A decent premise ruined by a weak script and acting

Rating: 5/10 (26 February 2010)

Barrow, Alaska is one of the most northerly town in America, and in the middle of winter the town suffers from Polar Night, a month of darkness. Often most people leave the town and only a few diehards stay for the period. They is no way of leaving the town. On the last day of daylight the local sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) has to investigate some unusual crimes, including stolen mobile phones being burned and all the town sledge dogs being killed. Everything becomes clear when a group of vampires led by Marlowe (Danny Huston) and use the darkness as a chance for a feeding frenzy. A group of surviving, including Eben, his younger brother Jake (Mark Rendall) and estranged wife Stella (Melissa George) have to hide and survive the hunting vampires.
The premise for the film is good for a vampire film, a group of sadistic vampire isolate a small town and because of the polar night can do whatever their want. There are interesting ideas, like the survivors hiding like Anne Frank and her family, and the vampires avoid turning people by cutting off their heads. This are tough vampires with speed and strength and their own weakness is sunlight. The only other way to kill a vampire is cutting off their heads. But all these themes are no enough to save the film. Their is a weak script, with poor dialogue, lacking wit or realism. There is little character development, and many elements felt forced: like Eben's asthma and his relationship with Stella. People do also act stupid in a unrealistic fashion.
The other main problem is the cast. Only Danny Huston comes off as a interesting character, as a sadistic vampire willing to use violence and basically a tough mother. But the rest are just a bunch of bland actors. Josh Hartnett is a really boring actor and seems too young to be a sheriff and too much of a pretty boy for this type of role. The only role he has been good in was as The Man in Sin City. Ben Foster is another boring actor in the film and lacked the skill generally to be an actor. Melissa George is easy on the eye and generally a better actor to most of the cast, but she too was miscasted and unbelievable as a Fire Marshall for the area. The casting was poor for the film.
David Slade in my opinion is a fairly overrated director. His first film Hard Candy was overrated, with a lot of music video style camera tricks, and in 30 Days of Night there is no special shots, except for an aerial shot of the vampires attacking the towns people.
There is a good level of gore to keep die-hard horror fans happy, but for the rest of us you don't need to knock yourself out for this film.