'Day Shift' Review: Vampire-hunting action film gives viewers heart-pounding popcorn thrills
Something about vampires allows them to effortlessly and successfully merge humor and horror genres. 'Day Shift', the latest Netflix release, is a vampire thriller packed with lock-and-load ultraviolence, featuring Jamie Foxx in arrogant badass mode.
'Day Shift', the latest Netflix original film, marks the feature directorial debut of renowned stunt coordinator JJ Perry and is produced by 'John Wick' series director Chad Stahelski. As if the action wasn't enough, 'Day Shift' casts Cirque du Soleil contortionists and performers as its flexible, acrobatic vampires. As a result, the film is strong on flair and action extravaganza but weak on content and laughs. At its core, though, it's an intentionally weird joke of a film, and it's difficult not to enjoy it for a time, even when you realize what a ridiculous bit of fluff it is.
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Jamie Foxx portrays Bud Jablonski, a working-class man who doubles up as a pool cleaner to conceal his true profession as a vampire hunter. Bud sliding into a home on a lovely, sunny San Fernando day that's shadowed by veiled windows and so chilly that his breath fogs up is a lovely little grace note—until our soldier comes onto and has to cope with the zombies hiding within. This initial combat sequence establishes the tone of the film's action -- gruesome to an absurd degree, complete with choreography that relies on the vampires' contortionist motions, and even humor in moments like a vampire spewing black bile that Bud later inserts.
Perry has worked as a stunt performer and coordinator for over 30 years, which explains how the first-time filmmaker accomplishes an overall consistency with his fight sequences that plugin more seasoned current directors.
Nonetheless, Foxx, as one might assume, has things covered. Foxx's acting further grounds things, exuding a gruff, too-old-for-this-s**t classicality that protects 'Day Shift' from the twee, too referential comedy that characterizes current American genre cinema.
The actor exudes blue-collar competence amid rising buffoonery as Bud Jablonski, a cash-strapped pool cleaner-turned-vampire hunter. Bud has an alienated, irritated wife (Meagan Good) and a beautiful young daughter (Zion Broadnax) who requires costly dental work and schooling. To finance both, he must reenter the union that rejected him for his unconventional hunting methods.
Bud tells the irritated union head that he would behave after being endorsed by his pal Big John (Snoop Dogg), a suave, cowboy-hatted ladykiller. This offers glimpses inside the extensive business underworld that makes vampire hunting so profitable, a world that even includes a carefully structured mercenary union. This orchestrates a detour into world-building, which the film wisely avoids, instead allowing the spectator to picture the larger shadow economy that has built up around vampire artifacts.
'Day Shift', which combines a zombie action film, a snarky good cop/crazy policeman buddy comedy, and the story of a strong but pious divorced father attempting to save his family, is one of the more perniciously twisting vampire films in recent memory. There are five sorts of vampires in this film, divided by age: Juvenile, Uber, Spider, Eastern, and Southern. How can you get rid of the vampires? By severing their heads with a silver sword after shooting them through the heart with unique African hardwood. There's a black-market sunscreen that permits the vamps to be out in the sun for around 20 minutes in SoCal. When they are killed, they discharge a peculiar gas that you must remove.
Bud has a particular orange-yellow powder for that, which he uses in the shower. Important note: Do not let the powder enter your butthole! The fact that the vampires are slain by decapitation is the closest the film gets to establishing an unbreakable law. Until, that is, a crucial vampire is beheaded only to reattach his head to himself. Some vamps are more devoted to humans than to other vampires.
Audrey (Karla Souza), a seductive vampire real-estate agent, is trying to overrun the Valley by converting the houses into vampire colonies. Sadly for her, Foxx's Bud is a war vet who is a complete mercenary when it comes to vampire slaying, with razor-sharp action skills. His vampire-hunter-as-working-stiff feel is linked to the film's most flaky and, in some ways, innovative part.
You may sell vampire fangs for considerably more money after you join the union. However, in order to do so, Bud must agree to go on the prowl with Seth (Dave Franco), a desk jockey who is there to ensure that he does not breach any union laws. He's like the novice cop assigned to ride with the reckless experienced trasher of procedure, but the beginner is a terrified nerd who keeps pissing his pants.
The partner aspect in 'Day Shift' is handled less well, with most of the jokes centered on how bored Seth is spending time out on the field hunting vampires, wasting Franco's own abilities.
The reintroduction of vampires onscreen had a shaky start this year, but due to Perry's 'Day Shift', the genre appears to be making a victorious comeback from obscurity. Even though nothing is known about Jablonski's universe and what has led to the vampires' rebellion in Southern California, viewers will be treated to a slew of conventions along the way.
Writers Shay Hatten and Tyler Tice integrate these notions organically and correctly throughout their screenplay, expecting their viewers to grasp on swiftly while taking in some unorthodox enhancements to the traditional vampire legend. Their brilliant writing is inventive but familiar, and it adds a new twist to a genre that urgently needs it.
Jamie Foxx is such a terrific actor that he lends his quick-cut rebuttals and genre-hero aura to even a warped product like this one. 'Day Shift' emphasizes its commitment to hard-hitting, violent action from the start, when Bud assaults a vampire coven, ending in a particularly grueling battle.
Attempts at comedy fall flat in comparison to the action; a running joke about pants-wetting becomes monotonous, and Franco's performance as the dumb sidekick falls flat. It emphasizes Snoop Dogg's visible, tiny role, save for a few brief yet pleasant scenes. Snoop Dogg's laid-back attitude compliments Foxx's fiery Bud nicely. Big John offers the wit and cool aspect that would've made for a stronger buddy comedy combo.
Given the film's short running time, the number of action moments is welcomed though surprising. Yet the picture slowly loses pace at the conclusion of its second act before finding its tempo as it races into the finale.
Perry has crafted a pretty great debut into the vampire movie genre by using nuanced camera angles to portray the varied scene dynamics and well-choreographed action sequences. It doesn't always carry on its promise of producing emotionally powerful moments, but 'Day Shift' is at its best when it delves into its subtle comedy, thanks to Franco and Foxx's rapport. It's a passable but eventually passable romp.