DAY SHIFT

Vampire hunting on Netflix

DAY SHIFT is available on Netflix

Review

Disgraced former vampire killer Bud Jablonski is eking out a living by carrying on his former activities as a freelancer. When his ex-wife threatens to move to Florida with their daughter, he has to make some quick money and so goes back to the Union. Saddled with a desk jockey overseeing his every move, he finds himself in deeper trouble when he is targeted by an uber-vamp seat on making his life a misery.

Vampires are a poplular subject of films and television shows and where there are vampires there are vampire hunters. DAY SHIFT doesn't bring much of anything new to the table. Watching this new Netflix production, echoes of John Carpenter's VAMPIRES or the BLADE films hang over it heavily. There's the supervampire with a plan to take over the world, starting with The Valley in this case, an organisation of vampire hunters equipped with special weapons and techniques, recently-turned vampires fighting to keep their humanity, a family targeted by bloodsuckers, lots of martial arts fighting. The list goes on.

Originality isn't necessarily everything, however, and DAY SHIFT has a lot going for it. Jamie Foxx is a reliable screen presence and the script here doesn't overstretch his talents at all. The action and chase sequences are pretty good as well. The sequence in which Bud and some rival hunters take out an entire hive of vampires is excellent and sets a real high water mark. The film also doesn't stint on the gore, but also uses it for comedy value at times.

The main problem is the comedy. The jokes rarely land home with any great effect, but they do unbalance the film, distracting from the action and undermining the drama. When a man peeing himself in fear is the height of a film's humour, it's hard to be impressed. Snoop Dogg's appearance as a legendary hunter is amusing at first, but it's a joke that runs thin soon enough. The desk jockey character is present purely for comedy value and doesn't add any real value as a funny sidekick. There's also the lack of a decent villain. The ubervamp is a Valley girl with ambitions and never really threatening. Her minions are run of the mill and the final battle underground palls after the earlier sequences. A major ally also gets introduced two thirds of the way through just to make sure the hero has enough support for the final confrontation.

DAY SHIFT suffers from the quality control issues of other Netflix productions. When it's good it's very enjoyable, but the tone is too uneven to be completely successful. There are big name headliners, but the cast quality doesn't go all the way down. It's not that anyone's particularly bad, but mid-list blandness sets in. The direction is fine, but rarely great and the writing doesn't much rise above the mediocre. Surprises don't come often. In the end, DAY SHIFT is an OK distraction, but nothing more than that.