Thursday 27 June 2013

Review: 30 Days of Night (2007)

30 Days of Night
IMDb rate: 6,6
Genre: Vampire

I think 30 Days of Night is a fairly good vampire movie. The vampires look scary and they luckily don't sparkle. It has been quite some time since I last saw this movie and while I still like it, I do like it a bit less. The movie is quite slow and not really logical.


In Barrow, Alaska, seventy percent of the population of five hundred and some dwellers travel on the day of the last sunset, since the town will stay alone for the next thirty days without sun light. Sheriff Eben Oleson and Deputy Billy Kitka find several cell phones burned on the road. Then they receive a call from the local caretaker saying that all his sled dogs have been slaughtered: later Eben finds the operator of the cell tower decapitated. He arrests a troublemaker drifter and the stranger frightens him by saying, "they are coming and the locals will be dead." Soon Eben discovers that the town is under siege by a gang of bloodthirsty vampires and with a few survivors, they hide in an empty attic waiting for the next sunrise.

The movie has a solid cast. Josh Hartnett portraits Eben Oleson and I think he does that quite well. I like seeing him in a horror movie like this. He shows power, is good looking and of course, an excellent actor. Also, Melissa George is in this movie. She's absolutely my horror queen. No Scout Taylor-Compton for me, just Melissa George. And, Ben Foster in a surprising role. Now I must say, Ben Foster always plays a surprising role. The first time I saw him, it was in Alpha Dog. Alpha Dog is one of my favorite movies ever, and he plays such a dick-head in it, I hated him for it. But after seeing him in more movies, I actually started to like him. He has portrayed so many different roles and even in a fairly small role as this he amazes me.


I like that this movie is set in Alaska. This is not very common in movies but I think it has a perfect atmosphere in a horror movie. Funny fact: The movie was not filmed in Alaska, but in New-Zealand, mostly during the day. Even though it is not really in Alaska, it gives a very nice twist.

The vampires in this movie are quite scary. Like I already mentioned, they don't sparkle and instead of only two fangs, they have their entire mouth filled with fangs. Instead of biting in the neck they brutally kill of people. Also, when they walk they keep crying/screaming/arghh'ing, this was a bit ridiculous to be honest. I think they do it to stretch their jaws or something. Either way, it looks weird. Also, vampire kids are being shown in the movie, as if a killer kid wasn't bad enough, it now has a mouth filled with fangs too.

Some points I did not understand. Why did the vampire come to this town? Sure, it's 30 days dark, but after those 30 days, you have nothing to it. What are their motives to come there? Also, they searched some houses but definitely not all, why not? I think they needed blood so why not search for the survivors? Where were the vampires even hiding, what were they doing for 30 days long. What if the 30 days were over? I missed a bit of action in this movie, the vampires are not even shown that much and when they're shown there is not much explained. Of course, it is possible that I missed some parts.

The movie has quite some jumpscares. Also, a lot of blood. I liked the scene with the 'killer-truck', it was a nice way to get rid of many vampires and it looked awesome. The movie is a bit slow sometimes,  there is a lot of hiding, so many whispered dialogues.


30 Days of Night is a good vampire movie. But I do miss a bit of action in it. The vampires are quite scary and the setting of the movie is really nice. There is an amazing cast which provides very good acting. There is much blood and the ending is quite nice. The movie is a bit slow sometimes unfortunately.

My personal rate: 6,5/10

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