Good Concept, Decent Storytelling

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2007)

This is the story of an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into darkness for a month each year when the sun sinks below the horizon. As the last rays of light fade, the town is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires bent on an uninterrupted orgy of destruction. Only the small town's husband-and-wife Sheriff team stand between the survivors and certain destruction.
No, I'm not a fan of the comic book(s) and yes, I'm a fan of David Slade's previous movie, "Hard Candy". So was this a film as good as "Hard Candy"? Certainly not. But this film is better than most movies with this genre (AKA vampire movies).
What I think might disappoint fans is the slow beginning.Like usual horror movies, there always come a bloody prologue resulting to kills and gore. Well, this one does not. Instead, literally nothing happens in about 40 minutes, if you exclude the random scenes of animal and human kills.
I like the set up and the slow beginning obviously wants you to get to know the characters but what you get is no less than other horror movies that start off the violence right away. So yes, I think that might disappoint horror fans out there.
What's after that is your usual bloody kills, chases with the shaky cam, and some decent plot themes. What I like most from the movie is the cinematography and the look/effects of the film. This film looks beautiful. It makes Alaska look beautiful.
What I also like are the scenes that had some tension. There are little but that's better than most horror movies I've seen because I seem to never get scared of anything. The performances by the actors/actresses are decent but nothing special.
What I find annoying is that the movie takes place over 30 days, or nights. So if you're watching the film and when 40 minutes passed with "Day 7" on the bottom of the screen, it will mostly cause you to make a huge sigh. When another 30 minutes pass and says "Day 17" on the bottom screen, you might look at your watch. Yes, these things annoy me because it makes the movie feel slow. Just to remind you, this is about two hours long. Maybe they should've gone with "12 Hours of Night"? Yes, there is lots of blood. Yes, the violence is relentless (some kills are off screen, though). And yes, the ending is so similar to one other vampire movie that I will not say, which is encouraging and depressing, I suppose. Horror fans might be disappointed with the slow beginning but will love the remaining parts of the movie. I just thought it was your above-average vampire movie, which doesn't mean that much.