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It might not be wise to watch 30 Days of Night in the middle of a blizzard on a dark and dreary winter night—but that’s exactly what I did. Maybe that’s why my heart started pounding as soon as I was transported into the dark and snowy town of Barrow, long before the real action even began. Or maybe it’s just because the atmosphere of the movie is so dismal and heavy that it filled me with a sense of foreboding right from the start.
In this dark and dismal vampire flick, Josh Hartnett stars as Eben Oleson, sheriff of Barrow, the northernmost point in the US. As the town prepares for its annual 30 days of non-stop darkness, reports of all kinds of unusual crimes start coming in. A bunch of cell phones are stolen and burned. The town’s sled dogs are killed. Then a mysterious stranger (Ben Foster) appears out of nowhere and starts talking about death and destruction.
Once the last plane has left Barrow and the town is plunged into a month of darkness, the horror begins—and the last remaining residents of Barrow find themselves alone in the dark with a band of bloodthirsty vampires, who ravage the town, feasting on its inhabitants one by one. A few manage to escape, but with no way out of town, their only hope is to hide out until the sun rises again.
Based on the graphic novels by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, 30 Days of Night isn’t your typical modern horror movie. It’s not an hour and a half of chainsaws and gore. It’s not filled with cheap scares (though there may be one or two). And it doesn’t fit into the usual horror formulas. So if you like your horror movies bloody and brainless, it’s best to look elsewhere. Because it’s not the violence that makes 30 Days so horrifying; it’s the fear of what’s coming. It isn’t a fast and furious gore-fest; it’s a slow and suspenseful thriller that taunts its audience with an unseen horror that could be lurking anywhere. It’s the atmosphere that makes the movie what it is. The constant darkness makes it almost claustrophobic, and the snowy surroundings make it all the more chilling. And while much of the vampire action takes place off-screen, you’ll feel their presence throughout the movie—though those background shrieks, the faraway gunshots, and eerie feeling that someone’s always watching.
Though Hartnett gives his usual flat and expressionless performance, you’ll barely notice—because his character is the least of your concerns. What stands out about this haunting movie is the evil: the blood-dripping vampires and the crazed stranger who predicts their coming.
It’s definitely not the best thing to watch when you’re home alone on a dark winter night, but 30 Days of Night is a chilling thriller that you won’t soon forget.
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