Macabre…ish Horror Review: Day Shift
Day Shift, 2022/ 114 min.
Bud (Jamie Foxx) has a pool cleaning business, or that’s the story, he actually kills vampires for living.
He enters the home of what appears to be a very elderly woman who turns out to be an unbelievably flexible and resilient vampire. Coming up the rear is a vampire version of what probably used to be her adult son. Once the fight is over, Bud takes a few of their fangs, a change of clothes and the job is done.
Meanwhile, two factions of vampires are fighting over the valley, Audrey, her cover job is as a realtor and operates during the day. She buries the other, Sasha (Karla Souza), who sticks to the old ways, in concrete, under rebar, in broad daylight instead of killing him. Saying she may dig him up in 100 years to see what she’s done with the place.
And single dad, Bud, takes his daughter, Paige (Zion Broadnax), for a treat after his first job of the day, then drops her off with her mother, Jocelyn’s (Meagan Good) house. Who’s talking about selling and moving to Florida for stability near her mother.
Bud is upset and they make a deal, if he comes up with $10,000 on Monday for tuition and braces then they’ll stay. Otherwise, she’s listing the house and moving.
Bud takes his fang collection to Troy to see what he’ll pay for them. Fangs from pure bred Elders are the most sought after and valuable. Plus he’s not in the union, so it will not be union prices. No deal on the teeth but the pawn broker is more interested in the Jordan’s on his feet than the rest of his wares.
And Audrey is busy wheeling and dealing with other elders to join her or face extinction. While she discovers the remains of the vampires bud killed earlier that day.
Bud is looking to get a union card and ten grand, so he hooks up with an old friend, Big John (Snoop Dogg) to help. His union violations are long so it looks bad for him, many of them merit lifetime suspensions. But he’s looking for one more chance. And he gets it! It comes with dental. Except, he’s in the field on a leash, a union rep, Seth (Dave Franco) is going to keep an eye on him. One slip up and Bud is out for good.
About the vampires, some are elders, some are so old that they are just ‘almost elders’, some vampires can actually recover from decapitation. A shell filled with wood, garlic and silver seems to do the job though.
There are five types of vampires..Southern, Eastern, Spider, Uber, Juvenile, they are largely solitary but when together they establish a hierarchy based on age, they cannot reproduce and fear nothing but sunlight.
Juvies are zombie vamps, turned by other newbie vampires, they do not inherit the full strength of vampires including lacking healing capabilities, look more dead than alive and cannot process human blood. They subsist on small animals.
They say there’s a 700 year vampire known as El Jefe, a kingpin, one of his fangs could buy a mansion. But it’s more legend than fact.
Audrey is hunting for Bud and picks up his scent at Troy’s place. Audrey gives him a choice to join him in service or death. He does not choose service but she chooses torture to get Bud’s name out of him.
Bud and Seth’s first time out together was at a bowling alley with juvies eating cats. Seth threw up and wet his pants. The field is turning out to be more than the bureaucrat expected.
Things are about to get really bad and made worse by Audrey and her mystery project that helps vampires operate during the day. Plus the Nazarian Brothers who are very successful hunters and very territorial unless they work together. And they’re finding hives full of mixed breeds that would never cohabitate. To stop this spiral they need to stop the source and that will not be easy.
This horror comedy was directed by J.J. Perry. It was action packed, fun and funny with an all star cast. Great fight choreography and vampire effects. Paced well with a good ending. Well done