30 Days of Night

Based on the comic book by Steve Niles, 30 Days of Night follows the disparate residents of a small Alaskan town as they’re forced to contend with a band of invading vampires (led by Danny Huston’s Marlow). Josh Hartnett and Melissa George star as estranged married couple Eben and Stella, while Ben Foster offers up a typically quirky (yet thoroughly engaging) turn as a nutty, Renfield-esque figure (sample line: “that cold ain’t the weather; that’s death approaching!”) There’s little doubt that 30 Days of Night benefits substantially from David Slade’s superb direction, as the filmmaker has infused the proceedings with a palpable sense of style that’s generally impossible to resist (his unfortunate and sporadic use of shaky camerawork notwithstanding). Slade’s willingness to allow the story to unfold relatively slowly ensures that the viewer does come to care about the central characters, and there’s little doubt that the uniformly strong performances only cement this feeling (Huston’s electrifying work as Marlow is clearly the highlight, though both Hartnett and George are quite effective). The decision to paint the various vampires as feral creatures (complete with pointy teeth and their own language!), however, proves to be the film’s masterstroke, as it’s ultimately difficult to recall as creepy and flat-out terrifying a portrayal of night-dwelling bloodsuckers in recent cinematic history. And while the movie does suffer from a flabby midsection in which nothing much happens, 30 Days of Night nevertheless comes off as a breath of fresh air amidst the relentless deluge of watered-down, teen-oriented cash grabs and remakes.

*** out of ****