Discovery

As far as the horror genre goes, there’s nothing I look forward to less than the vampire movie. Putting aside Interview With A Vampire and The Lost Boys, I don’t like vampire movies. At all. (Though my fellow Buzznet writers are telling me that I need to see Nosferatu and The Hunger. We’ll see.)

I simply don’t find anything interesting or, more importantly, scary about them. I credit that to how stylized they’ve been portrayed, both in the romantic sense and how they’ve become a parody of themselves. I mean, really. How long has it been since the vampire genre has been reinvented?

Much in the same way that 28 Days Later invigorating a mostly stale genre (though not in the best ways), 30 Days of Night is set to inject life into the vampire horror genre by re-creating a monster through realism.

I attended a press screening of 30 Days of Night at the Sony Studios. (I also feel it would be a disservice to NOT mention that, despite my antics at the MTV Movie Awards last summer and despite being told I was banned for life from all Sony functions, I got to attend this screening. In three short words: neener neener neener.) I’d never attended a press screening before; every movie preview I’d seen was through Nielsen and other screeners that give out free movie tickets outside different places throughout Los Angeles.

To be frank, I wasn’t expecting much. I’m not a fan of vampires (as I’ve already beat into your head) and, after having to suffer through his performance in The Black Dahlia, I’m not a fan of Josh Hartnett. Suffice to say, I was doing this simply to see what it was like and to see if David Slade (of Hard Candy fame) could replicate the success and artistic direction of the graphic novel the movie is based on.

(Photo credit: Kirsty Griffin)

The movie opens rather cryptically with the sight of a ragged and clearly maddened man stumbling upon the town of Barrow, Alaska. Located at one of the furthermost points north, the town experiences 30 days of night as the earth tilts on its axis away from the sun. On the eve of this yearly event, hundreds of people leave the town in a mass exodus of goodbyes and insincere hugs. It’s only 30 days, their faces seem to say. The movie, bright and nonchalant from the opening, slips into darkness as an off screen force slaughters an entire pack of sled dogs.

It’s at this point that the systematic darkness and hopelessness begins to take over the film, both in sight and feel. David Slade succeeds from here on out. In this respect, he controls what you see and how you’ll experience the coming onslaught.

And “onslaught” is really an understatement. As you realize that the residents of Barrow who have decided to stay behind for the month of darkness have been cut off from the outside world in every respect, the dread starts to creep in. This is not to suggest that this is an original technique; I’ve seen plenty of recent and older horror movies apply the same technique. (The Hills Have Eyes and The Silence of The Lambs first pop to mind, with their effective use of isolation and foreshadowing.)

When the vampires first take to the screen, they’re all seen in passing: They’re quickly jumping from roof top to roof top, in plain view of the viewer, but unbeknownst to the characters on screen. They surround a lone man and we only see shadows as they attack him, ripping him to shreds. They scream with ferocity as they drag a wife under a house.

(Photo credit: Kirsty Griffin)

The first full glimpses I got of the creatures is when I realized I was not in for a typical ride at all. Like the bastard children of an Aphex Twin video, their faces are distorted, eyes pulled to the cheeks like teardrops. Mouths are disfigured and even their teeth look like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Using some ingenious make up techniques and the actors’ natural faces, I am introduced to a brand new breed of vampires. (And Danny Houston is the greatest vampire ever.)

Simply put, they are not fucking around. When the rampage occurs and the vampires stop coyly jumping on roofs, the chaos is captured through use of some awe-inspiring and shocking aerial shots. The town slips into mayhem and the over-stimulation of my senses sent chills down my spine.

David Slade is not taking this lightly. The survivors, stranded and confused, try their best to outsmart these creatures, but Slade has crafted a set of monsters that are intelligent, fierce, and….holy hell. They are so goddamn fast! Utilizing almost entirely physical stunts instead of CGI, they seem natural, instead of creations of a computer wizard. In addition, they speak an entirely fictional language based on “feeding and hatred,” according to Slade.

(Photo Credit: Kirsty Griffin)

John Hartnett and Melissa George, the leads in the movie, play a recently estranged couple who are forced to confront their own distaste for each other in the face of an existential crisis. (And, I’m shocked to admit this, but I really enjoyed them.) Does it really matter that they still have feelings for each other as the apocalypse is destroying the world around them? And make no mistake, for the town of Barrow, Alaska, 30 Days of Night strikes me as quite the nihilistic adventure. The film is gritty, egregiously violent, and leaves you with a bad feeling in your gut. Eschewing a great deal of horror movie clichés (or simply following a cliché with a “Holy-God-what-was-that?” moment), Slade instead seeks to attack you with realism: Why is it that the hero is undamaged? Why do children always end up ok? Why are the handicapped protected? Slade knows this just isn’t possible in the world we live, so be prepared to see some fairly shocking scenes. (Most notably, halfway through, a scene with a 10 year old girl that found me groaning out loud.)

By shrouding the movie in darkness, you’re left unable to tell the passage of time, with the exception of small titles every so often stating what day it is and the physical changes in the characters. As I had mentioned before, this puts the director in control and Slade’s vision is ambitious and terrifying.

Not that there aren’t faults with this movie; the violence is a little much at times and there is some horrific gore that’s unsettling. I think it detracted from the story a bit at times, but I suppose it’s just Slade taking the movie to it inevitable realism and nihilism at the same time. But I definitely winced at what ultimately happens at the end of the confrontation between Josh Hartnett and Danny Houston, because it’s the only bit of completely unrealistic violence in the whole movie.

 There are a few totally bogus lines (the 10 year old girl scene has a particularly stupid line). The acting isn’t Oscar-winning, yet I rarely found myself laughing at ridiculous lines or awkward dialogue.

(Photo credit: Kirsty Griffin)

I’ll say it now: 30 Days of Night is a sleeper hit. I don’t presume to know how well it will do at the box office, but this is such a fun and disturbing horror movie. By realizing that something new had to be done with the genre, David Slade has created an entire world of vampires that’s refreshing and realistic.

And totally freakin’ scary.