Barrow, Alaska is the northernmost town in the United States.
It’s so far north that, for a month each year, the sun sets completely--not
rising again for thirty days. A full month of total darkness all day, every day.
This would make for a great vacation spot for vampires, and that’s essentially
the story about 30 Days Of Night, the new horror film based on the comic by
writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith. Josh Hartnett stars as Eben
Oleson, the sheriff of Barrow, who finds himself very busy on the last day of
sunlight. Someone has stolen a pile of satellite phones and burned them in a
heap in the snow outside of town; all the sled dogs have been viciously killed,
and the only helicopter in town has been trashed. And this is just the beginning.
Director David Slade (Hard Candy) effectively builds up the terror very slowly,
creating mounting unease until the coil is released once the vampires launch
their assault on the hapless townspeople. Fans of Anne Rice may not like this
interpretation of the immortal bloodsuckers, for they are presented here as
being very animalistic and unrelenting. There are no elegant fireside debates about good
and evil here; just a merciless battle for survival against an attack from a
pack of vampires who see the townspeople as being nothing more than meat. Danny
Huston is very good as Marlow, the leader of his little tribe of bloodsuckers.
He’s got an intelligent edge to him without losing his primal, predator side.
And Ben Foster is downright creepy as The Stranger, the Renfield-like human
assistant who sets the stage for his masters.
Hartnett and Melissa George (Turistas) are extremely
sympathetic as Oleson and Stella, his estranged wife. And character actor Mark
Boone Junior gives another great performance as Beau, the town misanthrope.
Setting a vampire story in this locale is a great idea, and Niles (who co-wrote
the script with Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson) executes it very well.
Interestingly, the special features show that the film was never shot in Alaska
at all, but in New Zealand, where an entire town was constructed and then buried
in fake snow. In addition to the behind the scenes featurettes--which can be
viewed one by one or all together--there’s also a commentary by Hartnett, George
and Producer Rob Tapert.
Writer David Schow once derisively referred to vampires as being the Star Trek
of horror, meaning--in part--that their power as scary villains had been greatly
diminished over the years. But just like how director Danny Boyle revived the
zombie movie with 28 Days Later by making them scary once more, David Slade has done the same for
vampires with 30 Days Of Night. Here, they’ve been restored to their rightful
place as terrifying predators to be feared, especially in a place at the top of
the world, where darkness reigns supreme and hope is as scant as the promise of
spring.
--SF
