Day Shift

It depicts a world overrun with vampires, yet Day Shift is more of an effects-driven buddy comedy than a dark horror thriller.

Still, while it manages some scattered big laughs between its obligatory showdowns between the living and the undead, it lacks the freewheeling spirit to break any new ground in cinematic vampire lore.

The opening sequence sets the ultraviolent tone, as Bud (Jamie Foxx) arrives at a house in his pool-cleaning van not to tend to the backyard swimming hole, but instead to wipe out an elderly grandmother whose bloodsucking tendencies make her a resilient opponent.

It’s a secret Bud has kept hidden from his estranged wife (Meagan Good) and young daughter (Zion Broadnax). He belongs to a union aiming to eradicate the burgeoning vampire presence in the San Fernando Valley.

Bud needs some quick cash for his daughter’s school tuition. But he’s fallen out of favor due to his reckless methods, so he’s not allowed on the obviously more lucrative night shift. Plus, his latest assignment requires an escort in the form of a timid union number-cruncher (Dave Franco) ill-equipped to handle the field.

With the clock ticking and his sidekick in tow, Bud isn’t sure who he can trust as he encounters a real-estate agent (Karla Souza) who’s not what she seems.

As you might expect, the directorial debut of former stuntman J.J. Perry excels in its creative fight choreography and adrenaline-fueled set pieces. Otherwise, however, the film doesn’t seem to fully embrace its campy potential.

After all, how seriously can you take any venture in which a scene-stealing Snoop Dogg plays a veteran hunter sporting full cowboy regalia while mowing down vampires with a tricked-up machine gun nicknamed Big Bertha?

At any rate, Foxx brings infectious enthusiasm to his role, although Bud is saddled with wooden dialogue and formulaic plot mechanics. He generates an amusing odd-couple chemistry with Franco, who tees up Foxx’s one-liners as the neurotic straight man.

The confrontations progressively take on a video-game mentality with cartoonish vampire gymnastics — that ultra-flexible scorpion pose seems to be a favorite — and graphic decapitations.

Genre aficionados might be frustrated by the film’s tendency to make up the rules as it goes along. Day Shift is another movie about the undead that only sporadically sparks to life.

Rated R, 113 minutes.