30 Days of Night (2007) Review

“No god”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

If home is not safe, then the biggest challenge in life would be to undo such a problem.


PLOT


Based on the comic book series by Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith, 30 Days of Night takes place in the small town of Barrow, Alaska where it is preparing for annual month long polar night. The day of preparation, a stranger emerges from a boat to sabotage all the town’s communications & transports. As sheriff Eben Oleson investigates, he discovers his estranged wife Stella is choosing to stay after missing the last plane out. Once the night falls, a band of vampires and their leader Marlow quickly begin slaughtering the majority of townspeople with names as followed: Gus (Grant Tilly), Gabe (Kelson Henderson), Aaron (Jared Turner), and even Eben’s grandma Helen (Elizabeth McRae). With the bodies piling up, Eben & Stella hide in the attic of another house with other survivors including the former’s brother Jake. At the police station’s holding cell, Marlow would kill the stranger, betraying the promise on turning him after the help he had done. When one woman Kristen gets used as bait, Eben uses this to opportunity to save another man named John (Peter Feeney), only to sadly kill him when he sees that he got infected in his efforts to save his own wife Ally (Min Windle). As the days would progress, another named Wilson (Craig Hall) would also die in his efforts to save his father suffering from dementia, Isaac (Chic Littlewood). Eben’s group would then reach a general store during a whiteout to get some supplies. During the chase to scavenge, the likes of Doug (Joel Tobeck) and Carter (Nathaniel Lees) die from a little girl that had turned. With the blizzard ending quicker than expected, Eben distracts the vampires long enough to use an ultraviolet light on Marlow’s lover Iris, in which the severe burns cause the leader to mercy-kill her. As the distraction lasts long enough for the group to reach the station, the town’s snowplow operator Beau uses a tractor to kill as much vampires as possible in order for Eben to recover. He would then try to cause a suicide bombing with a box of flares, but when both sides survive, Marlow would kill him by crushing his head. By Day 27, Eben & Stella see deputy Billy signaling them with a flashlight. When they reach his home, they find out he killed his family to save them from a brutal fate. They take him and the group to the utilidor but when Stella gets carried away trying to save a girl named Gail (Rachel Maitland-Smith) who just lost her own family, they get trapped in the open. At the utilidor, Billy is able to kill another vampire named Arvin but gets bitten in the process; At his partner’s request, Eben kills him before he turns. With Stella & Gail still trapped, Eben injects himself with Billy’s blood to defend himself in a fight against Marlow. With newfound strength, he is able to beat him by punching through, forcing the band to flee. The only people left to have survived other than Jake & Stella are Lucy (Elizabeth Hawthorne), Denise (Amber Sainsbury), & Gail. The film would end with Eben succumbing to the sunrise as his body turns to ashes, but he shares his last moments with Stella as she kisses him goodbye.


THOUGHTS


Before the likes Twilight and True Blood made the genre of vampiric monsters recognized for their sex appeal alone, director David Slade was able to come through in going balls to the walls of pure horror that these creatures are all about within. There is no disguise and the only weapon apart from their strength is their intelligence as they see how their prey live off of desperation to live, giving them the opportunity to be nonstop vicious once the story gets going. Art Jones’ editing is able to make the whole runtime fast paced and Jo Willems’ cinematography delivers in feeling claustrophobic as you can’t guarantee where the threat is gonna come from. With so many of them, you can be scared by either one of them as they all share the same goal of power. Ben Foster’s the Stranger wasn’t even a monster but was a technical familiar who did the bidding that gets the plot going because he was desperate to have power since he never had a taste of it in his troubled life. Even though lying is wrong, it’s a good thing he didn’t get any because he wouldn’t be any different from the monsters he looked up to. Some would say the antagonists who were big highlights would be between Arvin & Iris due to Andrew Stehlin & Megan Franich expressing such joy while being ruthless, the real kicker has to go to Marlow because Danny Huston was most compelling in being so confident in having the best feast of the band’s lifetime until outwitted by the town’s leader. The fact he got outwitted just hours before sunrise only proves the movie’s point that some sacrifices can be worth making in the long run. Josh Hartnett easily backed it up as Eben because he was the bravest in town willing to protect as much as he could from such monsters. When push came to shove, he had to play with fire in order to get all who were left to be alone and it was worth it. He wasn’t even sure how much control he’d have before sunrise and it worked anyway because that’s how selfless he always was. With such a heart, it made sense why he was loved by many and was an inspiration to others. Mark Rendall showed Jake as one who was building his resilience since it was a big step for him to kill a vampiric child and Manu Bennett showed Billy as a guy who lost his will at a time where he needed it most, but I gotta give a lot of love to Beau because Mark Boone Junior made him so likable as one who wasn’t sure if he belonged with the people around him until he saw they were comfortable around him. Stella straight up said he was needed, and that was all he needed to make a sacrifice as essential as what Eben would go on to do, even if it didn’t go according to plan. Speaking of which, I also enjoyed Melissa George as Stella because she had her own batch of selflessness to give, hence protecting Gail when she didn’t have to. That alone is what made her and Eben equals, but they got estranged in the first place because the latter didn’t want to have kids and the reason being the fear of losing them is valid since the vampires came in a vulnerable period for them. Add this with Billy’s actions, she definitely saw where her husband’s heart was coming from. Losing such a protagonist is a bummer since his will was enough to say he deserved all the time in the world, but the fact he rekindled what was left with his wife and there were still people left proved his death wouldn’t be in vein, nor were the people that died before him. This film is pretty impressive for what it is, but there were still a few things was scratching my head about. Like for example, how come no one thought of other vampire weaknesses like stakes and garlic? If you’re telling me there weren’t any religious people in that small town, I would not believe you. The fact no one made any makeshift weapons after Jake declared what they were up against is crazy because that would’ve been as helpful as the UV light. And in all honesty, I think Eben should’ve taken Stella’s offer in having small talk by driving her to the airport. If that happened, he would’ve likely survived the vampires by flying with her. It was cool when Beau used the tractor to get the jump on the vampires, but how come they didn’t see him coming? It wasn’t like that vehicle is the quiet kind. And where does Doug think he can go after surpassing vampires? There are no planes left so leaving wasn’t gonna get him anywhere. I don’t even blame Winston wanting to protect his kid as he believes he would’ve done the same for him if he wasn’t sick, but he totally should’ve kept an eye on him in the bathroom. Had he done that, they totally would’ve lasted longer. Lastly, I think the vampires should’ve split up during Eben’s distraction. They know he wasn’t the only one so they missed out on wiping out the rest with a simple decision. Ignore this, then you’ll still have a bloody good time. In short, 30 Days of Night is the most pure of vampire movies out there for embracing the brutality they hide and unleash whenever they please. If these kind of monsters are your jam, check this out.