"30 Days of Night": A DVD Movie Review

A good horror movie can be wonderful release for pent up frustration and stress. Unfortunately, most of the horror movies made today are move about violence, blood, and gore than about genuine thrills or scares. Consequently, I rarely watch horror films anymore.

Recently, I ran into a vampire film on DVD called "30 Days of Night." It stars Josh Hartnett and Melissa George. I decided to give it a try. I'm not sorry that I did but it isn't a film that I would recommend to everyone.

"30 Days of Night" is about a little Alaskan town that literally experiences a month of darkness each year. It would be considered a cold, depressing place to most people but the people who live there seem to like it.

I wouldn't call the town close knit, per se, but they do seem to know a lot about each other and there are some strong friendships formed. As the town opens, the town's sheriff, Eben Oleson, played by Josh Hartnett, is making his rounds when he gets a call that the sled dogs of one of his neighbors have been attacked. He, of course, hurries off to take a look.

On his way there, he gets a call from his wife, who is attempting to leave him, that she can't make it to the airport because of an accident. He sends a friend out to help her while he heads off to do his job.

Eben is shocked at the condition of the dogs and can't imagine who or what could have killed them. With the town cut off from everyone and everything for 30 days, he must assume that someone in the town has gone rogue. But it doesn't take long for him to discover that isn't the case.

Needless to say, his wife, Stella, doesn't get to the airport in time to make the flight out before the town is cut off for the month. She heads back into town, deciding that perhaps it is time for her to talk to her husband about their problems instead of attempting to run away. However, that is put on hold when she also jumps headfirst into a hornet's nest of problems.

Before long, the couple discovers that it isn't insiders committing the hideous killings of one townsperson after another. It is something far more dangerous. Eventually, they are even forced to face the fact that some nightmares do come true.