30 Days of Night

[grindmonkeh]

Interesting fact:
"On the November 18th (sic) the sun goes down, and remains below the horizon for 67 days until it re-appears on January 24th. During that time there is a decreasing amount of twilight each day, and on December 21st, the shortest day of the year, civil twilight in Barrow lasts for a mere 3 hours."

Overall I *liked* the movie...although it fell short of my expectations and I personally found a lot of faults with it. I like the vampire myth and I like horror movies so I had to kind of like 30 Days.... I think the problem is that I've seen so damn many of them and there are very few original and refreshing ideas that come forward with any frequency. Steve Niles (I assume) had a great idea in setting the vampire film in an Alaskan town where the arctic climate and 30 day lack of daylight is as bleak as it gets. John Carpenter's The Thing is one of my favorite films of all time, and it conceptualized the same atmosphere. 30 Days of Night has some very memorable moments, the story is average, the vampires are decently done, and the acting is good overall, but what really cripples the movie is its editing and continuity. (Not to mention the constant fucking Half-life Vampire Slayer Mod screeching.) I really DID like it a bit, and I'll watch it again on dvd just as soon as its released. That said...here is a nitpicky synopsis that I couldn't help but type up. No big spoilers, but you may not want to read it if you haven't seen it (or if you think I'm an idiot already.)



Weird things are happening in this town, and who the hell are you, stranger?
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I don't love you. You won't talk to me.
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*The sun sets.*
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Screech screech screech! Screaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!
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*Fast paced editing and tight camera shots leave the audience with no fucking discernable idea that they've viewed anything other than filler.*
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*core group of protaganists band together to do nothing*
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*gratifying shot of town being eaten.*
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*more fast paced editing and tight camera shots leave the audience with no fucking discernable idea that they've viewed anything other than filler.*
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Screech screech screech! Screaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!
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*Undiscernable period of time passess*
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We can't stay here, lets go hide somewhere else for no good reason!
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*Characters inconspicuously relocate by walking down the middle of the street.*
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Screech screech screech! Screaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!
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We'll hide here!
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*Undiscernable period of time passess*
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Screech screech screech! Screaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!
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I'll bait them into following me without planning past killing one vampire with a lamp until they turn off my electricity, and you guys go hide somewhere else!
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*Undiscernable period of time passess*
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Fuck this place, we should hide someplace else!
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*the wind roars deafeningly as a snowstorm rages, as the flag on the front of the police station hangs completely still*
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I have an idea that might lend something to the plot!
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*Fast paced editing and vampire-fu lends absofuckinglutely nothing to the plot and leaves the audience wondering what just happened.*
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*Vampires wander away.*
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I love you!
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*The sun rises.*
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FIN!

I'm tempted by this now: Frostbiten!