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Directed By
David Slade
Written By:
Stuart Beattie, Brian Nelson, Steve Niles
Cast:
Ben Foster, Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Manu Bennett, Craig Hall, Mark Boone Junior, Joel Tobeck, Mark Rendall, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Kate Elliott, Elizabeth McRae, Amber Sainsbury, Ben Fransham, Jared Turner, Jacob Tomuri, Camille Keenan, Kate O'Rourke, Megan Franich, Camille Keenan, Abbey-May Wakefield, Rachel Maitland-Smith, Melissa Billington, Aaron Cortesi, Ismay Johnston, Sam La Hood, Allan Smith, Matt Gillanders, Tim McLachlan, Jarrod Martin, John Rawls, Andrew Stehlin, Sam Wilson, Thomas Crosson, Pua Magasiva, Min Windle, Chic Littlewood, Lee Tuson
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30 Days of Night (2007)
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Movie Review by Matthew 
October 25th, 2007
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No More Josh Hartnett Films!
I had a difficult time deciding whether I should even go to see "30 Days of Night", the new horror film starring Josh Hartnett. That's a redundant statement – every Josh Hartnett film is a "horror" film.
I think Hollywood should change the focus of their current debates. Rather than the Writers', Directors' and Actors' Guilds discussing whether they should strike against the Producers' Guild, shutting down production, they should turn their attention to Josh Hartnett. Should this "actor" be allowed to continue to appear in films? Why hasn't he been banned to some television show on the CW by now? Take a moment, a brief one because I don't want you to waste too much time on the subject, and try to think of any film Hartnett has appeared in that you might place on a Ten Best list for any year. Still thinking? Even "Blackhawk Down", probably the best film he has appeared in, will not be remembered as one of director Ridley Scott's best films. "The Black Dahlia", "Pearl Harbor", "40 Days & 40 Nights". Don't think so. Every Hartnett performance serves to drag the films down a notch. And when the films aren't that good in the first place, his performance only makes them worse.
So I struggled with if I should even see "30 Days of Night". I decided to plunk down $9 for a matinee because the idea of the film intrigued me - a gang of vampires invades a small Alaskan town just as the townsfolk prepare for a month of complete darkness giving the creatures full reign to feast on the few inhabitants left in the town - enough to sit through another performance from this young thespian.
"30 Days" begins promisingly. As the thirty days of night approaches, people race to leave the small town of Barrow, Alaska. If they are going to return to the mainland, or a larger Alaskan city, they have to do it now or they will be confined to this small town for the next month, living in complete darkness. Stella (Melissa George), the fire Marshall for the rural area is desperate to finish her job and catch the last plane back. As she races to the airport, she gets in an accident and has no choice but to call her ex-husband, Eben (Josh Hartnett), the town's sheriff. As he didn't know she was in town, he is shocked to learn she is trying to get to the airport. She misses her flight. As the town prepares to hunker down, the remaining few citizens turn up the fire and prepare to stay indoor a lot. But Eben and his deputy, Billy (Manu Bennett) receive a couple of strange calls. A number of sled dogs are found mutilated. Then the telecommunications go down and Eben finds a horrifying sight at the satellite. What is happening? A couple of the townsfolk are attacked by strange, unseen beasts, causing witnesses to flee indoors for safety. As Eben returns to the Sheriff's station, he happens upon the Stranger (Ben Foster). The Stranger is making a scene at the local diner, asking to get fresh, raw meat for his dinner. Eben hauls him in suspecting him of the attacks. Locking him in the cell, his dispatcher, Eben's grandmother, and his brother, Jake (Mark Rendall) start to get antsy. They soon realize strange forces are at work in the town. Eben and Stella learn a small group of vampires are feasting on the town's citizens. Their leader, Marlow (Danny Huston) seems all too efficient as they feast and kill people rapidly. Soon, Eben, Stella and a small group of survivors try to wait out the "Thirty Days of Night" evading the vampires.
Hitchcock knew how to do it. Robert Wise knew how to do it. John Carpenter knew how to do it. What is 'it'? Scare the be Jesus out of viewers without resulting to cheap gore and gross out tactics. This is why "Psycho", "The Haunting" and "Halloween" are regularly ranked as the top horror films of all time. Currently, the majority of filmmakers who make horror films seem to think gallons of blood, evisceration, gross out moments and sickening torture are the only thing we need to scare us. Actually, that just grosses us out. To scare us, you have to pique our interest and leave some of the terror to our imagination.
"30 Days of Night" begins in a promising fashion. There is an impending sense of dread as the townsfolk evacuate, some of them leaving loved ones in this small barren town for a month of darkness. Then, as the attacks begin, we don't initially see what the creatures look like. People are grabbed and dragged under houses or into dark corners and we hear some of the sounds of their death, perhaps see a trail of blood. But we imagine some of the visuals and it is much more frightening. But all too quickly, director David Slade reveals the vampires to us. Initially, they are really just a blur.
It won't fit. Please read the full review at thornhillatthemovies.com
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