saw it last night and it was awesome! I wrote up a review for FEARnet but it turns out one of the other guys beat me to the punch so they used his. but I since I wrote one anyway, I figured I'd share it here with you all: It’s really, really good to see vampires be scary again. Horror fans have been bombarded with the stereotypes of the eternally forlorn, poetry spouting Ann Rice romantic renaissance faire vamp and the sleek, tight black leather clad, ultra fashionable clubbing hipsters a la Underworld for far too long now. It’s time we got back to what vampires should be – savage, heartless, ravenous bloodsucking killing machines. Sure, Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee were gentlemanly Counts who cunningly invited guests to stay in their dank castles to unknowingly become their next victims, but that was years ago. Since then we’ve had films like Near Dark and From Dusk til Dawn and we’ve learned that not all vampires don formal wear and gently bite you on the neck; some tear out throats and do whatever they damn well please. But somewhere between then and now vampires have lost a lot of their edge again, popularized by the media as some watered down offshoot of Goth culture, reduced to nothing more than a group of “weirdos” rather than anything truly terrifying. Thankfully, Steve Niles, Stuart Beattie, and Brian Nelson, the creative team behind 30 Days of Night, seem to agree and have given us a film that delivers the full on creature-of-the-night carnage that many horror fans have been eagerly waiting for. Barrow, Alaska is the northernmost town in the United States. Due to its location 320 miles North of the Arctic Circle, the community has a very unusual schedule for when the sun rises and sets, with the summer yielding weeks of constant sunlight and the winter a month of total darkness - a decidedly perfect place for vampires. So as the sun sets one final time for the season and many of the residents who are not cut out for the abnormal light and weather conditions take leave for less harsh environments, Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) and the rest of the townsfolk who’ve stayed behind start to gear up for what’s ahead. Unfortunately, it’s going to be much worse than they could have ever expected. The tower providing phone and internet links with the outside world is demolished, the main power is cut, and the helicopter, the only way of escape over the 200+ miles of frozen tundra to the South, is destroyed, leaving the perfect opportunity for the pack of bloodthirsty night crawlers behind it all to declare open season on anything with a pulse. Without really knowing what they’re up against, can the Sheriff keep his little brother (Mark Rendell), recently estranged wife (Melissa George), and the rest of his friends and loved ones alive long enough to see the sun rise again in a months time? This movie packs a punch, plain and simple. It’s the good, solid film that the horror genre has needed for a while now. The only slow moments here are the intentionally paced periods of hiding the townspeople have to endure while waiting for the light to return, which only serve to effectively lull the viewer into that false sense of security before the next time all hell breaks loose. We’re given well written, believable characters that are actually likable as opposed to the standard horror fare of stupid, sex starved, drugged out teenagers whose only purpose is to up the body count. We’re given cool villains; genuinely creepy monsters solely bent on destruction instead of corny Goths - bye bye wimpy, frilly shirt, pony tail vampires; hello screeching, blood soaked, Nosferatu-esque fiends! We’re given a healthy dose of well measured brutality and gore without it being over the top to the point of unnecessary silliness. Most importantly we’re given a horror movie that does what a good horror movie is supposed to do - be scary, and take itself just the right amount of seriously in the process (not so much that it’s pompous and boring, but not so little that it’s clichéd and ridiculous). The truly refreshing thing about 30 Days of Night is that on top of being a damn good horror movie, it’s an original one at that. Alright, for those that want to argue that, maybe “original” isn’t entirely the best choice of words considering that it’s essentially a vampire film meets John Carpenter’s The Thing with some zombie movie touches thrown in (28 Days Later?). Perhaps “innovative” would be a more accurate description, because while the film might contain elements that we’ve seen before (some possibly included on purpose as homage?), it doesn’t matter because it all works so well together. In fact, the Carpenter comparison is a good one, with 30 Days of Night reminding me of a lot of the films of his heyday – dark, serious, action packed stories of a community under siege by monsters (think The Fog or the aforementioned The Thing). Even if the movie wasn’t as good as it is, a half-assed attempt at something like that would stand out as a diamond in the rough amongst all these countless remakes and pointless sequels. Instead of rehashing movies that were already made well the first time, why not look toward more books and comics for fresh ideas that can work great on film? Good source material will make for a fantastic movie if handled correctly - let 30 Days of Night be the proof of that.
I hated the comic (loved the art though, Ben T. is awesome.) I just don't like Niles as a writer, he always ends things too soon. Like it gets good, than it's over before it peaks. But I think it'll make a better movie than comic, the comic just felt so fucking rusehd to me. Maybe he get's bad deadlines? Thanks for the review, I gotta go check this out. It's been in the works forever.
I haven't read the comic in ages, but it was only originally a 3-issue mini. on the other hand, I think Steve Niles is a great writer, who may not have the most startlingly original ideas, but knows how to work well within existing horror genres and make stuff work. I love all the Cal McDonald stuff and really hope that also gets made into a film (it's in the works) because it could be fantastic if the right people are behind it. but honestly, up against Halloween and a lot of the other crap that's being released for horror fans recently, 30DON was great.
I like the Cal stuff to an extent, but again feel like it ends too soon. Maybe I like him so much I want more? I just always feel like "that was it?" at the end of his stories. I think the Cal McDonald stories would make for a good flick though. Seems to me like his writing translates better to film than comics. And ANYTHING is better than the new Halloween and other lame ass horror we've been handed this year.
yeah, I think perhaps your gripe is with the mini-series format that his work is put out in rather than the work itself. I think he has to condense most things simply because they aren't ongoing stories that he has month after month to expand upon.
What is the origination of the vampires? The commerical for this film makes me want to see it... Skylar, thanks for the review.
you don't really get to see where they come from, which I personally like. it was my favorite kind of monster movie - the monsters show up, they kill people and are scary, and there is no explanation for why. they don't bog it down with some drawn out backstory. FEARnet however, does have an officially licensed, serialized prequel that you can watch on their site, called 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails. it was made by Ghost House, the same people who did the movie, and I believe it involves where the vampires were before Barrow, for those who are interested in more. I haven't watched it, but I want to say that I think that story is set in New Orleans (watch out Chad!) the vampires also don't talk. well, they talk, but they have a vampire "language" that we get to see subtitled, which personally I enjoyed. they don't spout off corny dialogue at their victims in English though, which I also thought added to their mystique.
SWEET! I'm going to see it tonight or tomorrow. I really like the Niles comics, especially all of the Cal McDonald stuff!
Saw it tonight. Great movie, everything is set up so that you care about the characters when they're thrust into tough situations, and as Skylar highlighted, these are pretty monstrous monsters. Definitely worth seeing on the big screen.
Great review, Skylar! Saw it last night as well and I thought it was one awesome flick. The vampires were relentless and brutal and the action never let up. I want to catch this one on IMAX next time around if I get the chance.
yeah, a couple months ago I'm still PA at heart, and always will be, but I had to get out of the city. maybe if the nicer Philly burbs were a little bit closer to the city, I'd still be there. but it actually takes me less time to get into the city from NJ than it would if I lived in a Philly burb, which are all further out and plagued with traffic.
I have been a fan of zombie movies for a long time for one reason: Survival Horror. Not just gore like saw or hostel which I actuall call gore movies rather than horror. Finding a loop hole to put vampires into a survival horror setting was awesome and the fact that they zombie'd them up a bit with crazy teeth, attacking everything in sight and just being straight brutal was great. Nice seeing some actual freaked out vampires rather than the pansy frilly shirt wearing fruit loops they usually potrayed as or not as some stupid like weirdo beasts as in dusk til dawn. All in all if you are a horror, vampire, zombie or survival horror fan you will like this. Plus its a flick a lot of movie fans will refer back to for a long time. Oh ya, if you are a mortal kombat fan, you will definately like the videogame like fatalaties.
