Day Shift (2022) Film Review - Doesn't Quite Hit the Jugular

Vampires vs. The Bronx, Night Teeth, and now J. J. Perry’s Day Shift: someone over at Netflix is into the prospect of investing in vampire horror comedies of varying quality. Day Shift, for the most part, is a competent and entertaining action flick, thanks in no small part to the cast.

Day Shift 2022 Review Netflix Cover

Jamie Foxx has shown time and again that he’s more than capable of taking on lead duties, whether he’s winning Oscars for music biopics, or kicking vampire ass up and down California. His chemistry with Dave Franco lays the foundation for much of the film’s humor and introduces a kind of buddy cop dynamic into the mix. The cast is further bolstered with some smaller roles from industry veteran Peter Stormare, and living legend Snoop Dogg (patiently waiting for a Big John spin-off project).

The action scenes are a whole lot of fun. The vampires contort and twist in horrible ways, and are dispatched in equally terrible ways. There’s plenty of blood and viscera, limbs flying about the place, and decapitations. It’s all well choreographed, fast-paced, and hugely entertaining. One scene in particular, where a group of hunters takes on an entire nest of vampires, manages to blend a chaotic mix of hilarity and inventive gore.

Day Shift Vampire

While there’s a lot going for Day Shift, it does falter at times. After an exciting opening scene, there’s quite a lengthy dip in pacing. This leads to several exposition dumps and world-building. Crafting lore for a new IP is something that can be tricky to navigate, yet Day Shift misses the mark. It’s all well and good providing the audience with background information that would be everyday knowledge for these characters, but it’s executed in a way that feels wayward and messy, and almost exclusively through dialogue.

In contrast, an example of a film that does this approach well would be Zombieland. Within minutes, we know plenty of in-universe rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse, and it’s done in a fun, breezy, and brisk manner. However, Day Shift puts a pin in any sort of excitement to throw all sorts of exposition at us in a way that feels like it’s relying on potential sequels for any kind of payoff. It’s a touch deflating, and not even Foxx’s charisma can keep it from becoming boring.

To add to the negative side of things, the villain of the piece is aggressively forgettable. There’s a semi-clever reference to how estate realtors are evil, but other than that, she’s just an uninspired bad guy that causes the protagonist’s mild peril. The narrative also suffers from the age-old issue of characters doing stupid decisions to drive the plot forward. Certain events unfolding don’t make much sense with what we’ve been told previously.

Day Shift Jamie Foxx

Despite these misgivings and a messy middle, Day Shift ends on a high note, with an entertaining final third, and ultimately manages to be a perfectly passable popcorn movie. What it lacks in substance, it makes up for in style, and will surely leave most with a smile on their faces by the time the credits roll.