Sunrise – Movie Review (3/5)

SUNRISE is a new horror thriller with a vampire story. It’s a different take on the classic creature story and it stars Alex Pettyfer and Guy Pearce. Read our full Sunrise (2024) movie review here!

SUNRISE is a new take on the typical vampire story. The genres are – not surprisingly – still horror and thriller while the setting is rather dire. There seems to be no hope for anyone, but that doesn’t mean justice can’t happen.

The runtime is just around one and a half hours, but it could’ve been a bit longer. Just to elaborate on the characters. Especially as we also jump back and forth between events in two different periods ten years apart.

Continue reading our Sunrise movie review below. Find it In theaters and On Demand from January 19, 2024.

Revenge or redemption?

In Sunrise, we first meet an Asian family trying to make a life for themselves in a small town in the US. Unfortunately, this small town is run by a self-proclaimed and brutal demagogue portrayed by Guy Pearce.

We get to the “real” story of this movie once the ex-cop, Fallon (Alex Pettyfer) shows up. He helps the very kind and loving immigrant family, who soon discover that this stranger is a vampire. One that feeds on both blood and fear.

However, Fallon isn’t there to hurt them. Quite the opposite, he’s there to finally get the town rid of Reynolds (Guy Pearce) once and for all.

Unfortunately, this ends up clashing with what’s best for the Asian family, which leads to the choice of revenge versus redemption. Or can both happen with no harm done to the family, who has only been good to him?!

Along with Pettyfer and Pearce, the cast also has the talent of Olwen Fouéré (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022), Crystal Yu (The Sandman), and William Gao (Heartstopper).

A vampire-like creature

In Sunrise, nobody really talks about vampires that much. It’s more a question of someone suddenly craving blood and realizing nothing else tastes right anymore.

The real story of this movie is what happened ten years ago. At least it’s what matters as much as the present, which honestly seems to be a catalyst to tell the ten-year-old story.

I don’t mind that really, but I do wonder why most of the story (by far!) takes place in the present when we all sense that the real issue was in the past. Sure, it’s mysterious and intriguing.

However, once we finally get to the bottom of it all, it seems like the movie is already over. This doesn’t make the movie bad, but it results in an overall experience that feels lacking.

Watch Sunrise in theaters or On Demand

Andrew Baird is the director of Sunrise which is his third feature film. He previously directed a lot of music videos – including for Korn and The Weeknd – and more recently went into feature films. Like many music video directors before.

His first feature from 2021 was Zone 414 which also starred Guy Pearce along with Matilda Lutz, and then in 2022 came One Way. That one had both Kevin Bacon and Travis Fimmel in the cast along with Colson “Machine Gun Kelly” Baker.

It seems he can attract some pretty solid names that draw in viewers. However, it also seems like he hasn’t quite struck gold with his movies. Yet!

Academy Award-nominated (for the short Boogaloo and Graham in 2015) screenwriter Ronan Blaney wrote the screenplay for Sunrise. Ronan Blaney more recently won two awards at FrightFest in 2019 for A Good Woman Is Hard to Find.

While this horror thriller had the potential to be more, it’s still worth checking out for the characters and cast. That’s what has stuck with me much more than the story, which doesn’t seem quite right.

Sunrise is In Theaters, On Demand, and Digital from January 19, 2024.

Details

Director: Andrew Baird
Writer: Ronan Blaney
Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Guy Pearce, Crystal Yu, William Gao, Kurt Yaeger, Olwen Fouere