DAY SHIFT (REVIEW)
Updated: Sep 2, 2022
Dir. J.J. Perry
Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield
Vampire flicks don't get bigger than this. Filling the void of action that has been bookended by BLADE, this fills that gap, and appetite for blood lust with a few cheap laughs thrown in for good measure.
From Hollywood stuntman J.J. Perry (JOHN WICK, UNDERWORLD AWAKENING and aptly TRUE BLOOD) it's no surprise that he knows how to film action and there's plenty of it. Vividly shot amongst daylight unlike most other vampire films, it brings a much more fun edge for the vampire hunter Bud (Jamie Fox) and his rookie partner Seth (Dave Franco) who take on more than they can chew with the aftermath of an earlier kill.
There's just so much fun to be had with Fox playing the dry hard shoulder for Franco to blub all over and it works, there's an effortless charm from Fox that he's shown with COLLATERAL and RAY but here despite some heartbeats to carry the story, it's just balls to wall levels of joy. Set amongst the sun kissed valley of LA, with a bass pumping soundtrack of Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tupac and Body Count the action has never looked so good and in the words of Ice-T, Body Count, Body Count, Body Count, Body Count!
Heads certainly roll, as well as slice, body's contort like nothing else seen in film and there's no shortage of inventive kills that put this amongst THE RAID and JOHN WICK, as one of the most entertaining action movies of the decade, with added vamps.
