2010 is here, and it begins with a month that includes three films that hold promise for fans of the fantastic.

The first is the vampire film Daybreakers. It tells the story of a a plague that spreads across the earth in 2019. This transforms “the majority of the world’s population into vampires. Humans are now an endangered, second-class species forced into hiding as they are hunted and farmed for vampire consumption to the brink of extinction.

It’s all up to Edward Dalton, a vampire researcher who refuses to feed on human blood to perfect a blood substitute that might sustain vampires and spare the few remaining humans. But time and hope are running out  – until Ed meets Audrey, a human survivor who leads him to a startling medical breakthrough. Armed with knowledge that both humans and vampires will kill for, Ed must battle his own kind in a deadly struggle that will decide the fate of the human race.

The film includes Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill, and is directed by Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig.See the film’s official website for more information, and for the interesting related website Capture Humans. Daybreakers premiers in theaters January 8.

The second movie I am looking forward to is The Book of Eli, a post-apocalyptic story.

In the not-too-distant future, some 30 years after the final war, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. Empty cities, broken highways, seared earth – all around him the marks of catastrophic destruction. There is no civilization here, no law. The roads belong to gangs that would murder a man for his shoes, an ounce of water…or for nothing at all.

But they’re not match for this traveler.

A warrior not by choice but by necessity, Eli seeks only peace, but, if challenged, will cut his attackers down before they realize their fatal mistake. It’s not his life he guards so fiercely but his hope for the future; a hope he has carried and protected for 30 years and is determined to realize. Driven by his commitment and guided by his belief in something greater than himself, Eli does what he must to survive – and continue.

Only one other man in this ruined world understands the power Eli holds, and is determined to make it his own. Carnegie, the self-appointed despot of a makeshift town of thieves and gunman. Meanwhile, Carnegie’s adopted daughter Solara, is fascinated by Eli for another reason: the glimpse he offers of what may exist beyond her stepfather’s domain.

But neither will find it easy to deter him. Nothing – and no one – can stand in his way. Eli must keep moving to fulfill his destiny and bring help to a ravaged humanity.

The cast includes Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman, and the film is directed by Allan Hughes and Albert Hughes. It opens in theaters January 15.

The final film is also related to the end of the world, but in this case it is pre-apocalyptic. It is Legion. Like previous postmodern treatments of apocalyptic, this film turns Judeo-Christian notions of judgment, apocalyptic, angelic roles, messianic themes and apocalyptic in general upside down. As the film’s website describes, “When God loses faith in mankind, he sends his legions of angels to bring on the apocalypse. Humanity’s only hope lies in a group of strangers trapped in a desert diner and the Archangel Michael.” Michael goes rogue, turning against God as he unleashes judgment in the form of the angelic host under the leadership of the Archangel Gabriel trying to murder a child of promise.

The cast includes Paul Bettany as the Archangel Michael, Kevin Durand as the Archangel Gabriel, Dennis Quaid, and Charles Dutton. It is directed by Scott Stewart and is scheduled for release on January 22.

Mark your calendars and prepare for a fantastic January.