30 Days of Night (2007)

A bloodthirsty group of vampires attack an isolated Alaskan town during its annual thirty days of night.

When people look back on the decade behind us and study the films we watched, their reaction is probably going to be: “Yeah, you liked vampires, we get it.” The plethora of blood-sucking demon films that have emerged in recent years would make any psychologist believe that there is something fundamentally askew about our society. However, amidst the dross and forgettable, comes this film from director David Slade, which puts vampires back in the cool leagues.

Josh Hartnett stars as the town’s sheriff Eben, whose job becomes unusually busy in the build up to the annual month of darkness (a time where the sun doesn’t come up for thirty nights due to its place on the earth). Strange crimes seem to be popping up around his town, such as internet phones being burned, and all the sled dogs being murdered, and suddenly a man arrives into town and causes a ruckus. Whilst in the slammer, the stranger (Ben Foster) hints to Eben that “they are coming”, and that the town is doomed.

As the killings begin, Eben and his small group of citizens attempt to hide from the ridiculously fast beasts, and last out the thirty days until the sun comes up, and drives the vampires away.

A frenetic and thrilling film from start to finish, Slade has created a wonderful atmosphere in this film. The very cold setting of this inaccessible town goes wonderfully with the reckless savagery which the vampires bring with them, in the same way a film like Let Me In does. The vampires seem like energetic animals with a horrific purpose, making them seem very threatening and powerful, something which is sometimes missed in other films of the genre.

The pace never slackens, there is only a small love story intertwined rather than some overly sentimental relationship which outweighs the gore, and the film kills off enough people to make it seem dangerous.

The performances are of a very good standard, in particular Hartnett, as well as Danny Huston who plays the lead vampire, and makes for a very engaging baddie. I would say, the script is a little bit awkward in places, especially during the vampire subtitles which look like something from a child’s story, but, the majority of the dialogue is well written and avoids overpowering the action.

A worthy vampire film that actually makes these monsters seem scary, rather than high school heart throbs.