Saturday, January 30^th
• Vampire Night •
Hosted by the ladies of SS-Triple X

City of Eternals, the web’s first free vampire game world, is offering ChicagoVampire.com’s users a special sneak preview and advance on game currency. Be one of the first 100 users to sign up at http://www.cityofeternals.com/promo-forms/chicagovampire/ and you’ll receive a special invitation to take part in the earliest stages of this massively multiplayer online world (it’s still in alpha); you’ll also receive 100 “ohais”, the virtual game currency that will eventually translate to real dollar value once the game officially launches.

For more information, visit City of Eternals, Vampire’s Digest and Ohai’s website.

By Kristin Carroll

The release of Daybreakers has the Spierig brothers putting an interesting spin on tired vampire stories. With the recent over saturation, many people have simply tuned out bloodsuckers and fangs. Feel free to do so only after giving this one a chance. The film is a fun ride, with exciting action sequences, an interesting plot, and plenty of blood. We are introduced to a future in 2019, where an unknown virus has transformed the majority of the world into vampires. As a result, humans are close to extinction. Almost all remaining are harvested in labs, providing minimal sustenance to the overpopulated vampires.

From the start, the story sucks you in. (Excuse the pun.) Ethan Hawke is introduced as Edward Dalton, a hematologist tasked with developing a blood substitute to replenish food supplies. His research company operates under the leadership of designated bad guy, Charles Bromley, played by Sam Neil. The atmosphere portrays a barely contained panic amongst everyone, as they face their impending doom of starvation. With no substitute-cure in site, vampires begin feeding on themselves, turning into brutal monsters, mirroring corpses with wings and fangs. One cannot help but be drawn into the dark desperation of the vampires.

The film advances with Dalton meeting a renegade group of humans including Willem DaFoe, who discover a vampire cure. As a sympathizer of humans, Dalton rallies for this cure rather than the blood substitute his lab seeks. DaFoe nails his performance, adding comedic value with his warrior-attitude. Both his and Hawke’s appearance in the action sequences are second to none, keeping viewers glued to the screen. The special effects are gripping, memorable and intense, leaving no room for disappointment.

Character development sometimes stops short of its potential, with a missed opportunity to further dissect the relationship between Bromley and his daughter. She refuses to turn vampire, and ultimately, Bromley aids in her demise. We’re nudged to dislike him from the start, though portraying his character as more than one-dimensional would have helped add depth to the storyline. The fact that he isn’t the only evil character, further underscores this lost chance.

Without giving too much away, Daybreakers is an exciting ride, and one I’d recommend seeing in the theater for the action sequences. Although it’s catalogued within the horror genre because it involves vampires, it’s not terribly scary, save for a few jump inducing moments. It should more adequately be billed as a futuristic action-adventure film. But that’s knit picking. Just go see it.

ChicagoVampire.com has 2 copies each of 2 new vampire novels to give away to 2 lucky winners!

JANE BITES BACK by Michael Thomas Ford "Two hundred years after her death, Jane Austen is still surrounded by the literature she loves—but now it’s because she’s the owner of Flyleaf Books in a sleepy college town in Upstate New York. Every day she watches her novels fly off the shelves—along with dozens of unauthorized sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations. Jane may be undead, but her books have taken on a life of their own."

FOREVER DAVID’S by Shannon Bailey (Signed by the author) "His name was David Blackwell. He wasn’t a Count or a Prince, but a ‘noble’ being nonetheless. He was considered the "Vampire Saint" among a small, relatively new and unknown order of Vampires, called the Unwilling. This is their Story. . . "

To win one of these sets of books, add a comment to this post (at ChicagoVampire.com if you’re reading it on Facebook or elsewhere) and tell us about your favorite vampire book(s). Winners will be chosen after January 31 from commenters, who will be contacted for shipping information.

ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN THE "DAYBREAKERS" SWEEPSTAKES

In Theaters January 8th

The “Subsider” Grand Prize

• Autographed "Daybreakers" poster
• One Pair of tickets to see "Daybreakers"
• Blood Energy Potion
• B+ human blood aluminum water bottle
• meekssandygirl Crochet Vampire Bite Necklace
• "Daybreakers" soundtrack CD
• "Daybreakers" Sunglasses
• Human Blood-y Mary recipe card

The “Edward Dalton” Prize

• "Daybreakers" poster
• Blood Energy Potion
• B+ human blood aluminum water bottle
• "Daybreakers" soundtrack CD
• "Daybreakers" Sunglasses
• Human Blood-y Mary recipe card

The “Audrey Bennett” Prize

• "Daybreakers"poster
• Blood Energy Potion
• B+ human blood aluminum water bottle
• "Daybreakers" soundtrack CD
• "Daybreakers" Sunglasses

ENTER HERE

We have a HUGE set of photos from Saturday night’s Vampire on Ice and Daybreakers events:

View 140 more photos (courtesy of Chad Hawks) in the Photo Album.

We’re encouraging anybody attending Vampires on Ice and Carpe Noctem at Neo on Saturday night to post tweets and photos from the events! If you are able to post to Twitter from your phone, add the hashtag #chicagovampire so Dark Chicago homebase can find and re-tweet your posts.

If you can send photos from your phone, send pics to photos@darkchicago.com and we’ll post them!