Halloween Films: Part 1 (3 of 7). Henry turns out the lights for Josh Hartnett's 30 Days of Night (currently available via Paramount+). Get the full show now @ FilmBuds.Bandcamp.com!
[00:00:00] 227. Let's get to 30 Days of Night from 2007. It's directed by David Slade, who also did the Twilight Saga Eclipse. Stars Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Houston, Ben Foster.
[00:00:19] And the synopsis is, after an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires.
[00:00:32] Well, I only heard about this movie after I watched the Eli Roth History of Horror series. They mentioned this one as a modern vampire film, more like a standout one.
[00:00:46] I was like, okay, that seems interesting. I'll give it a look. I like vampire movies, both the more serious ones and dark ones, as well as the goofy ones.
[00:00:57] I think overall, I was a little disappointed by it. It's not terrible. And if you like vampire movies, I would check it out. Like, there are much worse ones out there.
[00:01:10] It's just that the main thing is, the 30 Days of Night concept, which is very interesting. There's so little done with it. To the point of, why did you even give it this title?
[00:01:23] Because while the opening setup is very intriguing, when Josh Hartnett, who's a sheriff, I think, they come across this pile of burned up cell phones, and then random things start happening, like the dogs, the sled dogs are killed.
[00:01:40] And then they all know, the village knows that the sun is going to go away because of where they're located for a month. And so it's going to be complete darkness for that time.
[00:01:53] And then suddenly, vampires attack. It's all been orchestrated and planned so that they could have 30 days of night coverage to wreak havoc.
[00:02:05] After that gets underway, you could have basically called this movie One Day of Night, and it would have lost nothing with what's there.
[00:02:17] The narrative and how, I guess it's a, maybe it's a script issue, maybe it's editing, directing, a combination.
[00:02:25] I felt like there was almost no passage of time in terms of what I was noticing.
[00:02:32] Like, there are scenes where suddenly it says 19 days of night, or whatever it is, or 25.
[00:02:39] And I'm like, wait, we're already there? Like, it felt like we were still in the first night.
[00:02:43] And there are a few moments of very good vampire gore and attacks that are disturbing and chilling and all that, that I like.
[00:02:58] The ending, so anticlimactic.
[00:03:02] You have the village being set on fire, which looks good, for sure, set against the very dark winter night.
[00:03:12] But I was thinking, okay, it's going to be this showdown of the vampires and the humans that are left in this epic battle.
[00:03:19] Like, it's going to be awesome.
[00:03:21] And it's basically just Josh Hartnett versus Danny Houston.
[00:03:27] The design of that character is too goofy and distracting.
[00:03:33] And actually, on top of that, for me, when it comes to casting vampires,
[00:03:38] vampires, more so when there's like an army of them in this, it's different for something like Twilight.
[00:03:48] Seeing Danny Houston and some of the other big faces matched against, I guess, mainly unknown actors,
[00:03:55] it feels way too put on, forced, and I'm not believing that this is an actual vampire.
[00:04:03] I'm thinking, okay, that looks like Danny Houston, who is very recognizable and been in a lot of movies.
[00:04:09] That just looks like him with some pale white makeup and bad effects.
[00:04:18] And I didn't care about that villain.
[00:04:20] I didn't understand him.
[00:04:23] Not to say he needs to have a huge, big motivation,
[00:04:26] but that was by far the weakest part of the film writing-wise, character-wise.
[00:04:31] The look of the town, I like.
[00:04:37] Josh Hartnett is very solid.
[00:04:43] One other character issue,
[00:04:45] while I like Ben Foster, generally, and he's fine in it,
[00:04:52] the whole arc of his character is also a very unsatisfying element.
[00:04:59] He's this possessed, enslaved guy, brainwashed,
[00:05:05] who is allowing or helping the vampires get advantage and get into the area without anyone knowing,
[00:05:12] and then he is promised some sort of salvation or to become a vampire himself.
[00:05:18] But in the end, the vampires don't keep their end of the bargain,
[00:05:24] and he's just killed.
[00:05:28] Which, by itself, is not a big deal.
[00:05:32] But with how much the movie spends on him,
[00:05:36] and these ridiculous sermons that he gives,
[00:05:39] and how many times he gets involved with other characters,
[00:05:43] like grabbing someone or talking to someone,
[00:05:46] and this happening or that happening,
[00:05:48] when it comes to his resolution,
[00:05:52] there's just nothing there to think about or enjoy,
[00:05:55] or like, wow, that was crazy.
[00:05:56] So, you know, it's one that I don't really see myself going back to anytime soon.
[00:06:07] Will for sure not be a favorite of mine in this genre.
[00:06:15] That one is a light three out of five.