Vampires with a difference

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2019)

As Barrow, the most northerly city in Alaska, prepares for the heart of midwinter when the sun won't rise for thirty days something strange is going on. Somebody has stolen and destroyed all the cell phones, killed the sled dogs and sabotaged the only helicopter. Then a stranger turns up and is arrested; he tells his captors that none of them will survive what is coming! Soon after the attacks start; most of the townspeople are lost but a handful, including the sheriff and his estranged wife survive. They don't know if other groups survived but they do know that if they are found they will almost certainly be killed.
It isn't often that a film brings something new to the vampire genre but this does; these aren't the gothic counts seducing their victims or characters with grand plans; they are more like feral beasts giving into wild urges. In many ways this is more like a zombie film as they control the town, feeding on anybody who they catch. Similarly their appearance is scary; most of them have a permanent 'beard of blood' from where they have feasted on their victims. The isolated setting gives a claustrophobic atmosphere; the characters know they can't leave town as the frozen wilderness would kill them as surely as the vampires. As one would expect there are plenty of deaths, both human and vampire, these are varied and occasionally amusing in a dark way... they are also disturbing at times. The cast is solid with Josh Hartnett and Melissa George doing decent jobs as the sheriff and his wife; however Danny Huston impresses most as Marlow, the head vampire. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to this who prefer gory vampires to sparkly ones!