Unique vampire flick with fast paced, compact story line.

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2007)

Just saw this one last night in Castle Rock, CO. They cranked down the heat in the theater so it made the scenes of the arctic wasteland of northern Alaska even more bone-chilling. Compared to most horror movies today, this one has a more direct, old-school horror/drama feel. The acting is on par for this genre, although the female lead is a bit weak. It takes the viewer a good 20 minutes to really put together what's happening, but then builds to a continuously suspenseful, nearly 2 hour long movie. Minimal use of CGI with an even mix of on and off screen slasher scenes keep you toes curled. It's spine-tingling once you put together how the vampires actually get to this isolated region and how they move from one locale to another. The ending doesn't disappoint and leaves room for a sequel, but not blatantly. The only thing that disappoints is that the camera spends too much time on the vampires for the movie's own good. Collectively they can look like a crowd swept from the floor of an Eastern European disco at 3am after a hard night of Euro-trash style partying. Even in this movie, less would have made it better. Overall, the smooth, compact story line makes up for some cinematographic short-comings.