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This movie brings back the savagery and utter depraved evilness of vampires, along with their speed, intelligence and their total contempt for humankind.
This is long overdue, considering the legion of suave, human-loving vampires being pushed down horror fans throats over the years.David Slade, the director of this fresh, yet primal movie based on a graphic comic, has brought to life the utter chaos and mayhem a band of vampires bring to the small town of Barrow, Alaska as it goes dark for 30 days because of it Northern latitude.
This is accomplished throughout the film, but an aerial shot early in the movie showing bands of citizens shooting vainly into vampires in the middle of main street, who summarily then rip them apart, creates a war scene that captures the essence of hopelessness and mayhem being wrought upon the sub-zero town.
Excellent plot structure
Another reason "30 Days of Night" is an instant horror classic is its strong plot structure. The dual conflict of Barrow's sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) trying to figure out what went wrong between him and his estranged wife Stella ( Melissa George), who is stranded in the town because she missed the last plane out, and how to keep them and the surviving town members alive until the sun rises again, gives the film depth. As the sheriff, his estranged wife and the townsfolk hide, huddled up in a small attic and watch as the band of vampires led by a bloodsucking monster named Marlow(Danny Huston) use their fellow humans as bait to flush them out, the tension builds and makes you feel like this is the first horror movie you've ever seen!
Superlative vampires
But as good as the plot and acting is, the best component is the depiction of the vampires! They speak an unknown Slavic-sounding language, which accentuates the ugliness of their believable, pale, distorted features -- and their hideous, razor-like teeth.
Marlow, the head vampire, is something of a harsh teacher, who speaks this tongue, which is translated with subtitles, whenever he wants to make an important point to his underlings.In one scene after breaking the neck of the human slave after telling him he would reward him for making it possible for the vampires to invade Barrow, Marlow looks at his female companion vampire and says, "They are like children. They believe anything that we tell them."
In another scene when Marlow is about to tear the throat out of a townswoman and she calls upon God to help her, Marlow looks at her astonished and says: "God? There is no God!" The other vampires move with lightening speed and quickly snatch their prey off to a hidden corner or under a crawl space to devour them like a piece of raw meat. Their depiction as putrid, sub-animal creatures of hell, comes across convincingly and makes one believe they are indeed real!
Surprise ending
Finally, without revealing the ending for those who have not seen the movie, I have to say it was inventive and somewhat surprising, if not sad. The movie definitely lived up to its hype, and was well worth the price of admission!
This is long overdue, considering the legion of suave, human-loving vampires being pushed down horror fans throats over the years.David Slade, the director of this fresh, yet primal movie based on a graphic comic, has brought to life the utter chaos and mayhem a band of vampires bring to the small town of Barrow, Alaska as it goes dark for 30 days because of it Northern latitude.
This is accomplished throughout the film, but an aerial shot early in the movie showing bands of citizens shooting vainly into vampires in the middle of main street, who summarily then rip them apart, creates a war scene that captures the essence of hopelessness and mayhem being wrought upon the sub-zero town.
Excellent plot structure
Another reason "30 Days of Night" is an instant horror classic is its strong plot structure. The dual conflict of Barrow's sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) trying to figure out what went wrong between him and his estranged wife Stella ( Melissa George), who is stranded in the town because she missed the last plane out, and how to keep them and the surviving town members alive until the sun rises again, gives the film depth. As the sheriff, his estranged wife and the townsfolk hide, huddled up in a small attic and watch as the band of vampires led by a bloodsucking monster named Marlow(Danny Huston) use their fellow humans as bait to flush them out, the tension builds and makes you feel like this is the first horror movie you've ever seen!
Superlative vampires
But as good as the plot and acting is, the best component is the depiction of the vampires! They speak an unknown Slavic-sounding language, which accentuates the ugliness of their believable, pale, distorted features -- and their hideous, razor-like teeth.
Marlow, the head vampire, is something of a harsh teacher, who speaks this tongue, which is translated with subtitles, whenever he wants to make an important point to his underlings.In one scene after breaking the neck of the human slave after telling him he would reward him for making it possible for the vampires to invade Barrow, Marlow looks at his female companion vampire and says, "They are like children. They believe anything that we tell them."
In another scene when Marlow is about to tear the throat out of a townswoman and she calls upon God to help her, Marlow looks at her astonished and says: "God? There is no God!" The other vampires move with lightening speed and quickly snatch their prey off to a hidden corner or under a crawl space to devour them like a piece of raw meat. Their depiction as putrid, sub-animal creatures of hell, comes across convincingly and makes one believe they are indeed real!
Surprise ending
Finally, without revealing the ending for those who have not seen the movie, I have to say it was inventive and somewhat surprising, if not sad. The movie definitely lived up to its hype, and was well worth the price of admission!
Last edited by ced1; 04-07-08 at 11:07 AM.
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