Movie Review: 30 Days of Night

Frustrating. That is the perfect word to use when describing the experience of watching 30 Days of Night. It is a word that I have used before and will likely use again. It is also likely to be the one word that will describe many viewing experiences that many of you have had over the years. There is nothing quite like watching a film that you really want to like and discovering something that does not quite live up to what you had hoped that it would be. 30 Days of Night was a movie I as looking forward to, the combination of vampires and the cold north. It promised grueling survival horror as a small band of survivors battle the elements in order to overcome the deadly forces of the night. Leaving the theater I could just shake my head at what could have been.

Somewhere in the vicinity of the 40 minute mark something happened. Something big. The only problem is that I did not know where it came from. This was the big bang that brought this house of cards tumbling to the ground. When it happened my face got screwed up in an expression that screamed: "Wha...?" I turned to my sister, who was as anxious for the film as I was, and asked: "What just happened?" and "Did I miss something?" The best way I can think of describing it is: it felt like I was watching a grindhouse film, or rather that I was watching something from this past spring's Grindhouse feature. The only thing missing was the missing reel marker. Seriously, I was momentarily convinced that the reels were being shown out of order or that one was skipped. You will surely recognize the moment of which I speak, it's impossible to miss.

The rest of the film follows similar logic but on a smaller scale; characters get from place to place with little sense of time or place. All of these issues destroy the narrative and wreak havoc with pacing. It went a long way towards destroying any goodwill built by individual scenes. 30 Days of Night is definitely a film whose parts are distinctly better than their sum.

The setup is great. The setting is Barrow, Alaska, said to be the northernmost town in America. Each winter the town is cut off by, you guessed it, 30 days of night. Before this extended midnight descends upon the town, the majority of the citizens takes to the airport and head off for Anchorage or other southern point to escape the dark. Those who have chosen to stay are ill prepared for what is to come.

We get a shot of a ship frozen in the ice with a lone figure walking away from it towards the town. The stranger brings with him a message: "That cold ain't the weather. That's Death approaching." He could not be more right, although I am pretty sure that the weather has a little something to do with it.

The plot is a horror standard. A ragtag group that survive the initial culling band together in an effort to survive the onslaught of the dark forces that have descended upon their locale. In this case it is a seemingly never-ending supply of vampires. Nasty buggers too. They speak their own language, emit this crazy screeching sound, are not concerned with making a bit of a mess, and are ruthless in their pursuit of their next meal.

30 Days of Night is a great looking horror film. The palette is desaturated, very blue, and just feels cold. Just watching the snow falling in the darkness is enough to give you a chill. Now take that frozen look and introduce some tense sequences of vampires hunting their prey and frenetic battles between survivors and said vampires. The combination is thrilling to watch. The cinematography from Jo Williams gives the film a distinct look. It truly is shot very well.

The acting is pretty good all around, even if the bad guys steal all the scenes they're in. Ben Foster as the Renfield-like Stranger is pure menace and evil, not unlike his recent role in 3:10 to Yuma as Charlie Prince. Yes, they are different roles, but he is supremely creepy in both of them. He takes these roles and makes it impossible for you to look away. Then there is Danny Huston as Marlow, leader of the vampire clan. I can tell you that I would certainly not want to meet up with him in a dark alley. The good guys also handle themselves well. Josh Hartnett displays a world weariness that belies his youthful appearance.

With all that I like about this movie, it is just so frustrating at how shallow the story is and how awful the pacing is. The characters and the story are betrayed by a script that goes nowhere and does not reveal all that much about anything. Yes, it is survival horror and the horror has to rule but not at the expense of the overall story.

David Slade made his debut with the excellent Hard Candy. It is too bad that success didn't translate to this project. It looks great, there is some great looking gore, individual sequences work great, and you are left wanting more. Those are all good things. The only problem is that there should have been more to it. There needed to be a little more substance, a bit more meat on the bones.

It was not a waste, just terribly frustrating. I can only hope that there is going to be some sort of extended cut that fills in the blanks.

Bottomline. Nice gore, great look, some strong performances paired with a weak story. I really wanted to like this movie, and on some levels I do. Taken piece by piece, there are a lot of things to like. It is just a shame that the script leads everyone high and dry.

Mildly Recommended.