Starring:Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Mark Boone Jr., Mark Rendall
Director:
David Slade (Hard Candy)
MPAA Rating:
R for strong horror violence and language.
Release Date:
October 2007
Synopsis:
When a month-long darkness sets in on the tiny Alaskan town of Barrow, the locals are visited by a flock of bloodthirsty vampires eager to take advantage of the no-sun zone. The town sheriff Eben Oleson and his deputy and wife, Stella, must act fast to save the dark day. Based on a popular horror comic by Steve Niles.
My Two Cents:
A different approach at horror vampire movies, but somewhere along the line the fear and excitement is traded for monotony and dullness. It starts great, with a small Alaskan town that goes a full month without sunlight. The town’s population of less than 600 people gets cut to less than 200 during this harsh month, and on top of that, some vandals have been pulling off odd stunts like burning cell phones, cutting electrical cords, and murdering guard dogs.
Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) must solve the mystery surrounding the town’s acts of vandalism. Along with his wife and a few others, they must stay hidden until they figure out what exactly is going on. It turns out a group of vampires is the cause of their troubles, and with no sun coming for a month they’re pretty much screwed. The vampires are wingless, but have inhuman strength, agility and endurance. They can either eat you or turn you into one of them. So this can be seen as a zombie movie, I guess. They speak in a weird language and hiss a lot.
Most of the movie is spent in dark attics or other boring sections of houses. For long periods of time there’s nothing going on. The characters are not that interesting because they are not developed, so you don’t really care if they get eaten or not. The vampires have no personality so you don’t care about them either. I did hate their leader, a middle aged guy that is in desperate need of a bib, and his bitch was annoying as hell. The ending was also lame, with a ridiculous fist fight between Eben and the vampire boss.
Most people who’ve seen the movie seem to like it, but I don’t know why. It’s watchable and mildly entertaining, but not as scary or suspenseful as I had hoped. If you leave logic out then it might seem cooler, but even then there’s no way a small group of ordinary townies could survive for 30 days with no electricity, very little food, and a hungry pack of vicious vampires outside the window.
Score:
