DAYLIGHT'S
END
Johnny
Strong (Rourke), Lance Henriksen (Frank Hill), Louis Mandylor (Ethan
Hill), Hakeem Kae-Kazeem (Chris), Krzysztof Soszynski (Alpha
Creature), Ed Spila (Bishop), Chelsea Edmundson (Sam/Samantha), Mark
Hanson (Burton), Gary Cairns (Drew), Sonny Puzikas (Vlad), Heather
Kafka (Earnesta), Matthew Beckham (Harker), James Yeager (Marauder
leader)
Directed
by William Kaufman
Review by Mark Quon
After three years of following all of the
latest developments during the pre-production of the cross-pollinated genre indie feature, DAYLIGHT'S
END--a Doomsday/SciFi/Horror/Action epic--I was finally able to see the finished product. Given
a limited nationwide theatrical release on the weekend of August 26th, the film likewise premiered on iTunes, and assorted VOD platforms.
The amazing end result
exceeded all of my expectations and was definitely worth the wait.
Plot synopsis: Movie opens
years after an unknown global pandemic has turned most of humanity
into quasi-vampiric creatures whose thirst for the blood of
uninfected humans has resulted in the near extinction of humanity.
Enter our protagonist,
Rourke. A nomadic lone hunter, equipped with homemade armor, an
arsenal of weapons, and a road warrior-type vehicle, who wanders the
ruins of civilization as a self-appointed vampire slayer, embarking
on a cross country trek seeking vengeance against an evolved
super-vampire known as The Alpha, who had killed his loved one during
the outbreak of the plague.
During one of his hunting
forays, he witnesses a group of humans being ambushed by a band of
marauders and rescues Sam, the only one left alive. She claims to be a
member of a group of survivors who are holed up in a well-supplied
stronghold inside a former Police Station in Dallas which has become a
fortress for a small, embattled group of survivors.
After accepting a bargain
of all the food, ammo, and fuel he can carry in exchange for getting
her back to the stronghold before darkness (these mutated creatures
are unable to survive when exposed to direct sunlight; much like
their supernatural counterparts), Rourke takes Sam and a
semi-catatonic victim of the marauders to their fortress.
Following a tense standoff
(based on mutual distrust between Rourke and the group of
survivors led by the former DPD Chief Frank Hill), it is revealed that
the team of scouts Sam was with prior to their ambush was
to locate and evacuate the remaining
survivors to a reputed colony of humans beyond the reach of
the vampires.
After an uneasy truce,
Rourke learns that the evolved Alpha, who's been the target of his
vendetta, had arrived weeks earlier and has organized the hordes of
vampires into a larger, more formidable force. The increasing
frequency and effectiveness of their attacks have made the
beleaguered and dwindling numbers of survivors' need to escape a more
urgent contingency.
Following a rapid
succession of setbacks and losses from the vampires' increasingly
effective assaults due to the Alpha's leadership, the group's social
cohesion begins to split between factions who favor Rourke's decision
to take the fight to the vampire hive; and Frank who favors a more defensive posture, suspecting
that Rourke's obsession with vengeance is warping his judgment and
will result in disaster.
As the two groups follow
their own divergent strategies for survival, random skirmishes
between the creatures and the survivors escalate into a relentless,
climactic final showdown.
On the surface, this movie
appears to have borrowed heavily from Richard Matheson's classic
novel, 'I AM LEGEND',
along with its most famous film adaptation, THE OMEGA
MAN (1973); as well as elements from John
Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1977), and
post-Apocalypse classics like ROAD WARRIOR (1981).
I have seen more than one
reviewer refer to this film as a "Zombie Film"; though, at
it's core, it has more in common with disaster/doomsday movies based
around an out of control plague such as RABID (1977),
28 DAYS LATER (2002), I DRINK YOUR BLOOD
(1970), and George Romero's THE CRAZIES
(1973), AKA CODENAME: TRIXIE.
But to label DAYLIGHT'S
END derivative would be a disservice to writer Chad Law who deftly utilized the disparate elements of many
earlier (and inferior) cult classics, and mainstream hits of the
past, into a very compelling movie which combined several different
genres into an exciting and streamlined saga. Aside from the
excellent pacing, his script contains minimal dialogue; often just
enough to give the viewer a glimpse into the personal tragedies and
sense of loss suffered by the characters, thus, providing them with
depth without deviating from the main plot line.
It also most definitely benefited from Director William Kaufman being at the helm. He
displayed plenty of talent for white-knuckled thrillers blending
no-holds-barred action with horror and crime drama overtones in his
first feature, THE PRODIGY (2005).
In DAYLIGHT'S END,
Kaufman flawlessly executes a great concept into an intense
film with an abundance of gripping action (including plenty of
realistic gun handling; and both textbook individual and team tactics)
along with a cast of intriguing characters rather than tedious
caricatures.
DAYLIGHT'S END would
be the second time that lead actor Johnny Strong (who is probably
best known to the movie public for his role as real-life CAG Sniper
"Shughart" in BLACK HAWK DOWN
[2001]) has worked with William Kaufman; their first collaboration being
the excellent police-actioner, SINNERS AND
SAINTS from 2010. Strong's depiction of
Rourke as a lone, laconic, "gunfighter" with a mysterious
past, engaged in a personal vendetta, brings to mind the protagonists
from the Golden Era of the Spaghetti Westerns such as Tomas Milian
and Franco Nero.
With a
combination of 30-plus years of experience in the martial arts and
having received training in edged weapons and firearms, Strong is
able to exhibit a level of authenticity in his action scenes that few
actors of any era could boast.
The legendary Lance
Henriksen is another phenomenal addition to the cast. This 76 year
old icon never fails to amaze with his versatility by fitting in to
whatever a role demands of him. Over the course of the hour and forty five minute running time in DAYLIGHT'S END,
you never think of him for one second as "Bishop" from
ALIENS (1986) or "Jesse"
from NEAR DARK (1987). I
suppose the highest compliment one could pay an actor is that he can
never be type-cast nor do you lose suspension of disbelief by having
his previous--and more well known--roles creep into your psyche and
distract you from the present character he is depicting.
Being an accomplished
musician who wears more than one hat, lead actor Strong deserves at
least two other honorable mentions.
His score for this film
imbued the perfect atmosphere and tempo into it from start to finish.
Strong was also given the opportunity to direct several scenes portraying his
character's memories/dreams of his life before his own personal
Apocalypse--coinciding with the end of the world. He was able to
successfully convey some substance into an otherwise enigmatic
protagonist.
In spite of (or perhaps
because of) the fact that the author is a rabid fan of all the genres--in both print and celluloid, spanning more than a half century--that this movie encompasses, I was pleasantly surprised that DAYLIGHT'S END (2016) made it into my personal favorites list.
