James Woods set the tone for the ultimate vampire hunter with his fangtastic performance in John Carpenter’s 1998 film, VAMPIRES. That same year, Wesley Snipes topped Woods with his legendary performance as BLADE. Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx attempts to up the stakes this summer, as he portrays a new hunter in the Netflix original film, DAY SHIFT. A few months earlier, the streaming giants gave the horror nation a fresh and entertaining vampire original with NIGHT TEETH. Can DAY SHIFT make it two fangs for two and reestablish Netflix as a major horror player?
Estranged from his family, living in a run-down hotel, and driving what appears to be a truck on its last tires, Bud Jablowski (Jamie Foxx) gives the appearance of a man who is down and out. However, what only an underground society knows, is that Bud is an elite and disgraced Vampire hunter. After taking down a nest, Bud inadvertently becomes entangled in a massive vampire plot to take back their rightful place as the dominant species on the planet. With the help of his old friend, Big John (Snoop Dogg,) Bud gets reaccepted into the hunter’s union and embarks on a mission to not only save his family, but all of mankind.
Foxx saves this rather simple film from obscurity with an expected terrific performance. Writer Tyler Tice follows the Vampire playbook step by step with an ordinary plot. Vampires attempt to take back the world, an average Joe comes to the rescue. Tice’s script does bring in some new lore and creative weaponry that is used to battle the bloodsuckers. Director J.J. Perry presents the typical clean film that is a staple of Netflix and gives the audience some thrilling action sequences. Sadly, those sequences are few and far between. Snoop Dogg steals the small screen with several extended cameos. The 114-minute run time plagues the film which would have played much better in a standard 90-minute frame. Much like the aforementioned NIGHT TEETH, DAY SHIFT opens up an entirely new world of Vampire lore to explore. Though entertaining at times, one would be hard pressed to want to visit that world again.
Scream Score: 7.1/10