Day Shift
This vampire hunt makes Dracula’s shenanigans look like a vicar's tea-party.
To the cleaners: Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dogg
What is it about vampires? How come they have been such a popular movie genre for as long as anybody can remember? I suppose we have to blame Bram Stoker for putting them in print and the film industry for the continuing supply of what is basically variations on an original theme. Here we have a vampire film with its tongue firmly in chic because Day Shift is not only a fantasy drama but also an action comedy (a fan-dram-act-com?).
Bud Jablonski (Jamie Foxx) allegedly cleans pools for a living but what he really does is go in search of vampires, killing them and collecting the fanged dentures to sell to a ready market. The Mr Big of the L.A. vamp circle is actually a rich female vamp herself, one Audrey San Fernando (Karla Souza) whose profitable day job is selling real estate. On the other hand, our hero Bud is on the breadline. Separated from his wife Jocelyn (Meagan Good) and his daughter Paige (Zion Broadnax), he cannot even afford his own rent. When Jocelyn announces she is moving to Florida with the daughter, Bud asks to wait until he’s knocked off a few vampires and collected some $10,000 for their fangs.
After a certain amount of infighting, Audrey threatens to kidnap Bud’s wife and child, so Bud decides to rejoin the vampire hunters’ union, courtesy of Big John Elliott (Snoop Dogg), and make some big bucks. He is accepted provided he takes the wimpy union rep Seth (Dave Franco) with him. They set out on the day shift to uncover various nests of vampires and release his wife and daughter from Audrey’s clutches. And this is where the story really starts. A welter of expert CGI action involves athletic flying in a scattergun display of bone-cracking, body-squelching and blood-squirting sequences. Bud the pool-cleaner eventually meets his match and gradually piles up the vamps in an amazing body count of indescribable havoc.
However, it is all done with a certain sly and comic insouciance, particularly when it involves the novice vamp hunter Seth. This makes it difficult not to admire the whole rampaging excess of it all. If you are already a vampire fan, then claim your stake because Day Shift could be right up your nightmare alley.
MICHAEL DARVELL
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Snoop Dogg, Meagan Good, Karla Souza, Zion Broadnax, Steve Howey, Scott Adkins, Oliver Masucci.
Dir J.J. Perry, Pro Shaun Redick, Yvette Yates Redick, Jason Spitz and Chad Stahelski, Screenplay Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten, from a story by Tyler Tice, Ph Toby Oliver, Pro Des Greg Berry, Ed Paul Harb, Music Tyler Bates, Costumes Kelli Jones, Special Effects Supervisor J.D. Schwalm.
Impossible Dream Entertainment/87Eleven Entertainment-Netflix.
113 mins. USA. 2022. UK and US Rel: 12 August 2022. Cert 15.