Vampires movies were a hot commodity at a time in Hollywood. Fright Night, Lost Boys and even Blade are prime examples of utilizing vampires to their strengths and psychological presence. However, Hollywood has cranked out some poor examples of movies that handle vampires in the complete opposite way (I’m looking at you Twilight). But a great vampire movie can elevate the horror movie genre, showing that if you take it seriously and play well with vampires, you can crank out something special. 30 Days of Night is not only forgotten vampire, it’s a completely overlooked horror movie that captures the chaos and sadistic nature of vampires, by making them blood-thirsty monsters, which, realistically speaking, vampires would be just that in a real life environment.
In the far Northern Hemisphere, the small town of Barrow, Alaska, experiences a solid month of darkness every year. Though most of the residents head south for the winter, some townspeople remain behind. However, those that stay regret their decision when, one year, hungry vampires descend on Barrowto feed. Sheriff Eben (Josh Hartnett), his wife (Melissa George) and a dwindling band of survivors must try to last until dawn breaks over Barrow’s monthlong twilight.
One of the best aspects that 30 Days of Night has going for it is it’s portrayal of vampires. Let’s face it, it’s nice to see vampires depicted as gorgeous characters with perfect skin and flawless hair, and maybe that worked on the show True Blood, but no so for the Twilight franchise. But at the heart and the DNA of a vampire is that vampires are killers who desire on nothing more than consuming human blood. 30 Days of Night exemplifies that beautifully and it executes it with great fashion. The vampires in 30 Days of Night are wonderfully developed within the first 30 minutes of the movie, so when finally see the horde, it makes the events more tension filled and staggering. Now, there may not be too many familiar faces in this movie, but the head alpha of the vampires, Marlow, played tremendously by Danny Huston, perfectly commands the screen every time his character is displayed. He’s absolutely terrifying, barbarous, but he also has this odd sense of magnetism to his character, thereby making him one of the best aspects of this movie.
30 Days of Night is an absolute gore feast, maybe some of the most brutal kills in all vampires lineage and it doesn’t pull any punches on the violence. The act of killing and dread in this movie, once again, retains the essence of what vampires really are. The grounded and serious approach to a world where vampires actually exist is something 30 Days of Night operates with efficiency and deep effectiveness. It’s realism at it’s finest.
30 Days of Night, while being a good vampire, it’s a solid horror movie at the same time. The visual palate of this movie is a gray and bleak looking movie, but it speaks so well for the atmosphere and the tone that’s been laid out since the opening frame of the movie. 30 Days of Night knows how to scare and effect you with the chills and some very impressive makeup with the vampires themselves.
Director David Slade may not offer anything that’s groundbreaking, when it comes to filmmaking, but he crafts a number of scenes that stand out. Perhaps the most indelible of these is an overhead shot of Barrow as the vampires hunt down and dispatch humans, which to this day has been one of the most impactful shots in all of the horror genre. The movie, which is based on comic book, is set up more as an action thriller than a straightforward horror movie. Slade, whose previous feature, Hard Candy, touched on a horror of a different sort, establishes the framework largely as that of an extended chase. There are some “boo!” moments but those are largely beside the point. 30 Days of Night is more interested in getting the adrenaline flowing than in scaring viewers, although Huston’s grim goth lord is pretty freaky.
One aspect of 30 Days of Night that’s refreshing is that it doesn’t require the survivors to have undergone frontal lobotomies in order to move the story forward. Yes, characters occasionally do stupid things, but they’re not unreasonably stupid and they don’t force members of the audience to fight against the suspension of disbelief gag reflex. I’m not going to claim that the screenplay is either airtight or brilliant, but it is smarter than the average genre entry, and that’s a big plus. There’s even a moral question to be toyed with: In order to defeat foes with no souls, is it necessary to lose one’s own soul in the process? This is the issue that Hartett’s Eben has to debate. With Halloween just around the corner, this is a seasonal way to spend two hours. 30 Days of Night works on its own terms, which is more than can be said of most horror films these days.
My grade for 30 Days of Night: B+
Zane's take at the Cinema's 