Review of 30 Days of Night (2007) by Chads. — 13 Jan 2008

Since the upper-reaches of Alaska is a sparsely populated region, these marauding vampires must be hunting cold climate animals for sustenance, in lieu of human flesh, human blood. Sea lions? Mincemeat.

Walruses? Mincemeat. Penguins? Mincemeat. These vampires are so lightning quick, they could probably take down a polar bear. The bloodsucking Popsicles must be starving when they arrive at the outpost in "30 Days of Night", the latest of the new breed of vampire pics that seem closer in spirit to George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" than "Dracula".

Some attention must be paid to "30 Days of Night" for trying to establish dread(it establishes tedium instead) with a methodical approach that is admirable, and welcome. "30 Days of Night" is not all sound and fury.

The characters act accordingly to their surroundings(again, admirable), but muted behavior and whispered conversations in service of routine plotting and rote dialogue will induce REM sleep, not heart palpitations.

Of course, there's violence. Of course, you have to kill in self-defense. But Sheriff Oleson(Josh Hartnett) kills with a little too much exuberance; five hacks with the ax, when four would suffice(the sheriff isn't satisfied until one vampire's head is completely detached), and the little vampire girl gets it real good in the throat.

There's also the question as to how these vampires knew that the sun rarely shines in the Arctic.