Not what it could have been

Rating: 5/10 (11 November 2007)

Barrow, Alaska. The most Northerly town in the United States. During the longest night of the year (er... that would be the '30 days of night' of the title) a group of vampires descend on the town, feeding on everyone that they can find. A group of people, led by an young sheriff, fight to survive the onslaught. Will these people make it until daybreak? Ah... Well that is the question. You will have to see the movie to find out, won't you?
Frankly, I think the above setup for a horror movie is absolutely fantastic and brilliant and original (until somebody tells me that it has been done before) and I was really looking forward to seeing it. Plenty of scope for an full blooded "Dawn Of The Dead" battle-for-survival-against-incredible-odds, kind of a movie. It is such a shame that the execution of the idea left so much to be desired.
Yes, the vampires are truly fantastic creations. Evil, gross, vicious, animal like mutations. Danny Huston, as their (Hungarian speaking?) almost philosophical leader, is great and made me shiver every time he appeared on screen. There is wonderful cinematography, in the latter stages focusing on the white of the snow and the red of the blood, and some brilliant scene construction, showing at a distance the carnage and mayhem on the ground. But, sadly and possibly inevitably, "30 Days Of Night" commits the cardinal sin of any horror movie. When the monsters' are not on screen, it is really boring and slow.
Maybe it is down to the cast. I don't know. I didn't find them interesting. "Hard Candy" proves that David Slade can direct a pacy, interesting film with a minimal cast, when that cast is good. (That film is practically a two hander throughout.) I must say that even as a longstanding Josh Harnett apologist (I like him, really I do), I felt that his performance this time is particularly vacant and definitely nothing to write home about.
"30 Days Of Night" is not terrible, but it is not what it could have been.