Vampire movies these days are one of two things: either a “horror” romance starring pretty boys with zero body hair and zero body fat or yet another reimagining of Dracula. Of all the horror sub-genres, vampire movies are the ones I’m least likely to enjoy. They’ve been overly commercialized and romanticized and retold to the point of exhaustion, focusing on drawing mass audiences rather than staying true to the genre. Except, that is, in the case of 30 Days of Night.
Amazingly, just a year before the first Twilight film ruined vampires for an entire generation, director David Slade brought us the best and most unique vampire flick since The Lost Boys. (Sadly, for some reason–probably money related–Slade would destroy his own vampire legacy a few years later by directing one of those Twilight films.) 30 Days of Night is a hard-hitting, fast-paced movie of genuine horror, that doesn’t sugar coat its vampires or even give them any redeemable qualities. They’re bloodthirsty creatures of the night, plain and simple.
The movie is based on the graphic novel of the same name–which I have not read–written by Steve Niles, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. And the action-packed plot of the movie is reminiscent of comic books, which need to keep the fun flowing to keep readers engaged.
30 Days of Night is intense right from the beginning, when we see a man (Ben Foster) trudging through the frozen tundra towards a small Alaskan town, a foreboding score playing to our ears. This reminded me of the opening scene of The Shining, where it was the sound, the music, not the visuals, that conveyed the menacing nature of the film. It doesn’t take long for the bloodshed to begin, and when it does, it doesn’t let up. One would think that in a movie that spans thirty days in an Alaskan winter, that there would be some lags in the action; there is not.
The gore in this movie is stupendous. It goes back and forth between CGI and practical effects, and, honestly, it’s difficult to tell which is which. Both Josh Hartnett (as Eben Oleson) and Ben Foster (who is good in everything) are excellent in this movie, Hartnett truly showing off his leading man potential. But it’s most certainly Danny Huston as the lead vampire that deserves the most accolades. Huston would go on to play villans in both the Marvel and DC universes, but his role as Marlow in 30 Days of Night is still his best performance. In fact, all the vampires are great. As I said before, they’re not your cuddly, teenage heart throb vampires–they’re fucking wicked.
Check out 30 Days of Night on Amazon. You won’t be disappointed.