30 Days of Night (2007)

Rated: R for strong horror violence and language.
Length: 113 minutes
Grade: CFDB=D
Budget: $30 million
Box Office: $39 million US, $35 million Intl, $24 million DVD

Directed by: David Slade, whose only other work was the disturbing Hard Candy, which I have not seen.
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Meilssa George, Ben Foster, and Danny Huston.

Comments:

As vampire movies go, this has one strong and many weak points. The strength is the portrayal of the vampires, which is brutal, violent, and cleverly written with the subtitles. The problems were in the plot. This was the action flick with a hundred implausibilities and unexplained developments. Plus, where’s the scare factor in killing everyone in the beginning and then wondering what the plot will be for the next hour? The movie felt simultaneously like The Thing (for obvious reasons) and any number of recent bio-hazard/zombie/vampire movies, but it wasn’t as good as any of them. I watched it alone in the dark, and I can’t think of a single moment where I felt any fear at all. It was more of an action movie than a horror, even though I do think the vampire portrayal was solid. It’s very heavy on gore, and there are several very disturbing images. You'll enjoy I am Legend or even 30 Days/Weeks Later better if you enjoy this genre.