Another horror film undertaken by cliches

"30 Days of Night"
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster
2 stars out of 4

Very recently someone sat in a room, and undeniably thought the success of graphic novels, in this case a scary graphic novel would translate to a solid big screen genre horror picture. This, however isn't the case. Most good horror movies have to establish characters we care for. I can say that I didn't care for 1 person in this movie.

"30 Days of Night" is about the northernmost town in Alaska, which sees night for 30 days, hence the title. The town of Barrow is home to a population only reaching the hundreds, among the population, we meet the local Sheriff Eben Oleson played by Hartnett, also his divorcee Stella played by Melissa George. Also a stranger to the town, played devilishly by Ben Foster, who looks dirty and slimy in almost every role that he's in. This stranger leads the ancient Vampires to the city as they arrive on ship. When the last sun goes down for a month, they will prey on the city. This is the story in a nutshell, pretty original huh? Quite the contrary, the film is filled with horror movie cliches, all of the remaining alive characters hide in attics, diners, anywhere to wait and buy time until the 30 days end. The film actually jumps from day 1-7-18-27.

The film has no good beginning, we don't even know where the vampires have come from, they have no backstory, all we know that is that they speak another language and make an annoying shrieking sound whenever they're mad. They're led by the actor Danny Huston, who is usually used in good films, I don't know what he saw in this script. Getting back to the cliches, the broken couple of Eben and Stella somehow start to love eachother again, I guess if vampires attack your town, it's the right medicine for any broken relationship. The vampires, of course are destroyed by any bright light, gun, the usual. It seems that there is actually enough light in the town during the blackout, but it doesn't hurt them one bit. This movie could have been better if nearly all of the town was pitch dark, making it more eerie, and haunting. No such happenings occur here, the characters run and drive through the snow, get in fights with eachother, and you guessed it, when one of them is bitten, they ask someone to "take them out." One has to wonder when Josh Hartnett is going to wise up and start accepting some good roles, he has appeared in this, and "The Black Dahlia" recently, two bombs.

I can't recommend "30 Days of Night" even for a mediocre Halloween film, it's bad writing, some bad acting, and un-original. Try passing out treats instead of spending $8 on this movie.