This film does a lot with what was obviously little. The acting certainly isn't bad, but the roles and the dialogue really have little depth so there's not really much for any of them, including Lance Henrisken, to do.

What the film does right is action, and lots of it. The weapons work is outstanding, even with digital effects, something that is a pet peeve of mine. It gets an awful lot right when it comes to how people handle their weapons, and shows up droves of other horror films when it comes to commonplace actions like moving, reloading and even just shooting (how many actors flinch when shooting a gun? Too many). The main thing that impressed me is how hard the cast had obviously worked in training, and they carry the film, because there really isn't anything else.

The practical effects are not bad but small scale, digital effects are not common, there's no big scenes with lots of extras even when the film clearly needed more, neither the plot nor the writing is at all remarkable. The success of the film depends upon whether you like a grimy, sweaty tale of desperation and skillfully applied violence, or not.

There is some pathos elicited because most of the characters fight hard and make decisions under pressure, and what stupidity there is, is excusable. What's surprising is how well some of the death scenes work; for a bunch of hard nuts who know getting bitten means being turned into a vampire, you know what they're going to do, and that repetition should rob the event of its weight, but if anything it's cumulative.

There's little else to this film other than plenty of well-drilled weapons handling, the ending is particularly unsatisfying and something of an anticlimax, the characters are two-dimensional, the vampirism is so low-key they could easily be fast zombies, virtually every other aspect is lacking, yet I keep coming back to how great and unusual it is to see actors moving and shooting with a modicum of skill. I think Daylight's End is worth it for that alone. Smooth magazine changes and realistic round counts and aiming instead of spraying isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's certainly mine.