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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 4117
Released: February 26, 2008 |
| Our Price: $5.58 |
| Used Price: $0.98 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Josh Harnett (Black Dahlia, Pearl Harbor) crosses over to the dark side in this bone-chilling adaptation of the cult-hit graphic novel, brought to the screen in all its demonic glory. In a small Alaskan town, thirty days of night is a natural phenomenon. Very few outsiders visit, until a band of bloodthirsty, deathly pale vampires mark their arrival by savagely attacking sled dogs. But soon they find there are much more satisfying thirst-quenchers about: human beings. One by one, the townspeople succumb to a living nightmare, but a small group survives - at least for now. The vampires use the dark to their advantage, and surviving this cold hell is a game of cat and mouse - and screams.
Description of 30 Days of Night:
David (Hard Candy) Slade directs this nerve-jangling adaptation of the popular graphic novel series about a mob of vampires that overruns a remote Alaskan town in the grip of 30 Days of Night. Josh Hartnett and Melissa George are the film's de facto heroes (he's the stoic town sheriff and she's his estranged fire-marshal wife) but the picture's real MVP is Slade's camera (along with cinematographer Jo Willems), which careens across the town's snowy landscape to detail the vampires' horrific assault on its inhabitants, which are quickly pared down to a hardy few. The script, co-written by the source material's creator, Steve Niles, along with Pirates of the Caribbean's Stuart Beattie and Hard Candy's Brian Nelson), proudly wears its influences on its crimson-stained sleeve (Bram Stoker's Dracula, natch, but also Salem's Lot, Night of the Living Dead, and John Carpenter's version of The Thing) and boils down the graphic novels to a series of tense and extremely bloody standoffs between Harnett and George's band of survivors and the vaguely Slavic and ferocious bloodsuckers led by Marlow (a feral and frightening Danny Huston). And if the characters seem stock and the finale begs suspension of disbelief, the set pieces leading up to it are sufficiently supercharged with suspense and violence to please most horror fans. Standouts in the supporting cast are Ben Foster as the film's Renfield figure and Mark Boone Junior; the disturbing score by Brian Reitzell also merits a mention. --Paul Gaita
Stills from 30 Days of Night (click for larger image)
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30 Days of Night Reviews:
A Decent Film not without Holes 
2009-10-19 - I avoided this movie for a long time as the previews just made it look all-around cheesy. It was better than I thought it would be, though not fantastic.
I certainly would not call this "the best vampire movie ever" as many others have.
It's a pretty stereotypical horror movie really. It even follows your usual formula for who lives and dies. The character who wants to run off and leave someone else behind to die is the one who dies himself and then you have your run-of-the-mill hero who sacrifices himself along with your troubled, but reliable-when-it-matters leading man and tough, gun-wielding blonde leading lady. Just the same as almost every other movie of this type.
The flaws in this film are: Wouldn't people eventually ask questions when every year an entire Alaskan town is wiped out in winter by a blood-sucking "fire"? I am assuming that the vampires have to eat at least once every year, so this would keep happening over and over. And where do the vampires buy all their business suits and silver moonboots? And why are they speaking the Mayan language from Apocalypto? And (the most important question) Why, oh why! Don't they actually drink any of the blood? They rip people's throats open and get as much of the blood as possible on the top of their own heads and they spill as much as they can all over the ground, but not one drop seems to ever get inside their fish-like, gaping maws.
My final note: The high-pitched screaming noise they make at every turn = very annoying.
Overall the movie is a solid C, possibly even a C-. It's watchable, sure, but it's certainly not the best movie you're going to see this Halloween.
Real Vampires 
2009-10-13 - One of the best vampire movies made (along with "Let the Right One In"). This is exactly how I would imagine vampires. Why would vampires mess around? They wouldn't. They would tear you apart and eat you. But at the same time, they can control their actions and plan things out.
This is also a cool portrayal of how a small group of vampires would survive...and get away with it...most of the time....
No integrity in the story or the acting. 
2009-09-21 - Very truthfully, this movie had potential, but ended up sucking very hard.
I for one will point out if something doesn't make sense or if supposedly intelligent characters are repeatedly responding to impending doom and ungodly terror all DUI. I care about the set-up, whats at stake, the characters themselves (I always was facinated with the bad guys), and yes, the story. This is a mess and it's a shame. The premise rocks. It's so painfully obvious, how was this not already done years ago? You couldn't ask for a better setting. Dark, cold and isolated, as a previous reviewer pointed out. And I must say that some of the vamps looked eerie as hell. I couldn't rip my eyes away. Gorgeously evil, I mean really beautifully scary. A kind of deformed look with the eyes a bit too close together. Some of them looked normal like the boss vamp himself. Not so scary. But other than that it bit the dust. Just stupid as hell. Dumb moves by the heroes, vampires trying to be philisophical or just walking around hissing at each other (really annoying, the worst part of the whole deal). I wasted my money, watch it on t.v. Not kidding. Hit Amazon up for the graphic novels, much better. This adaption was a wasted effort. Sam Raimi strikes again.
I'll Take My Blood On The Rocks
2009-08-30 - You'd think that at least one vampire would wise up and take advantage of the fact that Alaska spends many a day in the dark. As far as I am aware, no such fate has befallen the great northern state. Based on the comic miniseries of the same name, "30 Days of Night" gives us a good look at what might happen if a vampire and a few of his undead friends would sink their fangs into the Land of the Midnight Sun.
The film opens with the small town of Barrow, Alaska preparing for its month-long dive into darkness (hence the thirty days of night). Most of the town's citizens are heading for sunnier locations, but a select few stay behind and stick it out. In this small group is the local sheriff, Eben (Josh Hartnett). While everyone is getting ready to leave, he's busy investigating a number of strange criminal acts (burning of cellular phones, slaughtering sled dogs, etc.). As he digs deeper into his investigation, he arrests a stranger (Ben Foster) who begins to wax prophetic about someone or something coming and that no one will survive.
Also staying behind (due to missing her flight) is Eben's estranged wife Stella (Melissa George). She assists Eben in arresting the stranger and goes with the pair to the sheriff's station where Eben's grandmother and brother are.
As soon as the sun goes down, chaos reigns supreme. Eben goes to check on the local telephone office and discovers a brutal murder/decapitation. Scared, he heads back to town and warns those that stayed behind to hide in their homes. As it gets darker, more and more people begin to die. Soon the streets are filled with blood and snow as a gang of vampires feast on the townsfolk.
A few survivors of the initial attack (including Eben and Stella) hole up in an attic and make plans to survive for the next month. The rest of the film shows the small group attempting to stay alive by using their knowledge of the town and the brutal snowfall to their advantage. Along the way, a few other survivors are picked apart by the vampire group which is headed up by Marlowe (Danny Huston).
As supplies become scarce and time begins to wear on them, the survivors take more and more chances in order to stay alive. This leads up to an eventual standoff with the vampires. Who lives? Who dies? Who finally gets to see the rising sun? Watch "30 Days of Night" and you'll find out.
The film's premise is great. It takes a legendary creature and puts in the one place that gives it seemingly every advantage over its victims. Isolated, cold, and in complete darkness, the average human would find it hard to survive with limited resources in such environs. Throw in a gaggle of bloodsucking immortals and you've really got problems.
The film's special effects are very good as well. They are bloody, gory, and very realistic. The makeup department also did a very good job.
Josh Hartnett's portrayal of Eben was very believable. Unlike the untouchable heroes in many films, he reacts to the initial vampire attacks with fear and confusion. I actually felt for his character as he tried to make sense of his situation. Melissa George is fairly convincing in her role as well. Mark Boone Junior nearly steals the show as Beau Brower, an unlikely hero in the film.
Unfortunately, Steve Niles and Stuart Beattie's story drags along at times and lacks a really convincing enemy. Despite being the leader of the vampire gang and seemingly full of wisdom, Marlowe just isn't that scary. There's never a moment in this film where I looked at Danny Huston's character and thought, "There's no way they can stop this guy." Whether it was Huston's performance or the direction of Huston by David Slade, I felt that the weak villain was the film's greatest downfall.
Despite this, I still recommend "30 Days of Night." While it isn't the best vampire film out there, it is much more loyal to its wicked origins than many of today's modern vampires. In a time where most bloodsuckers are busy courting teen girls or hanging out at Fangtasia, it's nice to see some truly evil vampires make their way out of the darkness.
(2.5 STARS) Actually, Not Very Original
2009-08-22 - In "30 Days of Night" a horror film co-produced by Sam Raimi, people living in the remote town of Barrow, Alaska are attacked by a group of blood-thirty vampires. The time is winter, when the sun doesn't rise for thirty days, and any communication with the world outside is virtually impossible (the nearest town is 80 miles away).
Except for the unique premise, however, "30 Days of Night" is mostly a reworking of old vampire/zombie films. There is more violence, and gores too, and it is much to the credit that the film's photography (by Jo Willems) captures the gloomy atmosphere of the isolated town where the sun doesn't shine. But when it comes to the storytelling skills, the film (directed by David Slade, "Hard Candy") is at best average. Things are predictable. Characters act exactly the way you think they will. What you have seen in other films you will see again.
This is not to say that everything in "30 Days of Night" is cliché. The "vampire" leader (Danny Huston in special make-up), who looks like Max Schreck in black coat, actually speaks, well, not in English, though, unlike Lance Henriksen in "Near Dark." Josh Hartnett's hero acts like a real hero in the climax in an unusual way. The film tries to spice things up by offering some nice twists, which, however, are not developed enough. With generic actions and scares that lack imagination, "30 Days of Night" gives off a big "been here, done that" type of feeling instead.
