Movie Review: 30 Days of Night

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Sinister, brutal, and unrelentingly violent, 30 Days of Night is the best vampire movie - and likely best horror movie - to be unleashed upon audiences this year. As fear and dread gradually give way to full-blown terror as the ruthless vampires descend upon the isolated town, the audience is never given a moment to catch their breath. No one is safe and seldom does a sliver of hope surface in the rapidly diminishing chance of survival in this world submersed in darkness. Though the story grounds itself in preconceived vampire mythos, the visuals do not, and a masterpiece of bloody violence emerges, revealing such intensely vicious imagery that fans of the genre (as well as the original graphic novel) will revel in the carnage.

In Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the world, once a year during the winter, the sun disappears for 30 days. Isolated by 80 miles of ice and snow, the town prepares for the lightless month. But a group of blood-starved vampires have made their way into the shadowy environs of Barrow to feast on the town, concerned only with satisfying their feeding frenzy. Quickly killing off the majority of townsfolk, the vampires hunt for a small remaining group of survivors led by Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) and his wife Stella (Melissa George), who must wait out the horrifying 30 days of night.

It is refreshing to see a vampire film that doesn't shy away from violence and that doesn't dwell on anything that can be even remotely construed as hokey. A new cinematic creature, 30 Days of Night's antagonists are ultra scary with their deformed appearances and their mercilessly gut-wrenching killing sprees. They speak in their own demonic language and have super human strength and speed, making them a Michael Myers fashioned juggernaut. High-pitched shrieks, blood-soaked visages and razor-sharp fingernails complete a frightening design of this force to be reckoned with.