Director: David Slade
Made in: USA
Released: 2007
Review: Before seeing this movie I was certain it would be just another one of those vampires-in-modern-society movies, of which there are alot kicking around. You know the ones - Blade , The Underworld Series etc where all the vampires seem to be so cool and good looking, but you can tell which ones are the vampires because of the stupid accent and full-length leather jacket. They also listen to contemporary industrial-metal and have parties together in big expensive mansions because even though they may be 200 years old its only the shitty music from the late 90s that appeals to them.
Well, 30 Days of Night seemed to avoid some of these cliche's, although not all of them, and even though it was a bit "hollywood" I was pleasantly suprised at how entertaining this movie was. Although there were alot of inconsistencies.
Essentially, it is the location and idea of this movie that makes it interesting. Apparently, for 30 days of the year there is a small town in Alaska that doesn't see sunlight. 2/3rds of the town pisses off and the rest stay and brave the cold, isolation and month of darkness. When the Vampires found out about this isolated town they all wet themselves with joy. (I think that part will be included in the extras). The eerie location, impending darkness and strange premise creates a scary atmosphere, however, the vampires could have easily been replaced with any of the following: - zombies - axe murderers - aliens - serial killers - telemarketers - irish people - possessed handbags. Basically, its dark, there is no escape, no help coming, no communications, and people are getting picked off rapidly. A very redundant story.
The vampires were not that different to any other recent vampire flicks. They still had that whole long-coat, foreign accent thing, except all these vamps were weird lookin'. I think the actors were chosen because they had similar features - skinny and ugly. You could also tell which ones were the vampires because they had blood around their mouths. Subtle? They didn't speak English - translations were thanks to subtitles - and only the head vampire actually spoke. The others communicated to each other through a shrill screeching sound, usually just to communicate to others that victims were available. The way the vampires moved and hunted was more animal-like than supernatural and although they still had that whole super-fast flash-across-the-screen thing happening I was glad to find that they didn't just disappear and re-appear like magic, which made them slightly less un-believable.
Inconsistencies: When a vampire bites you - you die, unless they "turn you" which usually means you have to bite them. In this movie however, if you were bitten, you "caught" vampire, just like you can catch "zombie". Some people were left dead in the snow and were never heard of again while others who were bitten started to become vamps themselves - what? Make up your mind! what is vampire then? is it a virus? At one point Josh Hartnett infected himself with a syringe filled with vampire blood and he became a super vampire. ok? I will repeat that one again. At one point Josh Hartnett infected himself with a syringe filled with vampire blood and he became a super vampire. Enough said. The vampires could apparently "smell the blood" of the humans but could not detect a group of them hiding upstairs in one of the 10 houses in the tiny village. The vampires were also too stupid to bring jackets and beanies which left them in a spot-of-bother because the humans could walk around in the snow-blizzards without any problems but the Vamps must have preferred to stay-indoors with a nice cup of tea.
Josh Hartnett made the movie less enjoyable, mainly because he has about as much acting skill as a foot. Melissa George was ok, even though she must be about 85 by now because the last time I watched "Home and Away", which must have been in the early 90's, she was in it and she was already over the hill back then. But least she wasnt the typical screaming horror-movie female. To be honest i don't think i heard her scream once.
The other characters were not memorable and almost all were killed by the end.
This movie was ok, it brought a few new aspects to a genre that has been overdone in the last few years. The location and isolation were portrayed really well and the cinematography and sound were also well done. However I felt like I had seen it all before, mainly because it felt like any other run-of-mill zombie movie. But I was entertained for the length of the movie.
2.5/5
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/30daysofnight/
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