30 Days of Night: Review By The Lost Girl

Oct 22nd, 2008 by The Lost Girl
Now what's wrong with a man wantin' a little fresh meat?
  • OVERALL
    4.5
    SUPERB
  • Story
  • Acting
  • Directing
  • Visuals
As the Lost Girl, I obviously love vampire movies (along with fellow moviewebber friend, Vamp). So I thought I better get some reviews up for my favorite vampire flicks.

The movie starts right up, meaning it does not have an opening scene, followed by opening credits. It just gets right into the story, which I like, and keeps me interested from the get go. We see a "Stranger", played by Ben Foster (The Punisher) looking out toward the ocean, where there is a huge ship lurking. Although we can tell this is computer generated, the visual effect is still striking. You can almost feel the cold.

Josh Hartnett (Lucky Number Slevin) plays Sheriff Eben Oleson, in a small Alaskan town called Barrow. The town itself, population 563, is getting ready to bunker down and prepare for the annual 30 days of no sun. Out of 563 residents, only 152 opt to stay. The rest leave for the month. One of the remaining is Stella, a Fire Inspector (Melissa George; Turistas). She and Eben (Hartnett) play an estranged married couple. She gets in a minor car accident on the way to the airport and ends up stranded, much to her dismay.

Eben (Hartnett) finds things going amiss during the last hour of sun. He first finds a burning pile of cell phones, and later gets a call regarding injured huskys. He begins to worry. Little does he know that the town is about to be turned upside down by, guess what, vampires!

The way the writer set this story up separates it from other vampire movies. It's a perfect recipe for mayhem. We have 30 days of no sun and the vampires can roam free 24/7. Communication has been cut off, including computers and electricity, making it virtually impossible for the remaining residents to get help. Add to that white snow, red blood - lots of it, and violence.

This is not your traditional vampire movie, as in Interview with the Vampire or Queen of the Damned. The vampires have their own language, they look almost deformed with their eyes set far apart, and not only do they have fangs, but all their teeth are razor sharp. Still, it works.

Also included in the movie we get to follow the relationship between Eben and Stella, who of course, realize during the chaos that they truly love each other. Whether or not either of them make it out alive, well, you have to watch the movie and see!

The director, David Slade, I am not familiar with, but he did a fantastic job. The visuals were amazing. We believe the actors are outside. We believe they are cold, and their breath looks real, not digitally added in. Some of the aerial shots are breathtaking, and the camera angles during the fight scenes were quick and gritty, but not so much that you cannot tell what's going on. A perfect mix to make a nearly perfect film.

If you have yet to see this, I highly recommend that you give it a try. It is definitely worth a watch.

Do you like this review?

Comments (22)

  1. MovieNerd

    Great review. I have seen this but didn't like it as much as you. It was probably about 3 or 3.5 stars for me.

    4 years agoby @nickoFlag

  2. The Lost Girl

    Thanks for letting me know about parts 2 and 3 BlizZz. I'll keep an eye out for it. And Vamp - thanks for the compliments, comments, and tv show info. - I always enjoy it when you comment on my reviews!

    4 years agoby @trinity7694Flag

  3. BlizZzario, Bizniches

    Thats right you did my mistake, it most have been some else, I retract my statement earlier posted to you

    4 years agoby @blizzzardFlag

  4. Vamp

    What do you mean? I saw this before you wrote that list.

    4 years agoby @vampire2000Flag

  5. BlizZzario, Bizniches

    Yes there will be a part 2, and 3, but completely different, if it goes by the comic books,

    and V2k I remeber a ceertian list that had that on it, not that it matters, at least you finally saw it

    4 years agoby @blizzzardFlag

  6. Vamp

    Great review Lost Girl!!!!! Thanks for mentioning me in it, too. LOLZ!!!!! I really enjoyed this movie a lot, and like everyone else, liked the new beastly way in which the Vampires were portrayed. However, UNLIKE everyone else, I liked the ending, and love it when movies end in a depressing and sad note, like "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is my ALL TIME FAVORITE MOVIE, and that's ending wasn't very traditional and happy. I loved "Stephen King's The Mist" as well, and that wasn't happy either. So the way this ended was surprising, and I wasn't expecting it to be honest. It was a pleasant surprise.

    Oh, and they've got a TV show based from the Movie. I don't know when they're going to air it, or what channel it'll be on. But I know that they're making it if that helps. lolz.

    Great review again, Lost Girl, and sorry this took so long!!!!!

    4 years agoby @vampire2000Flag

  7. The Lost Girl

    Thanks BlizZz - question tho - there's going to be a part 2???

    4 years agoby @trinity7694Flag

  8. The Dark Knight

    your welcome lol

    4 years agoby @thedarkknight23Flag

  9. BlizZzario, Bizniches

    I'm a big vampire sub-genre buff too, although I perfer zombies and werewolves a little more, i sitll love the genre

    I concur with good review, and I'm not sure but I think there speaking some form of Latveian, Romainian, or Latin, but I could be wrong, I really liked this adaptation of vampires, their less alluring and more beast like, plus it looks like a moving comic book, an excellent movie, can't wait for part two,

    BlizZzard

    4 years agoby @blizzzardFlag

  10. MovieBuff

    Good review. I saw this one at the theater and left disappointed with the ending. Without giving anything away, it was not a happy ending.... and that is what people like. I think this is the reason some movie don't do well at the box office. You can have a good movie, but if you allow the audience to leave with a bad taste, the word of mouth will kill the movie.

    "The Mist" is a great example. Though it was gutsy for the director to end that movie like that, the audience left the theater with "That sucked" in their mind. Shocking, but disappointing. Then they go and tell everyone that the film sucked. Same with this one.

    I enjoyed the movie, but the ending was a killer for me. How would I have ended it? Well, if i type it on this comment, it'll spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it.

    Great review Lost Girl.

    4 years agoby @moviebuff123Flag

  11. The Lost Girl

    Thanks tdk, and jr!

    4 years agoby @trinity7694Flag

  12. JR

    good review...loved this movie even though it is showing that my species is cruel, when we are nice! lol

    4 years agoby @jokerrules33Flag

  13. The CryptKeeper

    too late, TDK lol

    4 years agoby @catwomanFlag

  14. The Dark Knight

    good review

    4 years agoby @thedarkknight23Flag

  15. The CryptKeeper

    ya. best vampire movie ever

    4 years agoby @catwomanFlag

  16. Soylent Green:The Devil's Eyes

    Great eview for one of the best vampire films.

    4 years agoby @jcisawesomeFlag

  17. Moviemaster75

    my fav vampire movie

    4 years agoby @moviemaster75Flag

  18. RavenX5 God of Light

    great review,Lost Girl,David Slader is a director who made a film called Hard Candy

    4 years agoby @hackx9Flag

  19. The Lost Girl

    Thanks phat. I agree on the ending. A bit of a let down, and yes, as crypt says - any ideas on what could have made it better?

    4 years agoby @trinity7694Flag

  20. The CryptKeeper

    I liked the ending. I thought it was about the only waycthey could end it. Do you have any ideas, Phat?

    4 years agoby @catwomanFlag

  21. Phatlightning

    I enjoyed this movie thoroughly.. except for the ending.. could have been a little better?

    good review.

    4 years agoby @sxers2k1Flag

  22. XJWS79

    This by far is one of my favorite vampire movies of all time. Something about it just strikes me the right way, it was well done for being based of the Graphic Novel. Which sometimes comics to movies don't always turn out great.

    4 years agoby @xjws79Flag