No other genre has caught the imagination in recent years like the vampire category of films. Be it teen angst in Twilight or endearing childhood first-love tales like Let the Right one in, our fanged friends are everywhere. This dark re-invention has most in common with TV drama True Blood, but don’t let that put you off… this is a sharp and innovative slice of a dystopian future which could well be this years answer to Moon.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke plays Ed, a researcher in the year 2017, in which an unknown plague has transformed the world’s population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of humans make a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race.

As previously noted, there are many films in the Vampire genre that could prove to be an easy template had this been a rushed and lazy effort. Instead the filmmakers (sibling duo Peter and Michael Spierig) opt for something very dark but ultimately rewarding by acknowledging the recognisable ‘vampire’ staples but putting on a new twist at every point of reference. It’s a hard trick to pull off (especially now given that everyone wants to come up with a bankable premise), but the brothers have crafted a smart story which avoids being too self-conscious for its own good.

Hawke is great as the troubled vampire struggling to come to terms with his own bloodlust. Unlike those around him he has chosen to stay away from temptation, but this leads to its own terrifying consequences. We are graphically shown this in two superb sequences of modern horror which combine the standard paranormal element of these characters with a very real fear people have. Firstly there is a home invasion scene played out in great detail as the vampires meet an even more frightening threat than themselves. Then there is a graphic medical procedure gone wrong segment which again taps into the ‘body-shock’ nightmares people experience and results in a genuinely disturbing finale.

The film however doesn’t follow the regular horror path (although it is as bloody and scary as almost anything that came out last year) instead it takes us on a demanding road to redemption. Ed’s soldier brother is more keen to keep the human population suppressed, and has no problem with them becoming extinct… something he shares with the head of the medical research unit (Sam Neill).

Initially with the human race almost wiped out, the aim is to find a substitute to blood, but Ed runs into a group of survivors looking for a more permanent solution. This resistance is lead by a mysterious man called Elvis (Dafoe back on firmer ground following Antichrist) who might hold the solution without even knowing it.

It’s fair to say this is one of those films best served by limited disclosure. The story takes some surprising turns (which we won’t be spoiling here) and manages to jolt life into the otherwise tedious genre. There are visual and stylistic cues from films like Gattaca (which also starred Hawke) and The Matrix, but in the end this is a fresh and inventive story all of its own making.