A stark Alaskan setting greatly elevates David Slade´s 30 Days of Night, which won´t win any new converts but should delight horror & gore fans with excellent production values and some imaginative bloodletting.
With icy snow-covered landscapes and isolated locale reminiscent of both the original The Thing and John Carpenter´s 1981 remake, film takes place in the tiny town of Barrow, which is preparing for their annual 30 days of darkness.
The sun will stay beneath the horizon for a calendar month, and anyone who wishes to see it before then better make that last flight out of town (of course, in reality Barrow, Alaska still gets a few hours of “half light” during the these days, and there are still daily flights – but these are, I suppose, acceptable deviations used to create atmosphere).
Josh Harnett stars as sheriff Eben Oleson, currently investigating a pile of torched mobile phones and butchered dogs on the last day of light; apparently, stranger Ben Foster (quickly carving out a niche as a drooling psycho) was responsible, and as soon as the town is plunged into darkness, the vampires come out to play (Pitch Black, anyone?).
But apart from the fact that sunlight kills ‘em, they´re more like zombies, and the film quickly becomes another trapped-in-a-(fill in the blank) movie, specifically recalling 28 Days Later and 2004´s Dawn of the Dead remake.
Not that that´s a bad thing: as a trapped-in-an-Alaskan- town-without-light-and-attacked-by-vampires film, it delivers the goods; it´s tense and exciting, with little more plot than watching the pack of survivors dwindle, and they´ve fit as much gore in here as possible in an R-rated movie.
There´s zero human element, however, as supporting characters exist purely to be killed, and Eben, brother Jake (Mark Rendell), and estranged wife Stella (Melissa George) simply lack the emotional depth required for us to care about these characters.
Action scenes are awkwardly edited with war-movie confusion, creative violence disappearing into an array of splatter on the screen.
Still, the creatures are nicely designed and effectively creepy – particularly Danny Huston as the leader of the bunch. Pic should please anyone with a blood & snow fetish.
