“30 Days of Night” takes a clever idea and beats it into a bloody pulp. Allow yourself one moment of logical thinking and this movie makes no sense.
It is reduced to being nothing more than a series of humans being killed by vampires and vice versa.
Josh Hartnett, who used to have a career, plays the sheriff of Barrow, Alaska. This place is so far north that once a year it has one night that lasts 30 days. You would have thought the travel agents for vampires already would have made this the Club Dead for the undead. Imagine the slogan: “Go to Barrow. Suck some marrow.” The city is isolated for one dark month. Only a vampire could make the frozen trek there.
That’s when a group of them show up.
They have planned ahead. Every satellite phone in the town has been stolen and burned. The local helicopter has been disabled. Every sled dog has been killed. They even have canceled everyone’s car insurance.
OK, that last one is not true. But you get the idea.
One night of carnage leaves only a handful of survivors to cower in the darkness. The sheriff is joined by his ex-wife (new scream queen Melissa George). Who would have thought it would take a vampire assault to bring these crazy kids back together?
Director David Slade tries to get the most out of the script. But none of the vampire attacks are that scary, and you you could drive a truckload of stakes through the plot holes. One example: The survivors hide in a concealed attic. There is no electricity, which means no heat. The temperature is below zero. They should end up being people- cicles for vamps.
What makes this movie so disappointing is the wasted potential. The idea of vampires being free to roam the streets for days should have set up a series of battles between good and evil. Most of those battles play out in one big scene that is shot from such a distance, Slade must have used a camera on a passing satellite.
The film also crosses the line in using children. These types of horror films can be fun to watch as long as it is adults running and screaming. Two scenes in “30 Days” that involve children are just appalling.
