One wonders why the vampires didn't think of it before: If you're a bloodsucker, the Arctic Circle is really the place to be. Some places have (as you can guess from the title) thirty days of night, meaning that our undead friends can spend an unlimited amount of time doing what vampires do. This is a great premise for a movie, but the end result is merely mediocre.
The opening of the film is very strong, as it presents effectively a part of the United States that we rarely see on screen- the extreme northern parts of Alaska. The movie introduces us to a wide vary of semi-diverse characters led by a policeman named Eben (Josh Hartnett) and his estranged wife Stella (Melissa George). There is also a old policewoman dying from cancer, her unusually normal teenage grandson, an Inuit guy mourning the death of his wife and child, and strong, husky woodsman. When the vampires move in however, the drama and indeed, the story (as my literary friend Tracey observed) stops for a series of set pieces, that get tedious really fast, because the same thing happens over and over again.
It's not that there are not moments that are effective. There is one genuinely creepy sequence in the movie- the initial moments of the vampire invasion, when they are never seen clearly and skirt quickly in and out of frame. Had the movie perused this strategy, only revealing the monsters at the end (a la the shark in Jaws) it might have been really effective, but the vampires stop being scary when you get used to them.
As my friend also pointed out, there are numerous plot problems with the film. If these vampires want to feed on the town, why do the kill everyone all at once, instead of one at a time. How can the humans possibly evade them for thirty days? Since two characters keep their cell phones, why doesn't anyone call for help. Why doesn't anyone send for help after the town goes silent? Why do the vampires speak in a language that sounds like Klingon?
But I am still moderately recommending this movie, because it is okay as a dumb weekend horror movie. But the premise was so good, and parts so impressive, it should have been the next great vampire film.
30 Days of Night (2007)