Dir: Brad Ellis
Starring: Matthew Stiller, Rachel Miles, Allen C. Gardner, Rachel Kimsey, Clare Grant, Kim Justis, Dennis Phillippi, Michael Gravois.
The Film:
You know what type of film that disappoints me the most? It’s a film that has all the elements to be great but unfortunately the end result becomes a rather mediocre. It’s a shame because DAYLIGHT FADES shouldn’t have been one of those films. I didn’t know anything about it when I was sent to review it but after reading what is was about, it peaked my interest right away. First off it’s an indie film about vampires, which is pretty good because I enjoy vampire films but what sold me most about it was that the film plays more like a drama than a horror film. For me the best types of horror films are ones that have a lot of emotional dramatic elements to them (examples include THE SIXTH SENSE, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, THE EXORCIST, HEARTLESS etc.), so I was very much looking forward to watching and reviewing this film, sadly the film ended up being pretty average.
The film tells the story of Johnny (Matthew Stiller), a shy sensitive young man with a good heart, and Elizabeth (Rachel Miles), a jaded young woman who’s had a very troubled life, meet one night at a bar and right away begin a relationship with each other. While it starts off really good, everything begins to fall apart when Johnny wants to take their relationship to the next level by admitting that he is in love with her. Elizabeth feels that this is too much for her and she tells him that she can’t commit to him. Johnny is devastated by this news and he breaks up with her. Later on while driving home with a friend, Johnny gets into a car accident. When Elizabeth gets to the hospital, the Doctor tells her that Johnny’s injuries are really severe and that he might not last the night. However a mysterious, quiet man named Seth (Allen C. Gardner, who also wrote the screenplay), sees Elizabeth’s pain and decides to help her by saving the life of her boyfriend. But the only way that he can do that is by turning Johnny into a vampire.
After reading the synopsis, you can definitely see why this film appealed to me. It had a story that could have had made it unique and different that in the right hands it could have been a terrific film that could easily stood along one of my favourite vampire films LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. It’s sad that the script, the pacing and the cast are all that stop it from being a truly great film. The cast try their best with their performances but most of them were just average. Rachel Miles was one-and-off as Elizabeth (especially during some of her character’s big emotional moments), Allen C. Gardner was wooden as Seth and some of the supporting cast were pretty awful. Also even though the film is 90 minutes, I think it would have benefited with a longer running time. It should have at lest been 15-20 minutes longer because the pacing in the 1st half of the film was too rushed for my liking (it didn’t help that didn’t give us enough time to truly invest in Elizabeth and Johnny’s relationship. They basically get together and then break-up within 5 minutes). While the film does bring up some very interesting themes and ideas, but it didn’t quite explore them enough (although it starts to in the last half). Also there were some scenes and characters that were either pointless or poorly constructed.
However despite all the negatives, there were some aspects of the film that I actually did like. While he did have the occasional on-and-off moment in the beginning, I thought that Matthew Stiller was solid as Johnny for most part. His performance definitiely had my attention though out the film. But for me personally the best performance in the entire film was Rachel Kimsley as Raven, an evil vampire who tries to bring Johnny over to the dark side. She is definitely without a doubt one of the best things about the film and I enjoyed every scene she was in. You can definitely tell that she relished playing the part. Also the despite the film’s clearly low budget feel, director Brad Ellis does a solid job with his direction. He gives the film a visually stylish and moody flair that hides its low budget quality quite well. As strange as it may seem but I have a feeling that he might have been influenced by David Fincher when it came to his visual approach to the film. The way it was shot and lit it felt a lot like a David Fincher film. Plus the cinematography was really good, the score was nicely done and there are actually a couple of scenes that were sprinkled though out the film that I found to be quite affective (especially the ending, which was done pretty well. Also I loved the final shot that film ends on).
So while DAYLIGHT FADES does have its good qualities, it’s still unfortunate that overall itself film was pretty average. Like I said before, it definitely had potential to be a great vampire film but doesn’t quite get there. However will give the filmmakers credit for at least trying to make something that was much thoughtful than most vampire films. I just wish it could have been a much better film.
The Australian DVD:
The DVD I reviewed was a screener, so I am unable to comment on Picture/Audio quality
Rating:
DVD details here.
Thanks to Bill care of Accent Film Entertainment for the copy.
– Bede Jermyn
The Super Network 