Daylight’s End (2016)
a review by Evan Landon
Remember that last review where I did one on a movie I watched in a Facebook group watch & it kinda sucked..? Welp, here we are again, except this one did not suck! I mean, it is def not a perfect movie by any means, but I did enjoy it!
Let me break this one down quickly: set in a post-apocalyptic world where vampiric zombies kill whatevs is left of humanity, a last bastion of human survivors (mostly made up of police & military) are attempting to survive the wastelands of Dallas, Texas. I'm not gonna lie; just from that description, if your interest is not peaked after that, you might be a vampiric zombie yourself & should most likely get checked out.
Speaking to that, what caught my eye was how many peeps were wearing masks in this movie about a dark future. Being that this movie was made back in 2016, it is highly doubtful that they were accurately predicting the future when they made this film, but that was something very noticeable to me given our current situation.
The main contributors of this film have worked together before, so it flows very well: Johnny Strong (our main protagonist) worked on a film called Saints & Sinners with writer/director William Kaufman and actor Costas Mandylor, whose brother Louis Mandylor appears prominently in this film. Rounding out the group of actors is one Krzysztof Soszynski (as the Alpha vampire zombie) whose name I recognized from Ultimate Fighting Championship because that is one of the hardest names I have ever had to spell.
The movie is short on plot and actual character development, but that is not something truly needed for a movie like this. Sure, it could have definitely used more gore, but what was needed to make this movie work was great action sequences and this one nails them perfectly. One of the reviews I read actually said Kaufman should be given a chance to make a big budget Hollywood movie because of how well he pulled this one off.
If you have never heard of the lead actor, Johnny Strong (yes, that is his real name) before, you might know him as Leon from the Fast & Furious franchise or as Medal of Honor Delta Force sniper Randy Shughart in the movie Black Hawk Down where he was killed and taken through the streets. Naked. That really happened, by the way. I remember my dad telling me about it as a kid. I caught something in this film that I am not sure anyone else did; his character uses the same M14 sniper rifle in most of the action scenes that he used in that film as an homage to that character and real life person. Strong also composed the soundtrack for this film, as he has released over a half dozen albums under the name “Operator”. It is not that bad music, if you ask me, but the music in this film reminds me that of the music from Back To The Future score, at times.
At a budget of $2 million, as a straight to video release, the movie grossed a mere $11,000, so this action horror flick is definitely considered to be a bomb. The reviews are middle to average, just like this one. A Walking Dead tribute, it is not; what it is though is a taught action thriller by a young up and coming director with some great ideas.
Oh yeah, & Lance Henrickson is in it too. Sorta.
2.5 out of 5