What 300 was to action this is to horror

Rating: 6/10 (29 October 2007)

To understand my analogy you have to understand first what 300 was to action movies. It was beautiful to look at if relatively comic bookish, full of action, some powerful moments, but overall a relatively nonexistent storyline and minimal character development. 30 Days of Night is much the same animal.
The directing is nice. There are some great shots, some really intense sequences, and minimal cheesy horror clichés. The whole film has a bit of an overproduced feel, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's very much like 300 or Sin City in that respect. It feels and looks very much like an action/horror comic book.
I went into the movie without any real expectations and when I came out I didn't exactly feel let down, but I didn't feel like I had just watched something very great either. The most I could give an honest inquirer would be a big shrug. It was kind of a mix between 300 and Dawn of the Dead, 300 because of the overproduced comic-book atmosphere and the lack of a moving plot, and Dawn of the Dead because of the dark content and the gore.
I can't help but feel like something is missing from this movie to make it really great, and I now believe that quality is realism. It all felt a bit like a long Spawn cartoon or something of the like. It was fun to watch and it looked nice, but it just didn't resonate. Perhaps that was the lack of character development, but to be fair, there are some really cool moments in the movie and I do recommend seeing it in theaters if you can so you can judge for yourself.
If you like horror movies, check this one out, maybe you'll feel like they got it exactly right.