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31 Horror Movies I Own #16: 30 Days of Night
Initially skeptical about this one (as I am of all vampire films), I have to admit that Director David Slade pretty much blew me away with 30 Days of Night. Based on a comic-book miniseries, this stark excellently filmed horror flick has enough blood to keep me happy and enough drama to actually make a good story.
The small town of Barrow, Alaska is in the process of shutting down in prep of not seeing the sun for 30 whole days and nights. Vampires couldn’t ask for a more perfect setting, non? And sure enough, they waste no time getting right in there and starting with the feeding.
The lead vamp, Marlowe (excellently played by Danny Huston), kills any way of communicating with the outside and proceeds to lead his creepy blood-covered gothic vampire gang on a killing spree, which includes turning children into vampires and letting helpless near-death chicks run around crying for help as bait to get other victims.
Good-guy sheriff Josh Hartnett might seem a little *too* earnest here, but he didn’t bug me enough to ruin the film (even while moon-eye-idly pining away after ex Melissa George). The actor who definitely turns in the best performance though, is Ben Foster, whose character, The Stranger, is a fantastically good update of Renfield from Dracula.
The lengths to which some of the townspeople go in the wake of this tragedy is shockingly depressing, and the aerial shots of blood-splattered snow are amazingly impressive. The only thing I have a tiny problem with is the end—it seemed like a little too much sap to buy on top of so much awesome devastation.
Even with the ending, it still has a huge impact, and I recommend it to the fang-obsessed as one of the good ones.
I Love Splatter! 