30 Days Of Night

Viewer Rating:simonconnolly has rated 30 Days Of Night rating: 5 Star

Barrow, Alaska. A small isolated town are about to be plunged into 30 days of darkness as winter sets in. 70% of the population leave before they have to struggle through this long period. Before the darkness descends Sheriff Eben Oleson and Deputy Bill Kitka start to notice some unusual behavior. All the townspeople's cell phones are found destroyed and one resident's dogs have been killed. They find the man responsible and he tells them that 'they are coming'. Soon the electricity goes down and Eben goes to check it out. He gets there and he stumbles upon the head of the guy who controls the power. He gets back to the station only to realize that the town is under attack from a group of blood-thirsty vampires who plan on taken over one Alaskan town each winter when the people are plunged into darkness. They burn the whole town down so that nobody knows what happened. Most of the people try to defend themselves but their guns are useless and the majority of the town are killed in the first few days. Eben and the remainder of the survivors, including his ex-wife Stella, hide out in a hidden attic waiting for the next sunrise. Then a few days later they see a signal from Billy's house. They go over to him and the whole group decide to get to the utilidor, a waste disposal plant. Ti is the safest building in town and if they get there without being seen then they can ride out the remainder of the time. Unfortunately after Billy and Eben distract the vampires so the survivors can get to the building safely they are separated Eben makes his way there, as does Billy but he is followed there by one of the vampire. He is attacked and becomes infected. Eben kills him before he can turn into a vampire. Meanwhile outside the vampires start to torch the town and Stella who is stuck under a truck outside radios Eben. Eben takes some of Billy's blood and he infects himself so he can fight the main vampire while she escapes. He has his final battle with the vampires as the sun rises for the first time in 30 days in a tragic end to a brilliant film. This film is without a doubt the best vampire film ever made and it is my favourite horror film of all time. As far as the genre goes, this is perfection. It's no secret that there are 3 different types of horror movie 1. The kind that makes you jump. 2. The kind filled with needless violence and gore. And 3. The kind that are just straight terrifying. This film has all three of these characteristics and much, much more. The story is brilliant, pure genius. Josh Hartnett is phenomenal as Sheriff Eben, the big hero. I've always been a fan of him, at least since I saw Lucky Number Slevin and he continues to impress in every performance. he suited the role perfectly and he continues to show his versatility as his career progresses. He was brilliant as our main man and is a great hero. He somehow made this extremely unlikely situation believable and that takes a lot of talent, talent which he clearly possesses. Melissa George was also very good as Stella. I have ever seen her in anything before but she did make quite a good impression on me here. Manu Bennett was also gave a steady performance as Billy. Ben Foster on the other hand also gave an amazing performance. He only has a small role but he managed to really impress in his small amount of airtime and gave a very memorable performance. I have been following his career more now that he is starring in great films with great displays (see 3:10 To Yuma) since leaving his previous mistakes behind (see Get Over It). The fact that his character didn't' eve have a name shows the insignificance of the character but yet he still had a huge impact. The remainder of the supporting cast were decent enough but none of them really shone through., which is what is usually expected of supporting casts in horror films. All they are meant to do is be killed. The special effects are truly stunning. The vampires are made more chilling thanks to their similarity to humans and the fact that they are so intelligent. The film is superbly written and directed and the tram behind it have made a truly memerising film. The ending was not exactly a bad idea but it was a little silly looking. It's a very moving and iconic moment but yet there was just a small hint of ridiculousness in it. Just a tad disappointing. Everything else, however is amazing and gripping and this is possibly one of my favourite films of all time. Amazing.

Review published on the 16 November 2008 23:46