30 Days of Night (DVD, 2008)

Gone are the vampires who are so completely wimpy that Blade can kill with a single swing of his manly sword. The lead vampire in particular Danny Huston who is an identifiable character saturated in menace at the same time peering at his victims with soulless black eyes. These vamps are, in every sense, nasty unlikable, disgusting, weird and utterly scary, just like a vampire should be.

So they come by boat to feed of the population of Barrow, an Alaskan small town, a place where no person ever seems to joke or smile. They're forced to live, once a year, in perpetual darkness during the winter. Director David Slade knows how to create tension and horror without showing you much, and that happens to be a plus point with its extremely patient build up, and the heightening of suspense. You have to tip your hat at him for crafting a very quiet movie at crucial scenes, so much so that the audience lend their "Ssshhhhs" not to tell fellow audience to keep quiet, but aimed at the characters themselves to remain like little mice lest they get detected. '30 Days of Night' is a very grey movie in mood, tone and the weather.

The humans here though behave like typical vampire movie fodder. The bigger the ensemble, the more victims it can provide, not counting anonymous folks seen being victims from afar. Josh Hartnett's Sheriff Eben plays hero as he leads his bewildered town kinsman to survive through this 30 days of mayhem before the sun shines again, while trying to work out his estranged relationship with wife Stella (a very pouty Melissa George from Turistas (Unrated Edition), and I still say she's a dead ringer for Estella Warren!). As usual, you have a team of misfits feeding off each other's strength in a quest for survival, and a theme such as Sacrifice is never too far away from movies like these.

The real interesting take on the vampires is that they have their own language and move like starved, rabid animals. They don't seem to have a master plan for world domination or being part of a conspiracy, they're just there and the way they look will scare most people. Their facial feature is like something out of a David Lynch nightmare.

I like that this is a mystery, not an action movie and the only other scary vampire movie in modern times is Shadow of the Vampire, a movie almost as scary. But I can hear my vampire-loving friends bring this down, since the vamps didn't play spinette, spoke with eastern European accents and moaned like the best sex they've ever had every time they sink their teeth into flesh. They don't even seem to be enjoying themselves. There is one more movie that comes to mind and that The Addiction, where vampirism also seem to be more of a decease like alcoholism or bulimia. It does contain some pretty violent scenes like the massacre on the dogs, the gunplay and decapitations that look almost too realistic.

But what I felt was a let down to its build up, was the unsatisfying ending, which left a bitter aftertaste with its abruptness and inability to resolve anything substantial. It also didn't allow for any sympathy for the victims as you would sometimes find yourself rooting for another kill just to satisfy your blood lust, also because little time is given for you to get to know those characters. As the humans learn that guns do zilch to their targets, there goes all hope, and try as they could to get creative in turning the tables, it boiled down to keeping it simple. Thumbs up for the vampires

Director David Slade crams Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith's Unusual Graphic Novel through the Modern-Horror Grinder, falling back on flash cuts, audio screeches., and an abundance of gore. Amidst these jugernauts of atmospheric tricks., the story-concept remains powerfully strong.
Every Winter in Barrow, Alaska — the Northernmost Town in the United States — experiences a full month without sunlight. This year, an Army of Starving Savage Vampires descend on the Town to take advantage of the Natural Darkness. Local Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) and his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George), must put their differences aside long enough to try and protect Barrow and it's townsfolk.
The Night premise explains well, why Slade's film is so dark. Seemingly shot through a "Blue-Lens" Slade's film suffocates the audience with dread., and releases no mercy. The desolate frontier Town of Barrow makes for an incredible piece-set., and the ferocious blizzard that whips at the blood-thirsting Predators and their Prey is a "character" in and of itself.
Hartnett gives a truly solid performance; and Slade manages to drench shocks in with slow-building psychological fear. Ben Foster (though not the only reason) might be one of the biggest reasons to see '30 Days of Night'. The young actor is perfecting the Homicidal Maniac Role, practicing it in two other movies this year — see 'Alpha Dog' and '3:10 to Yuma'.
In '30 Days of Night', he plays a messenger who arrives in Barrow before the Vampires and tries to intimidate Hartnett's Sheriff with the Promise of Death. Foster drapes his lines with an accent that insipidly releases immediate tension.
While 'Sin City' & 'Shoot 'Em Up' have held the 5-Star Graphic Novel feel - 'Sin City' having truly set that 'Bar'., and 'Shoot 'Em Up' (while not it's own Graphic Novel but holding that appeal) following in it's steps., '30 Days of Night' I hold at just 1-Star less than a Full-5. (It's hard to put this Graphic Novel transformation to Cinema Screen on Level with 'Sin-City'....or any other Graphic Novel up to 'Sin City' for that matter (though we can wait and see how "The Dark Knight" plays this season with Christian Bale & Heath Ledger - God Bless Ledger).
However, "DO NOT MISS" this frighteningly disturbing nightmare. It would have 5-stars., if I didn't feel obligated to hold it to 'Sin City' standards.
SEE THIS !!

30 Days of Night takes place in an isolated Alaskan town which is so far north, 30 days of the year in complete darkness. I thought this was a great idea for a setting! As the sun sinks toward the horizon for the last time, most of the tiny town’s 500 or so residents leave, preferring migration south rather than 30 days without sun. Some however, always choose to remain and the small town’s sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) marks the beginning of their 30 days of dark by adjusting their population sign to reflect its 152 remaining residents.

Meanwhile, the vampires are already plotting. Someone has begun vandalizing key areas of the little village’s infrastructure. Satellite phones are stolen, and burned. The town’s helicopter is mysteriously damaged beyond compare. Something is afoot, but before Oleson can figure it out, the sun is gone and it’s game over.

The vampires come on the town suddenly, and in force. The power goes out, the phones go down, the internet is gone. The nearest town is 80 miles away, there is no sun, there is no hope, no chance of defense, no semblance of order. This isn’t a siege movie where the brave sheriff holes up in a police station with a group of survivors and defends them against an attacking evil. With the disappearance of light, the handful of residents left in the dark in this movie are like rabbits, helpless scared creatures whose only hope is a quick death.

The vampires' attack is violence and blood spatter. People run into the street brandishing weapons, thinking they can actually fight. Each attempt is marked by a red stain on the snow, and soon the defenders are gone and the vampires move on to crashing through houses and killing everyone else. By then Sheriff Oleson and the few people with him have started to realize they have no hope, and like the prey they are, go to ground praying that they can wait for the sun’s return. They can’t. The vampires keep coming, keep killing, keep hunting. An unstoppable force and Slade never makes the mistake of letting you think his human characters have a chance. He’s so good at it, that when something does go right for them you’re surprised. Even then, there’s always a horrible price.

It's heavy on the gore; heads are brutally severed in extreme close-ups, blood drips through the snow leaving stains of death everywhere the camera goes. There’s an aerial shot in the middle of the film which will simply blow the mind of gore-hounds, as a camera sweeps over the town in the midst of the vampires’ most vicious, massive, killing frenzy. It’s intense and gripping, so intense that even though you’re watching one of the goriest movies you’ve ever seen, you may not even notice. You’re too caught up in what’s going to happen next. Are the vampires coming? Will they run? Will they hide? Will anyone make it out alive?

If anything's wrong, it’s only in the end with a few left, One makes a truly bizarre decision that people don't make. You may feel indifferent to Josh Hartnett. He was not bad, yet he was not super terrific good.

Ben Forster was cool and plays a grungy, slimy, stranger who wanders into town and causes trouble. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t find a way for him to figure more prominently into the script. He leaves an impression.

See the movie if you want to be scared. It’s rare a horror movie that delivers that. Pay the going price on Ebay, it's worth it!

DTD

As a horror movie buff, I will say that this one is probably one of the most believable horror films that I've seen in quite sometime. If Barrow, Alaska's dismal weather conditions and thirty days of continued darkness wasn't bad enough, then how about adding a clan of blood-thirsty vampires into the mix?

Synopsis:

Basically, a clan of blood-thirsty pale-skinned vampires with large dark pupils, teeth like piranhas, long sharp talon-like fingernails, the strength (in a small group) to overturn a large SUV, as well as possessing some martial arts skills, speak an indistinguishable language all their own, and capable of velociraptor-like screams, infiltrate the small desolate Alaskan town of Barrow, and begin systematically killing-off the townspeople...upon quickly discovering that this town has much more to offer than just sled dogs - fresh humans.

As the townspeople are killed-off one by one, a small group of survivors develop and is led by the sheriff (played by Josh Hartnett). He learns that the only way to destroy these creatures is by separating their head from their body via one way or another. So, throughout most of the film and after he loses his 357 magnum revolver, the sheriff wields a long-handled axe and severs the heads of those who had just 'turned'.

Amongst the group of survivors are a few heroes who take it upon themselves to each try and 'take on' the vampires on their own? As the surviving group begins to grow thin, the sheriff develops his own heroic plan and decides to withdraw some blood from one of the recent fatalities (friend turned vampire) and then injects himself with the vile 'serum'. Since he knows that it takes awhile before one becomes truly 100% vampire, he decides to fight the vampire leader...before he too 'turns'.

Although the vampire leader already has 'superhuman' strength and some martial arts skill, the sheriff is able to ultimately defeat him anyway. Upon the death of the vampire leader, the remaining vampires leave and evidently return to from whence they came...do I smell a possible sequel here? At the film's end, and as daylight finally breaks at the end of the thirty daylight hiatus, the sheriff eventually fades into ashes in the arms of his companion.

BTW, in my unsuccessful attempts at trying to play the special features, I was, however, able to discover an 'Easter Egg' within this particular disc. While in the main menu and with the 'Play Movie' prompt highlighted, depress the left arrow to access the film's entire 17-track soundscore...slick eh?

I was very eager to see this Vampire movie. The concept of Vampires being able to attack people without worrying about sunlight for 30 days, just blew my mind. Unfortunately this film did not live up to my expectations. I bought it as a two pack (with "The Forsaken" -- Great Vampire Film), so I thought I would actually double my blood soaked pleasures with twice the terrifying punch, however, 30 Days of Night was maybe an okay movie for someone who has never seen some of the Vampire greats, but not for me. THe majority of the movie Josh Hartnett plays a wimp who would rather hide in the attic of an abandoned house than fight the evil do-ers. The only character who showed a little strength was Melissa George, but enough to save this movie. The ending was completely terrible and questionable. I will not ruin it for anyone, but it leaves you with a feeling that the screen writer did not know how to finish his script properly and came up with some bizarre ending.

If you are looking for another From Dusk To Dawn, Forsaken, Interview With the Vampire..... or something more like 28 Days Later, Dawn Of The Dead......... then this is NOT your movie. But if you are tired of these type of storyplots then this might be the film you have been waiting for.