Amazingly Restrained Intelligent Horror

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2015)

What are the ingredients of good horror? A small, contained location and group of people. A situation that forces and magnifies events. A terrifying protagonist. Characters you care about. Authenticity. This movie has all of this in spades. The location is a tiny settlement in the Arctic Circle the day the sun disappears for 30 days during the polar winter. During these 30 days nothing comes in or out of the town. You miss the last plane out? You're staying. The protagonists are vampires, but, trust me, these guys don't do glitter. They are demonic and truly evil, and yet they have emotional depth as well. The characters in the movie are realistic--hard people shaped by their environment--and I wanted them to all pull through. Besides all this you have amazing authenticity to the location. The exterior shooting in the endless darkness is incredible. The sense of claustrophobia and fear that builds up will leave you breathless. Don't worry if you don't get what's happening for a while. It's designed to be like that, as though you are part of this thing that is happening. There are no spoilers in real life, and the characters have no idea what's about to hit them as minor, but horrible, occurrences start to build into a pattern. Just watch from the first enigmatic frame to the last and enjoy.