Day Shift

There’s a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from a San Fernando Valley heatwave, the kind where the air feels like a damp wool blanket and the asphalt is soft enough to swallow a flip-flop. Watching Jamie Foxx cruise through Encino in a beat-up truck, ostensibly cleaning pools while actually hunting vampires, captures that "grind" perfectly. I watched this on a Tuesday afternoon while my neighbor was power-washing his driveway; the rhythmic whoosh of his sprayer actually synced up with some of the shotgun blasts in the third act, and honestly, it’s the most "Valley" experience I’ve had all year.

The Blue-Collar Bloodsucker Grind

Day Shift isn't trying to be Bram Stoker's Dracula. It isn't even trying to be Twilight. It’s a movie that asks: "What if killing the undead was just another gig economy nightmare?" Jamie Foxx plays Bud Jablonski, a guy who has been kicked out of the international vampire hunters' union and is forced to sell "fangs" on the black market just to keep his daughter in private school. He’s a dad with a mortgage, a floral shirt, and a very large gun.

What works here is the tactile, sweaty reality of the world. In this current era of streaming cinema, we’ve become accustomed to "content" that feels like it was filmed entirely in a grey void. But director J.J. Perry—a legendary stunt coordinator who worked on John Wick and The Fate of the Furious—brings a physical, bone-crunching weight to the proceedings. When Bud fights a "Grandma" vampire in a suburban kitchen, it’s not a series of flashy CGI light beams; it’s a desperate, messy scramble through drywall and linoleum. The contortionist vampires are a godsend for anyone tired of CGI blobs, as Perry hired actual circus performers to twist their bodies into unnatural shapes, giving the kills a grotesque, practical flair that feels refreshing in 2022.

Stunts, Slaps, and Snoop Dogg

The "buddy cop" energy kicks in when the Union forces Bud to take a desk-bound auditor, Seth (Dave Franco), out into the field. Dave Franco is playing a familiar version of his frantic, high-pitched persona, but his chemistry with Foxx keeps the momentum from sagging. Seth is the audience surrogate, the guy who reads the manual while Bud is busy turning a kitchen appliance into a weapon of mass destruction.

And then, there’s Snoop Dogg. As Big John Elliott, Snoop is essentially playing a mythological version of himself if he had spent the last forty years hunting vamps in the desert. He shows up in a cowboy hat with a minigun named "Big Bertha," and it is exactly as ridiculous and delightful as it sounds. It’s a performance that doesn’t require much range, but Snoop Dogg with a cowboy drawl and a gatling gun is peak 'shut up and eat your popcorn' cinema.

The film benefits immensely from the 87Eleven production pedigree. Because Chad Stahelski (the man behind the John Wick franchise) produced this, the action logic is sound. Guns run out of bullets. Re-loading matters. Geography stays consistent. It’s an "action-first" philosophy that elevates the film above the usual Netflix "weekend-filler" status.

A $100 Million B-Movie

Let’s be real about the context: Day Shift is a product of the peak streaming wars. Ten years ago, a movie about blue-collar vampire hunters would have been a $15 million cult hit that you discovered on a dusty Blockbuster shelf. In 2022, it’s a $100 million blockbuster designed to keep you from scrolling to a different app. This massive budget shows up in the set pieces—particularly a high-speed chase through the LA flood control channels—but the movie never loses its "B-movie" soul.

It does stumble in the world-building department. We get hints of a deep, ancient bureaucracy of vampires and hunters, but the script (by Shay Hatten and Tyler Tice) mostly uses it as an excuse for more fight scenes. The villain, Audrey (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), is a bit of a standard-issue "ancient evil" who wants to buy up real estate in the Valley, which is a funny social commentary on gentrification that the movie never quite leans into hard enough.

However, for a film released during a period of "franchise fatigue," there’s something genuinely charming about a standalone original IP that just wants to show you a guy getting kicked through a ceiling. It doesn't need to set up a five-film universe (though the ending certainly leaves the door ajar). It just wants to be a fun, 113-minute distraction from the fact that the world is melting.

Stuff You Didn't Notice

Practical Pedigree: Director J.J. Perry actually started as a stuntman in the 90s, notably working on the Mortal Kombat films. You can see that "fight-choreography-first" DNA in every frame. The Contortion Factor: The "Elder" vampire in the opening sequence was played by Elena V. Kozlova, a professional contortionist. That's not CGI; she really can put her head between her ankles. Snoop’s Input: According to interviews, Snoop Dogg was so into the "Big John" character that he requested the Western-inspired wardrobe himself to give the character more "legend" status. The 87Eleven Connection: The gym where the actors trained for the fight scenes is the same one where Keanu Reeves prepped for John Wick. * Budget Trivia: At $100 million, this is one of the most expensive "original" (non-IP) horror-comedies ever made, a testament to the spending power of the streaming era.

Day Shift is the cinematic equivalent of a really good food truck taco. It’s not a five-course meal at a Michelin-star restaurant, but it’s hot, it’s spicy, and it’s exactly what you wanted when you were hungry at 2:00 PM on a Saturday. Jamie Foxx remains one of our most reliable movie stars, and his ability to ground even the most absurd premise in "dad energy" makes the whole thing fly. If you want to see vampires get suplexed into coffee tables by the guy who sang "Gold Digger," you've come to the right place.