But Bromley Marks learns of the cure. To the corporation, a cure means the end of blood dependency—and the collapse of their trillion-dollar empire. The CEO, Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), declares Edward a terrorist. More terrifyingly, Bromley has his own solution to the blood shortage: convert the last humans into livestock farms. Breed them. Bleed them. Never let them wake.
In 2019, a plague transformed most of the world’s population into vampires. Within a decade, the old human days of sun, garlic, and wooden stakes became folklore. Civilization didn’t collapse—it adapted. Night became day. Cars ran on synthetic blood. Coffee was laced with hemoglobin. The remaining humans were hunted, farmed, and drained. Daybreakers
In the end, Edward watches the sunrise over a ruined city. The cured stand beside him, blinking. They are no longer predators. But they are no longer pure, either. The cure rewrites DNA imperfectly: they age fast, tire easily, and dream in echo-location. Still, it’s a start. But Bromley Marks learns of the cure
One line from Elvis echoes as the screen fades to white: More terrifyingly, Bromley has his own solution to
Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is a chief hematologist for Bromley Marks, the corporation that now runs the global blood supply. Unlike his brother Frank (Michael Dafoe)—a grizzled vampire hunter turned human-sympathizer—Edward still clings to a scientist’s hope: a blood substitute. Each batch, however, fails. The test subjects (feral, starving vampires) vomit it back. Desperation turns to panic. Without blood, the vampire population degenerates into “subsiders”—bat-like, rabid creatures that lose all reason.
But there was a problem. The human supply was running out.