Film / Daylight's End

Frank Hill: New York? How the Hell'd you get all the way down [to Dallas] then, huh?
Rourke: I drove.
Background survivor: All by yourself?
Harker: Wait a second, you've been on your own ever since the plague started?
Rourke: Yeah. Hunting.
Dugan: Fuck you! Hunting them? What are you gonna do, kill 'em all? There's millions of those goddamned things out there.
Rourke: Yeah, well there's a lot less of 'em from here to the Bronx, asshole.

Daylight's End is a 2016 Zombie Apocalypse movie starring Johnny Strong as a zombie-killing drifter and Lance Henriksen as the leader of a group of survivors in Dallas, Texas, who the drifter offers to help fight an Elite Zombie (who he has a personal grudge against) as they look or a way out of the city. The title comes from how zombies die in the sunlight, but attack in hordes at night.

Topes in this Movie

• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Multiple times.
  • The night after Rourke first arrives at the police station, there is a long scene showing several leaders and fighters of the group having nightmares, looking concernedly at their sleeping loved ones, or praying.
  • Before Ethan joins Rourke in the raid on the nest, he has a conversation with his father about a The American Civil War story that Frank told him years ago that he relates to their present situation.
• Anyone Can Die: Out of the twenty-one named human characters, only Rourke, Sam, Vince, Chris's wife and stepson, Harker's daughter, the half-insane Annabelle, and maybe but probably not Bishop and Frank survive to the end.
• Attempted Rape: Several marauders are trying to rape Sam before Rourke shows up and kills them.
• Asshole Victim: Seeing someone trapped in a car that is being swarmed by zombies and shooting himself while shaking uncontrollably isn't a pleasant sight. Still, if it had to happen to any of the survivors, then Dugan is by far the least pitiable of the bunch, after constantly insulting Rourke and unsuccessfully trying to convince Vince the pilot to abandon the rest of the survivors—including children— so the two of them can escape alone.
• Battle Couple: Burton and Earnesta are a married couple and two of the group's best gunfighters. They take on zombies together in several scenes.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: After zombies surround Dugan and bite Earnesta during separate attacks, both put guns to their heads and pull the triggers as the camera cuts away.
• Black Dude Dies First: The African-American Mike is the first character to die, when marauders gun him down. His brother Chris lasts past the half way point, but also dies.
• Crusading Widow: Rourke is out to kill the Alpha to avenge his dead wife.
• Drunk Driver: When the zombies first appeared, Drew was in jail for driving drunk due to depression over his wife and son leaving him. He seems sober and reliable during the movie itself.
• Elite Zombie: The Alpha is a ruthlessly intelligent zombie who has organized the local zombies to use tactics to corner and wear down the Dallas survivors, who have been reduced to trying to flee the city. He's also seemingly impervious to bullets (although that turns out to be because he's wearing body armor).
• Friendly Sniper: Bishop is one of the more friendly and level-headed survivors, and gives the party heading to the Alpha's nest detailed and concerned instructions about the conditions under which he'll be able to provide covering fire during their retreat. Ultimately, though, he's only ever seen using grenades and short range firearms (both of which he's effective with) against the zombies.
• Hero of Another Story:
  • The local survivors recall how a National Guard Unit tried to provide support and cover for the civilians to evacuate, then holed up in a hotel and were overrun after two days.
  • Vlad was part of a Russian commando team that hijacked an airliner to flee from zombie-infested Russia and crash-landed in Miami. He then fought his way to Dallas, before Chief Hill's group found him wandering drunk and naked through the streets some time before the beginning of the movie. His new companions comment how his story feels like something straight out of a movie.
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Former Russian commando Vlad is good with a gun and is also one of the few people willing and able to take on zombies up close with a knife.
• Mr. Exposition: Ethan is the on to tell Rourke the history behind their group.
• Not in Front of the Kid: Right before Zombie Infectee Harker is put down, he asks that his daughter be taken to the next room.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Zombies turn people into mindless monsters with their bites but (as the title suggests), they burn up in the sun. They can also be killed by shots to the torso.
• Quick Nip: Ethan is seen taking sips from a flask a few times.
• Shout-Out:
  • Bishop, Chief Hill (Lance Henriksen)'s most loyal subordinate, is named after the character Henriksen played in Aliens.
  • The zombies burn in the sun like vampires, and two of Hill's men are named Harker and Vlad, like the protagonist of Dracula and the antagonist's inspiration, Vlad the Impaler.
• Shirtless Scene: One of Rourke's first scenes shows him removing his shirt, exposing his muscular, tattooed chest.
• Staking the Loved One: On the first day of the outbreak, Ethan had to put down his infected brother Evan.
• Tragic Keepsake: Sam wears her engagement ring (her fiancee is dead) on a necklace around her neck.
• Uncertain Doom: During the final battle at the police station, Bishop is last seen cornered in a closet and blazing away at an enormous charging horde, while Frank is tackled by a zombie after running out of bullets. Neither of them is seen being killed, but their odds aren't good and they aren't seen with the other survivors at the end.
• Vasquez Always Dies: There are two female combatants in the group of survivors. Sam was studying to be a lawyer before the Zombie Apocalypse, has some UST with The Hero, and while she does help fight zombies and marauders, she's not the best shot out of the group. Earnesta is a more skilled gunfighter, and she and her husband have a blue-collar look to them. The trope is ultimately played straight when Earnesta is bitten and shoots herself, while Sam survives.
• Wasteland Elder: Aging Chief of Detectives Frank Hill finds himself leading the last few dozen survivors in his city as they hole up during a zombie infestation.
• You Should Have Died Instead: Chief Hill expresses outrage that Rourke is alive when the others he took with him to attack the Alpha's nest, including Hill's surviving son Ethan, are dead.
• Zombie Apocalypse Hero: Completely feral vampires fill in for zombies, but Rourke fits the hero (or Anti-Hero) role, driving across the ravaged country in a Cool Car filled with guns and killing vampires. His new allies, the inhabitants of a besieged police station, also seem to count due to their own skills and mixed backgrounds.