.

i think this film is a very unique opening to a horror because it doesn't follow stereotypes or horror movie beginnings. it also attracts a huge audience because girls will be drawn in to watch the movie because of the love interest, modern vampire craze after movies like twilight and enticing and attractive male actors however males too will be drawn in to watch the movie due to its horror, science fiction futuristic themes.