30DaysofNight

30 Days of Night (2007)

You know what I hate? Anyone who wants to take one of the coolest movie monsters of all times and turn it into some sparkly little adolescent girls fantasy. Yes ladies (hey it could happen) and gentlemen (not likely) I’m talking about that movie series, which shall not be named (unless you are staff writer Seth…). Luckily the movie I’m going to review here returns our bloodsucking creatures back to their proper status of scary monsters. That movie is of course 30 Days of Night.

Barrow is a nice little town in Alaska. Because of it’s location the town has an entire month of night, thus the title 30 Days of Night. Finally figuring that this might be a good thing for them a pack of vampires descends on the town to make supper of the locals over the month without the Sun. Without fear of the morning the vampires destroy most of the town. As the month comes to an end there are only a few survivors left, including the sheriff (Eben), his estranged wife Stella, and Eben’s younger brother Jake. Can they survive one more night against the vampire pack that is determined to cover it’s tracks?

I really love this movie. First of all the setting is creepy as hell with the town being isolated in the frozen wasteland. Seriously this movie has such a great atmosphere, even before the first vampire shows up. I think it has to do with the desolate setting. Toss in the fact that it will be an entire month before the sun comes up and that makes things even creepier. This is further enhanced by the way the vampires are written and appear. These aren’t suave men in tuxedos, but are instead animals that look at the humans as food. The scenes where they are hunting the humans like a pack of wild creatures, showing no mercy to their kills (and actually playing with their food a bit), is very effective and frightening. Finally we get to see some scary vampires in a movie!

So I’ve talked about the vampires quite a bit, but honestly this movie really works because of the victims. Without people that we care about as viewers the 30 Days of Night wouldn’t be nearly as effective as it is. This is due to some excellent writing as the characters are fleshed out and given some history with each other. At times this is very subtle, like when the sheriff gives a crusty local a ticket to remind him he is part of the town. Of course the writing only goes so far and the performances of the cast really completes it. Josh Hartnett and Melissa George carry much of the movie as the sheriff and his wife. Not only does much of the human story of the movie revolve around them, their story also gives 30 Days it’s heart.

I need to talk about the special effects of 30 Days of Night. The vampires are unlike any other bloodsuckers that I’ve seen on screen. They don’t just have a couple of dainty teeth to bleed their victims with. No these bad boys (and girls) have a mouth full of teeth like a shark that they use to tear people up. And they do tear people up as limbs and noggins go flying all over the place. This has to be one of the bloodiest and most effects heavy vampire flicks that I’ve ever seen and I loved every minute of it. One more thing I wanted to mention. For the record when the sun hit sun hits one of these vampires they turn to ash. No sparkling BS here my friends!

If you haven’t figured it out yet 30 Days of Night is getting a high recommendation from me. Monsters and plenty of the red stuff makes for a very good time and a fun horror movie.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer