30 Days of Night, based on the graphic novel series by Steve Niles, Matt Fraction, and Dan Wickline, is directed by David Slade (Hard Candy.) The film version stars Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbor), Ben Foster (3:10 To Yuma), Melissa George (Turistas), and Danny Huston (The Kingdom.) Alaska has just entered a lengthy, annual period in which it must endure 30 days without daylight. And once the lengthy nightfall overtakes the city, vampire attacks begin, with the citizens who didn't evacuate being stranded. The town is sabotaged against defense and other means of safety, forcing the citizens to fend for themselves against this newfound evil. ***

Yawn. Another day, another unoriginal horror film. Dragging on for nearly two hours, 30 Days Of Night brings nothing new to the genre, serving up endless amounts of gore with little depth or substance. Lacking the depth and the overall appeal of the source material, it comes off as a very weak film. There are some cool-looking action scenes here, but they can't hide what this movie really is. ***

I'm not sure what director David Slade hoped to accomplish with his film port of this series, but he doesn't really succeed anywhere. The humans in the story are generic stereotypes - as they die, we just don't care, since we never get to bond with them - or for that matter, even want to. He makes the villainous vampires far more interesting characters than the legions of stranded humans. I'm not sure if he wanted me rooting for good or evil, but the evil characters here were the interesting ones. Additionally, Slade seems to have a philosophy that more gore equals a better movie. In other words, this movie is a bloodbath. Definitely the most violent film I've seen in the last few years, and further proof that the MPAA will never give the NC-17 rating for violence alone (the film is rated R.) Don't see this movie if it's a romantic vampire film you want. ***

This is another one of those movies that assembles a talented cast, but due to weak direction and writing, none of them are given a chance to shine. The entire cast of human characters is uninteresting, no matter how good the actors playing them may be. In the film, the best performance comes from 3:10 To Yuma's Ben Foster, playing an eccentric who could very well be responsible for bringing on the conflict at hand. But sadly, as a whole, this movie's characters just feel stale, which is disappointing when you consider the quality of the source material. ***

If you're curious about this series, take my advice - pass the film by, and go read the source graphic novels. They'll let you experience the story the way it was meant to be, without the problems of the lackluster film version. You might enjoy the film if you're a die-hard fan of gore and vampires, but even if you fall into that camp, there are more fulfilling films out there. ---

Image And Sound:

As a recent film, the transfer to DVD fares very well. Despite a lot of the scenes being set in night and dark places, there is never excessive grain or any other major picture problems. Audio is loud and clear, and sounds terrific throughout the entire movie.

As far as bonus material on the disc goes, the good majority of it is devoted to a multi-part behind-the-scenes featurette. Unless you're a die-hard fan of the movie, watching this stuff will probably get boring quickly. I found it interesting for a little while, but didn't quite make it all the way to the end. A commentary for the movie is also included, but like the behind-the-scenes stuff, isn't really worth checking out unless you loved the movie. The final extra is an episode of the Japanese anime series Blood +. Disappointingly, it's the English-language dub only, with no option for the original Japanese voices with English subtitles. It should have been omitted in favor of some more relevant extras. For instance, why no graphic novels scans or art gallery?

Final Words: