30 DAYS OF NIGHT
I’m a huge vampire buff, but since I’d never read the comic on which this movie was based, I had no preconceptions or hopes before heading into the cinema. The premise of the movie was quite clever though. Once a year, a little isolated town waaaay up north goes through a period of 30 days without any sun. This would obviously offer the perfect playground for the enterprising vampire.
A number of things let this film down. Chief among them was the complete lack of characterisation. In a survival horror film such as this, an emotional connection to the victims is vital, but sadly none materialised.
It didn’t help that leading this cast of one-dimensional towns-folk was Mister Plank himself, Josh Hartnett. I swear to good god, if this man were lit on fire he’d struggle to burn convincingly. I’ve got big love for Melissa George, but this movie really didn’t do her any favours either. There was no tension to be had in the entire film and the director did a poor job of marking the passage of time. It seemed like the whole thing took place in one night rather than 30 days.
The highlight of the film had to be the vampires themselves. Ever since “Interview for a Vampire”, movies have been romanticising the creatures, but here they were depicted as vicious, violent animals. Combined with the excellent make-up effects, the results were truly terrifying.
Once again, I thought that Ben Foster was riveting and stole every scene he was in. His performance was so good that it only served to highlight the dearth of acting chops surrounding him! His portrayal of the vampire’s sycophantic usher was just plain disturbing. He definitely seems to have a knack for the unhinged characters :P
I could only recommend this movie to horror fans who enjoy watching people getting mauled convincingly.
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