30 Days of Night is a unique entry in the genre of vampire movies with both how it portrays the creatures as well as the setting and how the story is told. It is extremely well produced, intense, scary and memorable. It also turns 10 years old this month, making it one I really needed to revisit this year.
Barrow, Alaska is a far north city near the arctic circle that every winter experiences 30 days of continuous night. People are preparing for the last dusk to fall on the town as town Sheriff Eban Oleson (played by Josh Hartnett) is investigating some strange occurrences around town, including everyone's stolen cell phones discovered destroyed and burned outside of town. Things get more complicated with the arrival of his ex-wife Stella (played by Melissa George) as well as the arrival of a cryptic stranger (played by Ben Foster) who only warns them that "they" are coming. Soon the town discovers what "they" are: a group of vicious, hungry vampires led by a man named Marlow (played by Danny Huston) that have eyed Barrow as their personal smorgasbord for the next month, as there will not be any sunlight to hurt them. Outmatched by the super strong and violent monsters, a small band of survivors, including Eben, Stella and Eben's younger brother Jake (played by Mark Rendell) band together to try and survive the next 30 days until the sunlight can return.
The film was based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles, who also wrote the script along with Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson. It was originally always meant to be a film, but when they couldn't get it made they did it as a graphic novel instead. The film was directed by David Slade and together they have created an intense and memorable film that finally presented a vampire flick with some serious teeth to it (both literally and metaphorically). They do a great job of creating the snow laden, isolated community of Barrow that you really get the sense that these people are on their own, which amplifies the growing dread of the film for me.
The performances in the film are strong, led by Josh Hartnett. Hartnett does a great job as the sort of everyman hero who is understandably out of his depth when a horde of vampires show up in town and start killing everyone. Flying by the seat of his pants, he does the best he can to save as many as possible and find a safe haven for them until the sun comes up again. Hartnett does a good job showing both the strength and fear his character is experiencing. Melissa George is good too as Stella and the two of them make a good team. Danny Huston makes for a suitably frightening vampire as the lead vamp Marlow, a role all the more difficult as the vampires all speak in their own language. Ben Foster turns in a creepy supporting role as the Stranger who sneaks into town to prep it for the Vampire's arrival while cryptically warning them of what's to come as well.
30 Days of Night is one of the better horror movies I've seen in the last ten years with a unique use of both setting and it's take on vampire mythology to set it apart. It's intense, uncompromising and edge of your seat entertainment. When it comes to scary movies, does it get any better than that?
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