"Happy Halloween kids!"
Thought it would be appropriate at this time of year to go see a good ole' scary movie, unfortunately for me and my friend Vince....we saw "30 Days of Night" instead!
Based on the phenomenally successful graphic novel by Steve Niles and Bruce Templesmith from Dark Horse Comics the film version of this updated tale of the Vampire was a major disappointment to say the least.
I am partially guilty of ignorance on this particular film because I have, as of yet, not read the original graphic novel for which it was based-I went in grading this strictly on it's film merits and not to compare it with it's paperback predecessor.
I had heard a lot of good things about the novel and will eventually bring myself to read it someday, my initial turnoff from reading the book was the visual interpretation of the story, it was a bit too "expressionistic" in style for me considering it was in fact a comic book...but that's another story for another time.
Speaking of story ,here it is in a nutshell; The story takes place in Barrow ,Alaska, which for those unaware is the northernmost populated town in the continental United States, mainly a blue collar oil town with a general population of less than a 1000 souls. Due to it's unique geographic locale, the town of Barrow experiences a dark period of approximately 30 days each season, enter our favorite little creatures of the night.
A group of wayward bloodsuckers led by an enigmatic, foreign speaking chap by the name of Marlowe (Danny Huston-"Fade to Black") takes advantage of this fact and goes on a virtual smorgasbord of prime grade "A" American beef and let me say these guys have terrible eating manners.
The film opens like a classic Vampiric tale worthy of Bram Stoker or in this particular instance...the silent film classic "Nosferatu"with a cargo ship iced in the bay near town, and a mysterious stranger(Ben Foster-"X-Men;the Last Stand") wandering into Barrow preaching doom to all those who would listen.
The local sheriff (Josh Hartnett-"Blackhawk Down"), who seems a bit young for the position is a tad clueless as to what's going on at first due in part to the distractions of his estranged wife ,(Melissa George-"Turistas") who plays a bewildered local fire marshall.
After what seems a rather slow start and in my opinion failed attempt to set up some of the main characters in the story ,it picks up speed rather quickly as soon as the sun sets for the final time. These vampires aren't totally stupid, they know the opportunity they are presented here so they plan ahead, by isolating the town, cutting off it's power supply and any possible means of communication with the outside world...after this is accomplished ...let the carnage begin!
In the tradition of more recent horror hits like "28 Days Later","Dawn of the Dead" ,and "The Hills Have Eyes" this film is high on action and gore and most notably....speed.
Directed by David Slade("Hard Candy") with cinematography by Jo Willems("Hard Candy") the film has a good look to it although technically for a film that is set in a town suffering through "30 Days of Night" it seems awfully bright at times.
The more annoying aspects of the film were the screeching lesser Vampires who seemed nothing more than mindless drones ambling through this little town attacking anything that moved ,and whenever an attack was presented, and it was ,frequently ,it was accompanied by an overbearingly loud soundtrack score designed I guess to shock and enhance the horror of the scene-this happened every single time an attack happened which was one too many!
The acting was lackluster, typical fare from your average splatter flick, but considering the fact that this was a highly anticipated film with an impressive budget...I for one expected better, hell in comparison ,the original TV version of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" starring David Soul was superior to this effort and that's saying a lot.
The ending scene of the film wasn't even that original, hell it's an obvious swipe from "Blade 2"!
After seeing this "monstrously" bad film I will have to read the original graphic novel to compare...just to see what all the praise was about. In the meantime, save your $10.00 bucks, stay home and watch some classic horror movies like some of the films I named above including; the original "Exorcist", "the Thing", "Frankenstein" ,and yes of course...the original "Dracula" .
"Happy Haunting;enjoy the show!"
-peace
Shawn Surface
SURFACE ART STUDIOS.
