30 Days of Night

Vampires are supposed to be sexy. They are supposed to lure one into their den with a charm and with sex appeal. They entice one until that person wants to be bitten in hopes of being turned into a sexy, immortal, beautiful creature. At least that is what the movies usually tell us. That is what books and television tell us. That is the image I have always had of vampires and I think that is the image most of us have of them. We picture Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise or something like that. Apparently no one told that to Steve Niles, the man who created a graphic novel called 30 days of night. And no one told that to David Slade, the director of the movie based on the graphic novel. But, does changing the lore of the vampire work for or against this movie?


At the very top of Alaska there is a town that has 30 days of nightfall. It is a tiny town of 563 people, but on the last day of light before the darkness the town becomes occupied by just 152 people. Sheriff Eben Oleson(Josh Hartnett) is one of those who stays around and just before nightfall weird things begin to happen in town. First off, all of the satellite phones are burned and crushed then all of the dogs are murdered and eventually most of the power in the town is shut down. Stella Oleson(Melissa George) is a fire Marshall who has a history in the town as she is married, yet separated from Eben. On her way out of town to catch the last plane something happens to her car (The first great jump of the movie) and so she must go back into town. When she arrives she finds her husband attempting to arrest a stranger (Ben Foster) who is being charged with the strange occurrences in town. However, people start disappearing and people start dying. The stranger tries to warn Oleson with some creepy foreboding dialogue, but Oleson has to see it for himself. Yes, the town has been overrun with vampires. And like I mentioned earlier these are not your garden variety vampires. These vampires are monstrous, torturous, screeching blood thirsty monsters. They run fast, they pounce and torture their prey before sucking their blood. And they begin by slowly picking off people but it quickly turns into a giant feeding frenzy. The few survivors left spend the rest of the movie trying to survive the month. They move only during giant snow storms and try to find the best hiding places.


With a perfect mixture of creepy intensity and brutal gore, this movie has the best of both world's for horror fans. Those who like things to be on the verge of a scare will really enjoy the first half and those who want blood will really get a kick out of the second half. This is about 30 minutes longer than the typical horror movie as well. The reason being it allows us to get to know some of the characters. We start to care about a few of the people of this town, something most horror movies do not do. It helps when the killing starts that we have some people to root for and cheer when something goes well and be upset when things do not go their way. Hartnett is a formidable protagonist, as a semi-reluctant hero. He has a strong presence and gives Eben a sense of wounded heroism. George adds a little more to the typical horror movie female and it is a welcome touch. The supporting cast of humans do their jobs well enough, but Ben Foster, who is making a career of playing deranged, really steals the show. I only wish he had more to do because he is perfectly delirious, creepy and depressing.


Another Slade does well is he gives the vampires personalities. At least 4 of the main vamps are easily distinguished because of their personalities. The lead Vamp is slow and methodical, but he likes to talk to his prey and wax philosophical in some creepy Vamp language. His eternal mistress will follow his lead but it is obvious she get sexual gratification from biting. The long haired Vampire is like a lion slowly stalking his pretty and just waiting for the right moment and of course the big guy vamp just wants to tear through everything. A lot of the action is told through a shaky camera, as is the common practice these days and unfortunately it does take away a bit from some of the action sequences, which is my only real complaint. So often the attacks are barely caught and at times we only get the bite in clarity. The gore and action really get a boost though when Slade goes to an overhead Aeriel shot roaming through town and capturing all of the mayhem and bloodshed. Even though all you see is dead bodies and red snow it manages to be a very gorgeous shot.


The movie is not perfect as the climax takes itself too seriously for its own good, considering what it is and of course the aforementioned shaky camera work, but it is a very solid movie. In fact, it is a cut above a good majority of horror movies these days. It elicits some very good jumps (it got me 3 times very well and twice decently well) and gives the gore hounds their fill (check out 3 beheadings). Inf act Slade is so good he takes a moment that almost single-handedly derailed the entire movie and turns it on its head and made it one of the best moments in the movie. I do not want to give it all away but it involves a little kid. I am not sure the movie will turn any new fans onto the genre, but it does make Vampires cool again and that is awesome in itself.