30 Days of Night (2007) | 31 Days of Horror: Oct 25

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One-hundred percent chance of vampires this winter.

30 Days of Night features a group of ill-prepared townsfolk attempting to hold off a horde of vampires during an extended month-long night. Its tension and immediacy is palpable as it creates a new type of vampire film to be admired and imitated.

Before Viewing

In a snowy environment, something pulls a woman out a window and under the cabin. The trailer’s intertitles explain that above the arctic circle, where the night lasts 30 days, these creatures are returning. Scenes of what are presumed to be vampires flood into the town causing much mayhem and attacking people. The sheriff and a couple of other people appear to be the main characters who must stop these monsters, or die trying.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

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After Viewing

In the town of Barrow, Alaska, where each winter the town experiences nighttime lasting for thirty days, a stranger (Ben Foster) walks from a smoldering ship towards town. About 73% of the town vacates during this long winter, and people are leaving in droves, including Stella Oleson (Melissa George), the estranged wife of Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett). Eben and his deputy Billy (Manu Bennett) are investigating a series of vandalisms, starting with a pile of burned cell phones, the slaughter of John Riis’ sled dogs, and the destruction of a helicopter.

As Stella is racing out of town to get the last flight out, she is accidentally T-boned by Malekai (Pua Magasiva) in a trenching machine, and misses her flight. The stranger enters the diner, requesting a meal of raw hamburger, and warning patrons of what is coming. Eben arrests him under suspicion of committing the vandalisms around town. Suddenly the power and phones in the town go out and a large group of vampiric creatures storm the town, slaughtering and feeding on anyone they come across.

The survivors of this massacre gather in the diner, and include Lucy (Megan Franich), a waitress, Denise (Amber Sainsbury), a pipeline worker, and Jake (Mark Rendall), Eben’s younger brother. Eben and Stella join them and make a plan to hide out in a hidden attic in one of the houses. From there they plan to make their way to the Utilidor (the name for the utility corridor at the power station) after stocking up at the general store during the next whiteout. In order to draw out survivors, the vampires, led by Marlowe (Danny Huston), force a lone woman to act as bait by walking down the street calling for help. Eben is too smart to fall for that, but it breaks just the same.

One of the survivors, an old man named Isaac (Chic Littlewood), flees after almost two weeks cooped up in the attic. He is followed by his son Wilson (Craig Hall), who is also killed. During the blizzard they all make their way to the general store for supplies. Inside they find a young girl that has been turned into a vampire who attacks them. She manages to scratch Carter (Nathaniel Lees) before young Jake cuts her head off with an axe. By day 18, Eben gets an idea to use the ultraviolet lamps at his grandmother’s house to “bring the sun back early.” It works, injuring a female vampire (Megan Franich), but the creatures soon destroy the generator and chase Eben away.

Acting as a distraction, snowplow driver Beau (Mark Boone Junior) crashes his vehicle into the local hotel, fending the vampires away with his shotgun. When that runs out of ammunition, Beau drops a lit flare into the box of flares creating an explosion that blows him outside where Marlowe stomps on his face, killing him. Carter tells Eben and the remaining survivors that he is turning, and says that he “can’t live forever,” imploring someone to put him out of his misery. Eben takes him into a back room and kills him, off-screen, with the axe. By day 27 the group has found Billy, still alive, but having killed his wife and daughters to protect them.

The small group of survivors head to the Utilidor where a bald headed vampire (Andrew Stehlin) attacks them. Billy is injured when he flips the creature into the “muffin-muncher,” a giant cross-cut shredder that works as easily on metal as it does on flesh. As Billy begins to turn, Eben kills him as well. Using a syringe, Eben takes some of Billy’s blood and injects it into himself, believing that turning into one of the creatures is the only way to stop them. Stella is trapped under a car wreck, while rescuing a young girl being used as bait to draw out more survivors. The vampires set fire to the town, and Eben fights Marlow, punching his fist through the monster’s face and head. The other creatures flee. As the sun begins to rise again, Eben and Stella sit on a bluff together. They share a final kiss as the sun turns Eben into ash.

“Vampires don’t exist, Jake.” – Stella

Of all the films showcased here this holiday season 30 Days of Night is unique. It is the only horror movie that started life as a comic book. Originally published in late 2002 by comic book company IDW Publishing, 30 Days of Night was a 3-issue series by writer Steve Niles & illustrator Ben Templesmith. The series was popular enough it led to a number of spin-off and subsequent tales with similar ideas. The film was produced by another comic book company, Dark Horse Entertainment, known for bringing the characters from Dark Horse Comics to the big screen, such as The Mask, Barb Wire and Virus. This is presumably due to their familiarity bringing movies based on comic books to film, since Dark Horse was not publishing any of the source material. The film also included a producer that is better known for his directing, Sam Raimi. He and his partner Rob Tapert are big fans of genre films, and had bid on the project early on to steward it to its final release.

30 Days of Night is a film both unlike any other horror film and yet still inspired by classic films. It is a unique portrayal of vampires in film. Firstly they are never referred to as vampires, other than Stella’s quote above about vampires not being real. They work in a colony, having a distinct social hierarchy, with Marlowe as the leader, and several lieutenant, or second tier vampires, and then the drones. The creatures do not speak English, but have their own type of language which is subtitled throughout. This is obviously different from most vampire films, where there’s usually one creature that hides within society in some way (Dracula, Fright Night) and as such is able to blend in with humans as well as can be expected. The unique circumstances of the location also provide a notable difference. Rather than giving the human characters any kind of reprieve, there are thirty days of endless night, putting them on the defensive throughout the entire film.

But the film has elements familiar to a series of other movies. While most vampires hunt solo, some films such as The Lost Boys, Near Dark or John Carpenter’s Vampires feature packs of the creatures. The ferocity of the vampires in 30 Days of Night as well as their general demeanor and look is still relatively unique. They are more feral and animalistic than suave and romantic. The setting is reminiscent of John Carpenter’ The Thing, which features humans stuck in an Arctic outpost, not with a vampire, but with a shape-changing alien. A similar mood of isolation along with the cold environment draws easy comparisons. But the one film that might not be expected as an inspiration is John Wayne’s Rio Bravo. That film features a Texas sheriff who arrests the brother of a powerful local rancher for murder and then has to hold the man in the local jail until a US Marshal arrives. The sheriff, along with a small group of other townsfolk hold down the fort, so to speak. It’s a very similar vibe to this film, where Eben, the sheriff, needs to hold his small group together and outlast the vampires and the night.

Another interesting distinction of the film is its themes about family and unintended consequences. Those are not common vampire genre themes. Eben’s family is all over the story. His younger brother and grandmother both assist with things at the police station, while Stella, his estranged wife is forced upon him in this time of crisis. He is protective of them all, and at no point holds any grudge against Stella, as other films might have done. When she volunteers to do something or has an idea, he still listens to her, regardless of whatever drew them apart. Eben is also very protective of Jake. He was impressed at his brother’s performance against the little vampire girl at the grocery store, but also notes the stress that killing a little girl caused Jake. He makes it clear that Jake should not kill any more vampires, due to the emotional toll it causes. Eben shoulders that burden himself. He also grieves for Billy’s family who were shot in advance by the deputy before they could be killed or turned. Eben is almost angry with his partner, telling him you don’t ever hurt your family. Finally Carter’s heart wrenching admission that his family has been dead for a while and that he’s been lying to the town about returning to see them. He admits that he can’t live forever as an immortal creature, and needs to “be with them.” Again, Eben shoulders the burden of putting the man, and friend, out of his misery. At no point does Eben begrudge any characters their fate, as he shoulders the burdens for the whole town, making the ultimate sacrifice by turning himself into a vampire, knowing he will soon die.

30 Days of Night is not perfect. There are several moments where the action jumps to another scene and it takes a moment to realize that some time has passed. It would have also been nice to get a little more backstory on this group of vampires or the stranger (who fulfills a Renfield type role for the monsters). But that being said, the ending was unexpected, the attacks were frightening–even when you know what is coming, and the characters all have different reasons for liking them. Many of their stories are tragic, and there was no way to focus on everyone, but the stories they tell were all engaging.

Assorted Musings

• The bald headed vampire that Billy throws into the muffin-muncher, is seen a short time later as the vampires gather for the fight between Marlowe and the vamped-up Eben. Presumably this is a continuity error, though with supernatural entities, you never know.
• A direct to video sequel, called 30 Days of Night: Dark Days follows Stella after the events of this film, to Los Angeles where she must again dispatch vampires.