DAYBREAKERS Brings Greedy Vampires Home with a New 4K UHD Steelbook

Vampire movies are as ubiquitous as zombie flicks, and too many of them are pretty average and familiar.

It's true, and you know it in your heart.

Filmmakers who shake things up outside of the norm are genre heroes, even if the resulting film doesn't quite work. But when they work beautifully? Well, that's when you get something like 2009's Daybreakers.

It's 2019, the future, and humankind is on the run. Vampires have long since taken over the planet and settled into their own nightly routines. They work, they play, and they drink a steady supply of blood harvested from human bodies. That supply is starting to run low, though, and this idyllic society is starting to show cracks. Some vampires work to create a synthetic substitute, others are degrading into monsters due to the lack of blood, and a small handful are hoping to cure vampirism forever.

Michael and Peter Spierig, aka the Spierig brothers, deliver a slick and gory piece of action/horror with Daybreakers, and the film holds up 16 years later as a terrific ride. The opening sequence does terrific world-building work in a short time and opens the door for equally effective and confident character introductions.

Ethan Hawke plays a scientist with a distaste for both blood and the barbaric cruelty required to attain it, but his efforts to create a synthetic replacement have so far come up empty. A spry and spunky Willem Dafoe provides the answer as Elvis, a former vamp who accidentally found the cure and now helps run the human resistance. Standing opposite them is genre stalwart Sam Neill as CEO of the blood supply company and a vampire who would happily toss his own daughter in exchange for profit.

Daybreakers looked great on release and still looks fantastic in 4K as the nighttime comes alive with sharp cinematography and monstrous mayhem. Vampires low on blood devolve into hairy, sharp-eared, and winged creatures, and the prosthetic effects deliver with thrilling design and plenty of bloodshed. The film also manages a few action beats that keep pulses racing, and it does it all in 98 minutes!

Lionsgate has released the film as part of its Limited Exclusive Steelbook line, and it's an expectedly slick affair. Slightly chunkier than normal steelbooks, the slipcover features a lenticular image with wraparound art on the steelbook case. The 4K transfer is the same one released in 2019, and there's still nothing of note to complain about as it captures detail, shadow, and action well. The disc includes a poster art gallery, the trailer, and the following mix of new and old special features.

- *NEW* Building the World of Daybreakers [15:59] - The Spierig brothers look back on their film offering new insights into the world-building, effects, and thoughts on a possible sequel.
- *NEW* Art and Craft: The Actors of Daybreakers [12:05] - The filmmakers recall the thrill of landing Ethan Hawke for the lead role which then gave them the courage to go after others like Sam Neill and Willem Dafoe.
- *NEW* Gag reel [2:00]
- *NEW* Art Department and Lighting Tests [1:32]
- *NEW* Costume, Hair, and Make-up Tests [9:05]
- *NEW* First Subsider Test [9:01]
- *NEW* Make-up Effects Tapes [8:32]
- *NEW* Stunt Department [7:11]
- *NEW* On the Set of Daybreakers [44:34]
- Commentary with Co-directors Peter and Michael Spierig and Costume Designer Steve Boyle
- Making of Daybreakers [2:01:38]
- "The Big Picture" [13:51] - a short film from the Spierig brothers

The fourth and final (?) entry in The Conjuring series of films is new to VOD, and Warner Bros. is celebrating by finally upgrading the first film to 4K UHD. There's no Blu-ray included, but it's still a worthwhile (albeit not mind-blowing) upgrade for fans.

A family's move into an old farmhouse sees them immediately haunted by a sinister presence, and with no other hope in sight, they turn to Ed and Lorraine Warren for a miracle. The couple have a long history with the supernatural, and with the blessing of the Catholic Church, they're also empowered to do exorcisms.

Right off the bat, yes, of course the real-life Warrens were hucksters and frauds playing on people's fears and beliefs to build their own fame and pot of gold. These films celebrate them as heroes, but these are fictional tales regardless of the "true story" trappings. The point being, it's not worth lambasting the franchise over the real-world people.

Besides, James Wan's The Conjuring remains a terrifically creepy and charismatic horror film that shows the filmmaker flexing his creatively artistic muscles to deliver the scares. Wan plays beautifully with shadows and light to craft tension and atmosphere even before the first jump scare hits. His use of framing is equally praiseworthy as objects frighten from the periphery to great effect.

Of course, the film's cast is a big help, too, with strong actors like Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, and Lili Taylor selling the characters and the terror. Wilson and Farmiga, in particular, build a beautiful chemistry that would go on to support the three sequels, and they remain the human heart of the films even as spooky shenanigans swirl around them.

The Conjuring has always looked fantastic as both Wan and cinematographer John Leonetti utilize light and shadow like they were born to do so. The new 4K is an improvement, but don't go in expecting a big change. Best it's ever looked, to be sure, but it's always looked great. The disc includes the following new and old special features.

- *NEW* Scariest of Them All [7:47] - Behind the scenes clips and newly shot talking head memories reflect on the franchise.
- *NEW* Reflections on The Conjuring [6:45] - More of the same, although this one does spend too much time praising Lorraine Warren and playing into the myth that the Warrens weren't charlatans.
- The Conjuring: Face-to-Face with Fear [6:37]
- A Life in Demonology [15:37]
- Scaring the @$*% Out of You [8:02]

Sure, 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer isn't on par with the two films above, but it certainly has its charms as a time capsule of the immediate post-Scream era. Sony has reissued their 4K UHD release in a new steelbook to coincide with the arrival of the franchise's latest.

Four friends living easy lives in a small coastal town cross a line one night when they accidentally hit a pedestrian while driving recklessly. Worse, they toss the body into the sea, planning to never speak of it again. A year later, though, someone is dropping notes (and bodies) as a reminder of their collective sin.

Lois Duncan's original novel gets a major overhaul for the big screen, and while the film follows Scream's lead with a hot, young cast, it forgoes the wit and humor to play things mostly straight. The result is an entertaining enough slasher, succeeding both on its cast and the iconic Gorton's Fisherman look of its killer.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillipe play the main quartet, and all do good work with their set character types. Add in a fun, decade-appropriate soundtrack and a couple suspenseful set-pieces, and you have a solid time for Hollywood slasher fans.

The new steelbook includes both a 4K UHD and a Blu-ray, and the following older special features are carried over.

- Deleted scenes [5:06] (4K only)
- My Own Summer: Interview with Director Jim Gillespie [29:39] (4K only)
- He Knows What You Did: An Interview with Muse Watson [14:43] (4K only)
- Commentary with Director Jim Gillespie and Editor Steve Mirkovich
- Director's short film, "Joyride" [10:10] - available with or without commentary by Gillespie
- Now I Know What You Did Last Summer [27:05]
- Music Video: "Hush" by Kula Shaker [2:56]

This year's reboot/sequel, also titled I Know What You Did Last Summer -- because they're still trying to copy Scream -- sees a new batch of friends send another body into the sea, only to be stalked for their crime a year later. Out of options, they turn to the two survivors of the original films (Hewitt and Prinze Jr.) for their expertise on the matter.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) is pretty standard stuff until an unearned third act reveal, but getting there is mostly spent waiting for the cool "kids" to show up and solve the mystery. The film aims for the same mostly serious vibe, but it fails to thrill along the way, making it all pretty forgettable (outside of that third act).

While the two veterans are having some slightly embarrassing fun, the newcomers do mostly good work in a film that might not give new life to the franchise like they all hoped. Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, and Sarah Pidgeon all bring charisma and intensity to their roles, but the group as a whole lack the chemistry and star power to lift it all above the norm.

The release includes the following special features.

- Return to Southport [9:11] - A "spoiler-free" featurette on the production and its connections to the original.
- Chills, Kills, and Thrills [10:33] - A spoiler-filled featurette selling the film.
- Outtakes and Bloopers [2:44]

MEGAN (2022) is a fun little romp making gateway horror out of artificial intelligence gone amok, but writer/director Gerard Johnstone takes a slightly different tact with this year's MEGAN 2.0. Taking a cue from James Cameron before him, Johnstone follows up his sci-fi slasher with an action film.

The dust has barely settled on MEGAN's rampage from a few years earlier, and its creator, Gemma (Alison Williams) is trying to move on. Too bad for her, then, that a competing A.I. robot is on the loose and killing those associated with MEGAN's creation. Her only option is to bring the little shit back online to go toe to toe with the new model.

As with Cameron's Terminator 2, MEGAN 2.0 is a bigger, more action-heavy beast that sees the previous villain become the hero -- and that's okay! It's a fun turn, and while it no longer even remotely resembles a horror film, there's plenty of entertainment in the fight scenes and banter.

If there's a criticism to be made, it's that the film can't quite justify its two-hour running-time. It's never dull, necessarily, but narrative beats can feel a bit repetitive and unnecessary at times. Still, it delivers enough fun to warrant a watch for fans of the first film. The disc includes an unrated cut with a minimal time difference, but we do get a little more of the red stuff (which is always welcome).

MEGAN 2.0 hits 4K UHD/Blu-ray with the following special features.

- Total Upgrade: Making MEGAN 2.0 [11:19]
- Droid DNA [7:39] - A look at the creation of a new MEGAN puppet/robot.
- The Art of Slaying [8:06] - A featurette exploring the sequel's shift from horror to action and how the entire cast embraced the opportunity.
- Scene Breakdown: Embrace AI Convention [5:04]