You know, Vampire and Werewolf movies likely seem perfect for this season, but not all of them necessarily fit the Halloween "mood." To celebrate the start of this special spooky season, I picked a vampire movie to review that is known for being authentically scary. Should this be added to your Halloween movie marathon list? Let's examine 30 Days of Night.
30 Days of Night is a film directed by David Slade, who I previously mentioned went on to direct the third Twilight film, Eclipse. While the content and source material for that movie was horrendous, the directing and mood wasn't all that bad. I mentioned in that review that Slade did a nice job with the Seattle scenes and I could see him making a better vampire movie without the Twilight, YA romance story constraints.
This is that movie. And wow is it a lot of scary fun.
Our film takes place in Barrow, Alaska; Barrow is a town that is the north-most city that is still considered part of the United States. During the winter, there is a whole stretch of time that Barrow citizens won't see the sun. In fact, there is a stretch of about 30 days where it appears to be always night (thus the title).
The movie opens with the final sunset before the 30 days begin. There we meet Josh Hartnett's character Eben, a sheriff in this small town, and his partner Billy (played by the wonderful Manu Bennett). As part of the town is leaving for the season or getting ready for the lack of light, Eben and Billy are investigating a series of strange and increasingly violent vandalism problems that have been popping up around town: the power company is attacked by something, the only helicopter in town is destroyed, and a whole kennel of sled dogs are killed.
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| That beautiful sunset is starting to seem ominous... |
As Eben and Billy investigate the vandalism, we get to know some of the small town inhabitants on a personal level, and we also learn that Stella, Eben's recently separated wife, is stuck in town after a car wreck stopped her from getting to the airport before it closed for the 30 day darkness and cold.
And thus our scene is set for the carnage to begin...
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| So much blood; this is not a movie for the squeamish |
They tone of these scenes is perfect 'survival-horror in a monster movie setting.' People are grabbed from out of the darkness, pulled under beds and under houses, and surrounded and hunted. It's pretty horrifying and suspenseful; these scenes always left my heart racing.
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| Pictured: Not the best hiding place when vampires can climb silently on the roof above you... |
Eben and Stella, both who are law enforcement agents, take charge in trying to keep a group of survivors alive. While Eben is more of our hero, Stella is a great character who really holds her own in this film. Too often in both broad horror and vampire movies, the wife-or-girlfriend character is pinpointed as either a target for the vampires or a natural victim, but Stella can shoot, plan, and rescue better than many other characters in the film. In this horrible scenario, everyone is equally at risk, and characters all take turns trying to fight for their lives and stay together.
The plot and tone of this movie reminded me a bit of Dog Soldiers, another survival-horror movie which feels a lot like Night of the Living Dead or other survival zombie movies. Zombie movies and media (games, television, etc) are typically where you're more likely to find survival horror. After all, what's scary about zombies is that they swarm and work in groups, therefore humans must survive and work together to win. Dog Soldiers applied that idea to werewolves, but like the original Night of the Living Dead, it only applied to one (full moon) night. In 30 Days of Night, the humans are trying to survive for the whole month, and these vampires are much smarter, faster, and stronger than zombies typically are. It makes for a setting that is familiar and yet unique, and thus terrifying in a way that feels fresh.
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| Fresh like live prey... |
The vampires are also an interesting mix of familiar and unique. They have super speed, stealth, and strength. They also drink blood (obviously) and can seemingly pass on their "curse" to others if they choose. However, they vampires seemingly become "not human" very quickly, losing the ability (or at least desire) to speak in a human language, and instead communicating through a pack-language that contains cries, howls, and clicks. More than anything, as I watched how they interacted and hunted in a group, they reminded me of the velociraptors in the Jurassic Park movies, reptilian and alien in their actions and movements.
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| "Clever girl..." |
I really don't want to say much more, as this movie is worth watching without much information on how the humans try to survive, who lives and who doesn't, etc. The suspense is the fun of this film, for sure.
I will say that I like the character change and growth in Eben especially. Seeing him grow from a small town sheriff to a leader who must make massively difficult decisions about who lives, who dies, and what they might have to sacrifice in order to survive this apocalyptic scenario is fascinating; Rick from The Walking Dead wishes he had this kind of subtlety and power to his character growth. And Josh Hartnett does an especially good job, which surprised me a bit. He's also been doing well as a werewolf-cowboy character (yes, that's right) in the fun and ridiculous Showtime series Penny Dreadful, but my experience of growing up in the '90s and seeing him in more sub-par horror movies like Halloween: H20 and The Faculty made this particular horror-movie-hero starring seem especially good in comparison.
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| "You can't scare me; I was once in a teen sex-comedy about Lent!" |
This dark (both in topic and in visual tone) movie is definitely one I would recommend for a scary movie night. It had me on the edge of my seat and even whispering at the screen ("No! Don't go in there!") in panic for the characters... whispering rather than yelling as to not alert the vampires, naturally.
In this fun and suspenseful ride, I do wish that we'd learned a bit more about the vampires and the end, while unique, felt a tad rushed; however, overall this movie is up there at the top of my list of vampire movies that will honestly give you the chills and make you hesitate to turn off the lights.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 bites
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