Movie Review for 30 Days of Night (2007)

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Review #555 of 365
Movie Review of 30 Days of Night (2007) [R] 113 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $10.00
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 25 October 2007
Time: 4:30 pm
DVD Release Date: 19 February 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Soundtrack: Download now from - or - order the CD below

Directed by: David Slade (Hard Candy)
Written by: Steve Niles (28 Days Later) • Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) • Brian Nelson (Hard Candy) based on comic by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Josh Hartnett (Resurrecting the Champ) • Melissa George (Turistas) • Danny Huston (The Kingdom) • Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) • Mark Boone Junior (Unknown) • Mark Rendall (Len and Hugo) • Amber Sainsbury ("Hex") • Manu Bennett (The Marine) • Megan Franich (debut)

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Click to read the spoiler points for 30 Days of Night

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Imagine if you were a vampire, and it was true that exposure to the sun light caused your instantaneous incineration. And imagine you wanted to keep people thinking your kind was just a myth, but you still need to feed every so often. Where on earth would be your perfect hunting grounds? How about Barrow, Alaska which, each winter, endures 30 Days of Night? No daylight, too isolated for help to arrive in time, and plenty of pickings corralled up like cows awaiting the slaughter. Sounds to good to be true, but apparently the leader of the clan, a nasty, cold, blood-thirsty vampire named Marlow (Danny Huston) figured he'd give it a shot. To prep the town, he sends "The Stranger" (Ben Foster), a vampire wannabe to get rid of all the cell phones and dogs in Barrow, before they arrive. [This performance probably should cement Ben Foster as the actor to play a wiry outcast sidekick with a screw loose after his nomination-worthy performance in 3:10 to Yuma.] On the last day of daylight, Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) and his deputy, Billy Kitka (Manu Bennett), find the pile of cell phones burning and melted into a big glob. This is followed by an urgent call that an entire kennel of sled dogs has been murdered just hours ago; and, as luck would have it, Eben's estranged fire inspector wife, Stella (Melissa George), has just been hit by the town snow plow and needs a ride to the airport to get out of town before darkness sets in. Unfortunately, she will miss her plane and become stuck in town for the month. Unfortunately because, as Eben will learn from "The Stranger" during a run-in at the diner, "They are coming."

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"…30 Days of Night ranks among the best when it comes to building a sense of real terror in the film…capable of conjuring a mortifying sense of claustrophobic dread."

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His wicked words will send a chill through town, but not the icy wind kind to which they have grown used to after all these years. Instead, it will be one induced by the blood-curdling cackles and screeches of Marlow's clan and ancient language. With deft precision, they take out all the town's communication lines and then the power. And, then, of course, they begin attacking and feeding on townspeople one by one snatching them from their kitchens or as they walk swiftly and unwittingly down the street. In no time at all, the fright fest beings, and there seems to be no way to stop them. They cannot be killed as many townspeople discover trying to defend themselves from capture with shotguns. Hiding is the only option. As Eben and Stella begin to figure out what's going on, they pick a hideout and attempt to get as many people as possible there alive. Eventually, they figure they will have to make it to the town's Utilidor to survive, but not until after they have collected enough provisions and water to last the rest of the month. The vampires perceive every move they make, however, resulting in utter mayhem.

Director David Slade has created a film, perhaps less stylized than it might have been given its comic book origins and the huge cinematic success of it's graphic novel cousin-turned-major motion picture 300, that is, nonetheless, genuinely terrifying. The story, while not as original as perceived, stands out head separated from shoulders above the recent horror competition for it hinges less on ridiculous and pointless gore and violence, and rests more on the shoulders of chilling suspense. Survival is the name of the game; but who will make it, and will the vampires be defeated? Tune in to the spoiler points to find out.

When it comes to the acting, the Vampires devour the humans hands down. Danny Huston and Magan Franich who plays Marlow's sort of concubine, Iris, are as wickedly villainous as any we've seen this year. His deeply disturbing, soulless black eyes, and her maniacal, razor-thin, toothed grin make for indelible and transcendental images of pure horror. With little dialog, these vampires must convince us of their terror in other ways. They hunt, primarily, in packs, and emerge from the shadows or a rooftop to ensnare a victim effortlessly with surgeon-like precision. They inspect, as if to be sizing up the worthiness of their prey, and then strike like svelte panthers directly at the jugular. Marlow has instructed them to kill not change, meaning into new vampires, their victims for he knows the limitations of the food supply. For every conversion, there will be one more mouth to feed down the road. With no defenses against them, the townspeople mostly turn into sheep awaiting their fate with a phantom wolf. Only those under the protection of Eben and Stella have a prayer of surviving, and then only with continual sacrifice of their numbers to advance each step. Unfortunately for the plot, each step they take seems ill conceived and falls into the category of what could best be deemed 'horror film brainless bravery'. This is when the 'hero' does things that are just brainless under the guise of bravery. You know the kind. This is the babysitter who hides her charges in the closet and then proceeds down a spooky hallway with a steak knife to fend off a 7 ft tall, deranged, homicidal killer wielding a chainsaw—'brainless bravery'. Well, Stella and Eben both suffer from this trait. Beau Brower (Mark Boone Junior) is the only person who seems to get that the way to defeat these vampires is with big guns. He hops on an asphalt chopper and goes to town on the vampires. The poor sap, though, crashes it into a building where his assertions that they "won't eat him" literally go up in flames. In any case, everyone can predict that the climax of the film will be a confrontation between Marlow and Eben but probably not the sacrifice that Eben will make to level the playing field. Josh Hartnett's acting talents were under-utilized for this role which mostly has him brooding.

It's hard to say how fans of the original comic book series will find this Hollywood, filmed in New Zealand, make over. Obviously, there have been some alterations to the original plot and the characters. As far as vampire movies go, 30 Days of Night ranks among the best when it comes to building a sense of real terror in the film. The set-up here is ingenious and capable of conjuring a mortifying sense of claustrophobic dread. It avoids clichés for the most part until the numbers start to dwindle and there are no other options. The climax is frightful though not as potent as one might have expected given the build-up, and the final scene is desperately sad. In summary, the film and story are far better at set up than resolution or final conflict fleeting off, therefore, with more of a whimper than a triumph.

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Related Products from Amazon.com

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Other Projects Featuring 30 Days of Night (2007)
Cast Members
Josh Hartnett • Melissa George • Danny Huston
Ben Foster • Mark Boone Junior • Mark Rendall
Amber Sainsbury • Manu Bennett • Megan Franich
Director
David Slade
Writers
Steve Niles • Stuart Beattie • Brian Nelson

MP3 Downloads	CD Soundtrack	DVD
VHS	Comic Book	Poster

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Review-lite 30 Days of Night (2007) [max of 150 words]

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Director David Slade adapts the comic book series, 30 Days of Night, into a wickedly chilling film capable of conjuring claustrophobic dread as he directs a clan of wandering vampires, led by Danny Huston's Marlow, to the takeover and mass murder of the entire town of Barrow, Alaska so picked due to the 30 days each winter the town endures without sunlight—the chief nemesis of vampires. Defending the town are Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett), his deputy Billy Kitka (Manu Bennett), and his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George) who fails to get out of town before the darkness sets in and the airport is closed for a month. Unfortunately, the film is better at setting up terror than concluding it. The climax is less potent than the rest of the film, and the final scene ends things with a whimper.

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