30 Days Of Night [Blu-ray]

Just a couple Natives in Barrow? (2008-08-15) Rating: 2/5
I read a synopsis of the movie plot some weeks before I saw the movie. I immediately laughed at the movie as silly, and was not disappointed upon watching it.

What made me laugh is when the synopsis stated that the Natives migrated South for the winter. Being an Alaska Native myself, I was incredulous at the silly plot gimmick. I mean really. Does the writer think of the Natives as if they were like the caribou that migrate in winter? I am still laughing about that.

There were other silly things in the movie that made it obvious that no one connected with the move ever set foot in Alaska, let alone Barrow. My home town is a couple hundred miles Southwest of Barrow, so I know Alaska weather, and am familiar at least with pictures of Barrow. I also have relatives from there.

They had the temperature at 10 below 0 in December, heh. Try 40 below with 40 knot winds at that time of year. Skin would freeze in seconds. The vampires must have had Prestone for blood. The movie town was also tiny compared to the real thing.

I realize most people won't care, but couldn't we at least not have factual and racist misinformation while we make a movie? It would have taken just a few minutes research to get the facts right. Otherwise, the action was mostly scary and gruesome, if predictable.
30 Minutes of Night (2008-08-13) Rating: 3/5
Ok I'm not one of these cats who has only seen the movie,
but has never even so much as heard of the writer or the source material.
I'm a graphic novel/comic book junkie,
so I can tell you without a shred of doubt,
that this movie was missing something;
something I couldn't quite put my finger on at first.
That was until my wife pointed it out to me ........
You never got the impression that these people were trapped for any length of time.
Everywhere they hid, it felt like they were there for mere minutes, not days.
It lacked that utterly "trapped feeling" that most zombie films so accurately portray.
It never felt like they were cut-off from civilization for 30 days,
It felt more like 2 or 3 days tops.
There was never any sense of dread or despair,
something that should have been paramount in this kind of flick,
something that a movie like "The Mist" depicted perfectly.
The pandemonium in the streets should have been an integral part of the film as well,
the creme de la creme,
and yet it was glossed over, and reduced to a momentary overhead shot.
Individual struggles against the vampires would have been a necessary addition too,
especially to invoke a personal sense of horror.
Sadly there were very few, if any of these.
There also should have been a heavier emphasis on the "silence factor"
(The vampires have accute hearing,
so the survivors had to keep perfectly still & silent in the graphic novels)
Instead of taking all this into consideration,
the director & the special effects team opted to waaay over-use the Raimi pulley technique.
Something that became tired very early on in the film.
(I don't think vampires are going to drag EVERYBODY by their legs)
The deaths-scenes also left much to be desired.
The vampire were savage,
so the death scenes should have matched that savagery pound for pound.
Alot more throat tearing would have been in order.
The films only saving grace,was the multiple-chop decapitation performed by Josh Hartnet.
This flick honestly needed another half hour to heighten the tension.
The lack of dread, horror, fear, and despair is what ultimately killed this movie.
So as per my wife, I dub this film, "30 Minutes of Night"

**NOTE**
In most cases the movie is never as good as the material it's trying to replicate.
That's not the case here though.
The graphic novel was equally as disappointing,
but then again, I say that only because the story felt VERY rushed,
& the art was god-awful.
As the series continued, it got better, the story I mean...not the art.
There WAS an entire segment of the graphic novel however, that the movie shrugged off.
But in retrospect it was probably alot better off without it.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Monster have to eat too

Doesn't make me want to go to Alaska (2008-08-11) Rating: 2/5
I admit I thought this movie was going to be a really great horror story when I picked it up. I was thinking what a terrifying idea it was, a place like Alaska, one of the few places on Earth where there would literally be 30 days of night. There's no where to hide from a vampire!

However, this movie failed to pick up steam. We have the standard subplot with the police force who are estranged and headed for divorce court. The town is shutting down as they are prepping for their 30 days of night, something unique to the residents of Alaska. But ... it just didn't fly. Instead it turned depressing real quick.
30 days of night (2008-08-06) Rating: 5/5
I got the product at a great price and it was in great condition! I will for sure buy from this company again
What a waste of time! (2008-08-05) Rating: 1/5
What a silly, gory, crappy little movie! A total waste of talent. I thought it was a good concept- vampires descend upon a town that has 30 days of no sun. I thought it would be at least a little scary, a little suspenseful, at the very least, a little entertaining. But it was mostly just "run, hide, get eaten in goriest fashion possible, run hide, get eaten in even gorier fashion, repeat many times for 1.5 hours, crappy ending, fade to black with claw marks across the screen." Could have been a lot better if they didn't spend their entire budget on fake blood. Where was the character development? I didn't care about any of those people because I didn't know anything about them. At one point, a guy does something to his family that should have been shocking and disturbing, if I had even known he had a family other than having them mentioned in a brief, casual conversation. This movie did nothing for me at all. I suppose if you like just watching people get torn apart, you'll love this movie. I'm not really into the whole plotless gore-fest genre that seems to be so popular these days though. Gore with a point is fine, pointless gore in a movie with a plot is okay. Gore and no plot is a waste of time.