30 Days of Fright Night!

''We'll sleep in shifts. We'll ration our food, and then we'll figure out the next step. We have two advantages - we know this town, and we know the cold. We live here for a reason; because nobody else can.''

After an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires.

Josh Hartnett: Sheriff Eben Oleson

30 Days of Night took 70 days to film, as scheduled. What dazzling results we get from the end product.
Writer Steve Niles originally conceived and pitched the story as a film for some years, but it was turned down by studios and thus reworked as a comic book. Eventually one of the producers who had rejected the original pitch worked on the movie adaptation.
According to the DVD commentary, Josh Hartnett was sick with mono for two weeks of film. During that two week period, he had to fly to Venice, London, New York and Los Angeles for the premieres of The Black Dahlia(2006).
Josh Hartnett did all his own stunts in 30 Days, and Melissa George did most of Stella's driving.
The scenes where characters are driving on the road out of town at night were actually shot during the day while most of the night shots were actually shot during the day, using the day-for-night process.

So as night descends upon the people of 30 Days of Night, for its thirty day bewitching over a small Alaskan outpost village, an assortment of mutated superhuman strong vampiric beings come to visit, a feast for the senses, in David Slade's adaptation of the graphic novel, 30 Days of Night. Ever since the sophisticated Interview with the Vampire, these beings of the darkness have been depicted as pale, handsome and seductively dangerous. Recently the idea of becoming a vampire is like becoming a goth or emo type. In 30 Days of Night the vampires are nameless, cunning, animal-like blood hunters and far from mindless creatures. Finally, vampires are shown in film as monstrous merciless enemies, to be feared and to be avoided at all costs, for your survival.

Sheriff Eben Oleson: Hell of a day.
The Stranger: Just you wait.

30 Days Of Night snares you from its opening shot of a lone man walking through a desolate snow covered landscape. Director Slade wisely avoids many of the trappings of recent horror films. Sure, there are the prerequisite quick cuts in the chaotic scenes of carnage, but there are also haunting wide-angled shots and one expertly executed bird's-eye-view crane shot when the vampires first begin dragging people out of their houses into the street. While successfully adapting some of the great imagery from the graphic novel, Slade is fully aware that this is still a film and shies away from using too much CGI and overly stylized lighting and effects that would detract from the sense of realism necessary in a far-fetched horror film.

Slade also makes good use of his cast. Danny Huston is perfectly menacing and merciless in equal measure as the vampires enigmatic leader. Josh Hartnett, who is typically miscast sometimes and emotionless, actually fits well the role of a wooden Sheriff of a remote Alaskan town. Ben Foster, who always overacts, is used effectively here in a bit role as an over-the-top Reinfield-like character who ushers the vampires' arrival in town. Melissa George is pretty and sympathetic as Hartnett's estranged wife. Like many serious horror films of recent memory, the film attempts some character development that is often TV Soap standard but mostly never overplays its hand.

''When man meets a force he can't destroy, he destroys himself. What a plague you are.''

Aside from being superiorly directed and better acted than your run-of-the-mill horror flick, 30 Days of Night is also fantastically gory. Decapitation appreciators will especially rejoice at proceedings. Refreshing, too, is the way it takes its gore and action dead seriously. There are no silly one-liners or graphic sight gags. The characters are deeply affected by what they witness and what they have to do to survive. This is pure horror, and it's relentless.
Yes, there are some missteps with the film's pacing and some huge leaps of logic in the amount of time that passes between events. However, for the shear originality of its central conceit, the intensity of the gore, and the haunting quality of many of its signature shots, David Slade's 30 Days of Night is the most exhilarating horror film since Danny Boyle's original 28 Days Later and the best vampire film since Francis Ford Coppola delivered Bram Stoker's Dracula back in 1992.

Overall 30 Days of Night is not just about brutal vampire killing and massacring, but about sacrifice and protecting loved ones regardless of the dangers. Particularly powerful scenes continually arise as the struggling survivors are forced to cede to unbearable situations to ensure the survival of others. Eben too must make difficult choices to provide leadership for the group and to preserve his fragile relationship with his wife Stella. While it's difficult to judge authentic reactions to a vampire outbreak, the characters all perform honestly and emotionally to any event that is thrown at them.

From beheading to animal violence, to the slaughter of children, to maniacal misuse of a snow plow, 30 Days of Night immerses you in blood and thrilling suspense. A few minutes into the film we are immersed in quick, gritty violence and intensity and it never lets up until the climactic conclusion. Never has a film been so white-knuckle thrilling and jaw-dropping shocking from start to finish. As a horror film, 30 Days of Night succeeds admirably due to its fast-paced, stunning visuals, and explosive action. Plus the ending isn't a typical Hollywood drenched happy ending, it's a more realistic venture that hits home and stays faithful to the Novel it's based upon.

''There is no escape. No hope. Only hunger and pain.''

8/10