There are so many elements about the headline above that make me so happy, but the details behind it (courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter) make me even happier. There is the fact that Netflix has a vampire hunter action thriller coming out called Day Shift, where the main character’s cover is that of a pool cleaner. There is the fact that the pool cleaner is played by Jamie Foxx in full “girl dad” mode. I was already all the way in, but then they went ahead and added Snoop Dogg to it. Give it to me now. Right now.
The film’s the directorial debut for J.J. Perry, a seasoned second-unit director on films like John Wick (yes), The Fate Of The Furious (yes), and Bloodshot (oh no), so we can be reasonably well-assured that the action scenes will be on-point — and really, isn’t that all you want from a Jamie Foxx vampire hunter/pool cleaner flick? The script, written by Tyler Tice, was discovered at a screenplay competition, so it can’t be all bad, and the cast, which includes Dave Franco, Eric Lange, Karla Souza, Meagan Good, and Zion Broadnax, among others, seems strong enough to support the admittedly kinda silly concept.
There are a lot of ways this could go wrong, but I’m choosing to remain positive because if nothing else, there is the possibility of watching Snoop Dogg react to a vampire attack to look forward to, and “Snoop Dogg reacting to things” is a genre with a wealth of fun moments — especially if the things turn out to be supernatural and unusual. Also, Jamie Foxx’s last Netflix action flick Project Power (in which he was again in full “girl dad” mode) was really enjoyable, as is his current ’90s-style sitcom on the platform, Dad Stop Embarrassing Me (do you see the theme developing?).
There’s nothing on when Day Shift will hit streaming, but turnaround on Netflix films is usually pretty quick so expect to see this one out at a theme appropriate time — say, Halloween.
