30 Days of Night Movie Review

30 Days of Night (2007)

Rent 30 Days of Night on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the comic (paid link)
Written by: Steve Niles and Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson (screenplay), Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith (comic)
Directed by: David Slade
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, Mark Boone Junior
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
After an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires.

Verdict
This might be my favorite horror movie not because it's scary or tries to shock, but because it's relentless. This avoid the common horror movie tropes and makes this movie about survival. It's the what these characters must survive that pushes this into the horror genre. It's an underrated gem. This is bleak and sparse with a simple premise that connects because it gives you more than enough time to think about what you'd do in that situation while letting that hopelessness sink in.
Watch It.

Review
I had never heard of this movie before the first time I watched it years ago, and then I watched it again the next day. I really like this movie and am surprised it isn't better known.

I love this premise, an isolated town in Alaska that's about to face nothing but darkness. Many inhabitants are leaving while others prepare for the lack of sunlight. As the sun sets for the final time in the next month, something is happening. Communications and electricity go out, dogs are killed, and infrastructure is destroyed. The situation keeps getting worse, and the movie doesn't wait long to inform us of the threat, it's vampires. We don't see much of them at first, so it's all up to our imaginations.

The vampires scavenge this town, and it seems hopeless. It's pandemonium. A few survivors find a place to hide, but that becomes haunting as they hear screams from outside the walls. They're led by Eben (Josh Hartnett), the local police officer. The entire movie is so bleak. That tone is what I appreciate. The enemies seem unbeatable. The protagonists can only hide, hoping to wait the vampires out until the sun returns.

Josh Hartnett plays Eben Oleson

Nothing is easy. Every single character has to make hard choices about survival. It's life or death. This is certainly gory with some graphic images. The movie is sparse. The vampires don't have any big monologues or sweepings plans. Their language is completely unintelligible, developed specifically for this movie. The vampires are here to feed. At one point the vampires use survivors as bait, trying to lure anyone hiding by preying on their empathy. It seems like these vampires have been around for a while, but it's unclear if the feed once a year or more often. We don't know anything about them, and that makes their presence all the more ominous.

The protagonists just want to survive, but that seems unlikely. This is a survival movie that makes the threat vampires. With limited locations, this movie feels restrictive. Characters soon realize that survival is futile. Through sacrifice they may be able to give their friends more time and a slim chance of making it.