Andrew B. Stehlin in 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2007).
© Columbia Pictures
My Thoughts on 30 DAYS OF NIGHT
By: Kurt AmackerDate: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Last Friday, five years after Sam Raimi’s Ghost House purchased the film rights to Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith’s three-issue IDW miniseries, 30 Days of Night, the movie hit theaters and destroyed its box office competition. With a talented new director in David Slade, early positive buzz, and a shocking early critics’ screening – shocking for a horror movie, these days – it seemed that assured that the film would experience a meteoric rise to the status of horror classic. Having seen the film, I can say that it won’t topple any of the contenders for Best Vampire Movie Ever – Nosferatu, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Near Dark, and a few others among them. But 30 Days of Night is still really f—king good, and I expect that the inevitable sequel will be even better.
Take heed of the inevitable spoiler warning: I aim my comic-to-film reviews at people that have already seen the movie, to spur discussion in the comments section and a possible letters column. Hence, if you want to chime in about 30 Days of Night, feel free to e-mail me at comicscape@mania.com or kurtamacker@yahoo.com. If I get enough mail, I’ll run your letters next week.
For anyone that hasn’t seen the film, but still feels the need to read on, 30 Days of Night tells the story of Barrow, Alaska – the northernmost town in the United States, heavily fictionalized here – where the sun sets for 30 days at a time. A handful of vampires decide that Barrow sounds a lot like Old Country Buffet, where they can eat their fill and burn the town to the ground at the end of the month. I know most people aren’t prone to burning down Old Country Buffet after they eat, but I’ve never been able to help myself. Before arriving, the vampires send a Renfield-like servant (Ben Foster) to burn every cell phone he can find, gut the town’s lone helicopter, kill all of the sled dogs, and otherwise prevent anyone in Barrow from contacting the outside world, much less leave after the last flight of the month departs. Stella Olesan (Melissa George) misses that flight after a car accident. Stella works as a state fire marshal, but used to work for her husband, Sheriff Eben Olesan (Josh Hartnett) as a deputy. The two separated before the film begins, and her arrival and attempted departure create even more friction. But before the pre-divorce fighting can really begin, the two find themselves among the survivors of a devastating vampire attack that quickly decimates most of the town’s remaining populace. After the initial slaughter, the vampires wait in the streets and on the rooftops for survivors to emerge. Eben, Stella, and the handful of remaining survivors hide in an attic for several days before moving through the town for supplies and more secure shelter, with no hope other than to wait for the sun. Ultimately, every minor victory against the vampires means another life sacrificed. Eventually, Eben makes a grave decision to save Stella and the remaining few in their party.
30 Days of Night succeeds more on a technical level than a narrative level, though that works out well enough. The film eschews the Gothic flash of movies like Underworld, Blade II, and The Hunger in favor of a grittier, documentary-like aesthetic more akin to Near Dark, 28 Days Later, or Night of the Living Dead. You won’t pick out your next outfit for the Bauhaus concert from these vampires. As in Niles and Templesmith’s miniseries, these vampires feel more like indifferent consumers whose appetites render them almost more animal than human. They have teeth like piranhas and wantonly tear open the jugulars of every human in their path. They consume human lives like we would slices of pizza or chicken wings – casting aside the remains with nary a thought as to the source or cost of their food. Their attacks prove at once jarring and frustrating – jarring because they often emerge from the shadows with little warning and kill their prey remorselessly; frustrating because the camera shakes so much that, like the fights in Batman Begins, it feels more disorienting than scary. That unflinching documentary approach that serves much of the film so well deters it when Slade indulges in countless shaky quick-cuts that leave the viewer more confused than frightened. But when the camera slows down, the film practically forces the viewer’s face in the violence. And yet, it feels easier to watch than some of the creatively graphic “torture porn” films that have plagued the box office over the past few years. Outside of the very idea of vampires, Slade portrays the violence with unrelenting realism. But rather than shock with demented new ways to kill and torture someone, the violence reminds the viewer of the sick realities of taking human life. And, despite the novelty of making vampires monstrous again, the film really works as an allegory of rampant consumerism and its unseen effects. Everything we buy, own, and eat costs something. In some cases, the costs are inconsequential. In others, the time, money, and human toll expended to give us what we want when we want it are far more devastating. Read as far into that as you like.
As a horror movie, though, 30 Days of Night traffics less in honest scares than a brooding atmosphere, peppered with jump scares and moments of visceral intensity. In that regard, it succeeds more as an exercise in pervasive mood than a horror film. Like Near Dark and Night of the Living Dead, the film never stops to joke or reflect upon itself. From the start, the question remains not how the characters will succeed, but how many will survive and at what cost. I didn’t leave the theater wanting to sleep with the lights on, but I left in a dark mood after having my expectations dreadfully confirmed – that these people were f—ked from the start, and only with greater sacrifice could even a couple of them make it out alive. Like Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down and John McTiernan’s Die Hard, the film ratchets up the tension to the breaking point, taking full advantage of the viewer’s foreknowledge of the premise. You know the vampires are coming, just like you knew that the entire city would rise up in Black Hawk Down and that terrorists would take over Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard. Slade toys with the viewer’s understanding and his characters’ ignorance. You saw the commercial, so you know why the cell phones lie in a charred pit on a hill. You know why someone gutted the helicopter and killed the dogs. But Eben, Stella, John Ikos, and the rest have no idea. The viewer just has to watch them blindly stumble through the clues to a mystery we’ve already solved. Death will soon approach like a wave and engulf Barrow. Like hidden children watching from the closet, we can’t do a thing to help the characters. If you want a happy ending, look elsewhere. Like Sin City, 30 Days of Night revels in its dread mood with no apologies. With Sin City, it was Frank Miller’s over-the-top noir world of comic book physics. With 30 Days of Nights, it’s a despairing, documentary-like approach to a vampire attack that gleefully alludes to the classics that precede it.
I’ve referred to the documentary look of the violence in 30 Days of Night a couple of times already. But, the film’s greatest shortcoming lies in the narrative’s inability to meet that look halfway. In The Blair Witch Project, some of the scariest moments occurred inside the tent with the main characters, as the audience – crammed into the same small space with them – wondered what lurked in the woods outside. 30 Days of Night misses its greatest opportunity by failing to explore the frustration of a small group of people forced to survive in a few small spaces together. Much of the conflict in Night of the Living Dead centered on the Ben and Harry Cooper’s argument over whether to remain in the house or hide in the basement. While the zombies constitute the greatest threat, the group’s infighting and frustration makes their survival that much unlikelier. 30 Days of Night touches on this a few times, particularly when one character’s elderly, senile father insists that he’ll walk to Wainwright – nearly 80 miles away. After the rest of the survivors calm him down, he excuses himself to the restroom and escapes out the window. But outside of that scene and a single, disastrous trip to the general store for supplies, the film rarely contemplates the claustrophobia, irritability, and hunger that would plague a bunch of people living together in an attic. Granted, the film tracks time with screens announcing the day number and male characters’ beard growth. But, the leaps forward in time bear little difference to the days preceding them. Everyone seems about the same. No one bitches about feeling hungry or bored or horny. It could be two days or 200. When the characters finally make their run for the general store and better shelter than the attic, it feels less convincing than it would if we could taste their claustrophobic misery firsthand. The film’s glossing over of the characters’ long periods of confinement stands as a missed opportunity. It’s one that could’ve further contributed to the oppressive atmosphere rendered by the film’s visuals, and makes 30 Days of Night more of a technical achievement than a narrative one.
Most of the cast performs well. Josh Hartnett has taken some flack for his performance as Eben, but it comes across as more understated than bland. If I were a soon-to-be-divorcee living in a freezing town about to go into 30 days of darkness, I’d feel a bit dour too. Melissa George does a pretty nice job as Stella. Fortunately, though she gets her share of licks in, the film never makes her some sort of kick-butt-girl-power cliché. She’s just a pissed-off woman who missed her plane and has to survive alongside her soon-to-be-ex-husband. In relation, the film handles the subtle – and inevitable – reunification between Eben and Stella well. The two clearly should’ve never split at all, and their mutual frustration arises from their reluctance to live apart in the first place. The vampire attack only gives them the excuse they need to reunite, though the film doesn’t burden the viewer with a love story. It happens without words or sex – they just find each other again and stay as close as they can during a tragedy that will – at least in the comics that follow the original series – come to define them as characters.
30 Days of Night stands as a great technical achievement and a promising second film for David Slade. Its mood and atmosphere leaves viewers far more shaken than any of its outright scares. Other than overuse of “shaky cam” during some of the action scenes, it’s a very well constructed film. The narrative begins with the same novel – though, I know, not completely original – premise of the comic and heightens the tension admirably. Only when the film tries to show us the lives of its characters in hiding does it falter, choosing to present a condensed, interchangeable series of days over an agonizing view of confinement. That stands as a missed opportunity that could’ve made a good film an even better one. Regardless, you should see 30 Days of Night. It stands as another successful comic adaptation drawn from a non-superhero source. It’s moody, intense, visceral, and, one hopes, the start of a fantastic series of films.
The Spinner Rack
By Ben Johnson and Kurt Amacker
DARK HORSE COMICS
Bride Of The Water God TP $9.95
Ben: I bet she doesn’t have any problem getting wet! (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist)
Kurt: Clearly, Al Brown has killed Ben Johnson and taken his place.
Chronicles Of Conan Vol 13 Whispering Shadows TP $16.95
Conan And The Midnight God TP $14.95
Criminal Macabre My Demon Baby #2 (Of 4) $2.99
Ben: As any parent can attest, every baby is a Demon Baby.
Fear Agent Last Goodbye #4 $2.99
Serenity HC Those Left Behind $19.95
Ben: The crossover event of the century! What happens when the rapture hits the crew of Serenity? And why are the Reavers all gone? Looks like they were right all along.
Kurt: You’re taking shots at Left Behind? That’s a pretty anemic target. But yeah, I’ve done it too.
Star Wars 30th Anniv Coll Vol 9 HC Boba Fett Death Lies $24.95
Star Wars Dark Times #6 $2.99
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic #21 $2.99
Ben: Congratulations Star Wars, you win. You have outlasted every possible way I could come up with to say you suck. Star Wars 1, Ben 0
Kurt: Dude, I love the Star Wars movies. I mean, I despised Phantom Menace. Return of the Jedi was a toy commercial, with some shining moments. I only kind-of liked Attack of the Clones (just a little). But, Episodes III-V are gold. But, seriously, are they going to be making novels, toys, comics, and video games until I’m f—king dead? I really want to know when it will all end.
DC COMICS
Action Comics #857 $2.99
Authority Prime #1 (Of 6) $2.99
Ben: The Transformers join the Authority.
Kurt: I still haven’t seen Transformers (the movie), nor will I.
Blue Beetle #20 $2.99
Countdown 27 $2.99
Ben: Good news, this is the last week I will ever hate on Countdown… because next week DC changes the title to Countdown to Final Crisis.
Kurt: I suppose I should actually read the last 23 issues so I can do a halfway point column.
Countdown Special The Flash 80-Page Giant $4.99
Ben: I can understand Mary Marvel, but who would want to see Jason Todd naked?
Flash #233 $2.99
Ben: One prime number at a time. We’re going for you next, 239!
Gen 13 #13 $2.99
Ben: How could this not be a special issue?
Gotham Underground #1 (Of 8) $2.99
Ben: We’re in the sewers of Gotham and we seem to have found some… poop, yes it is poop!
Kurt: Dude, has having a kid renewed your love of sh-t jokes or something?
Green Arrow Year One #6 (Of 6) $2.99
Green Lantern #23 2nd Ptg $2.99
Green Lantern Corps #17 $2.99
Ben: I can’t express enough my discontent with DC for hyping Countdown and not this outstanding event. I don’t even like GL and I’m totally hooked.
Hellblazer #237 (MR) $2.99
Jack Of Fables Vol 2 Jack Of Hearts TP (MR) $14.99
JLA Classified #45 $2.99
Ben: With a combined ten trillion issues is there really room for stories we’ve never heard of?
Kurt: Haven’t you heard of Hypertime?
Justice League Elite Vol 2 TP $19.99
Legion Of Super Heroes In The 31st Century #7 $2.25
Loveless #20 (MR) $2.99
Red Menace TP $17.99
Robin #167 $2.99
Scooby Doo #125 $2.25
Ben: Remember that song “Scooby Snacks” by Fun Loving Criminals? It sucked.
Kurt: Remember that Scooby Doo movie? It sucked. It especially sucked because Sugar Ray was in it. It would’ve sucked without them, but it sucked worse for them.
Spirit Vol 1 HC $24.99
Superman #669 $2.99
Superman Batman #41 $2.99
Tales Of The Sinestro Corps Parallax #1 2nd Ptg $2.99
Tales Of The Sinestro Corps Superman Prime #1 $3.99
Ben: As long as he doesn’t start punching people out of continuity again.
Kurt: If I had that ability, I’d start making a list.
Teen Titans #52 $2.99
Ben: This might be the most convoluted plot ever.
Kurt: Worse than The Rann-Thanagar War?
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #2 (Of 8) $2.99
Vs (Versus) Vol 7 $9.99
Wetworks #14 $2.99
Ben: See Bride of the Water God (above).
IMAGE COMICS
Casanova #10 (MR) $1.99
Crawl Space XXXombies #1 $2.99
Ben: Porn is totally getting out of control.
Kurt: Dude, zombie porn is old hat. Where have you been?
Glister #2 $5.99
Ben: It sounds like an STD.
Madame Mirage #3 $2.99
Proof #1 $2.99
Ben: The riveting world of geometry, now in comics.
Kurt: Finally!
PVP #35 (Note Price) $3.50
Velocity Pilot Season #1 $2.99
Kurt: I’d like to point out that seasons are for the weather and television shows.
Walking Dead #43 (MR) $2.99
Ben: If you’re like me (and you might want to kill yourself if you are) you’re looking forward to the gang finally leaving the prison, otherwise known as “Where the Story Went to Die”.
MARVEL COMICS
All New Off HB Marvel Univ A To Z Update #4 $3.99
Annihilation Conquest Wraith #4 (Of 4) $2.99
Avengers Assemble Vol 5 HC $39.99
Black Panther #31 $2.99
Black Panther Four Hard Way TP $13.99
Kurt: I can’t believe Ben (or Al, as I suspect) actually didn’t jump on the obvious sex joke here.
Cable Deadpool #46 $2.99
Cable Deadpool Zombie Var #46 $2.99
Ben: Oh, for F’s sake.
Daredevil #101 $2.99
Kurt: You see, Matt Murdock was pushing an old man out of the way of a chemical truck, when he was splashed in the eyes and…
Foolkiller #1 (Of 5) (MR) $3.99
Ben: It’s beginning to look a lot like the 90’s everywhere I go.
Kurt: That polybagged issue of X-Force #1 will shoot up in value any day now, I just know it!
Legion Of Monsters HC $24.99
Ben: I can hear Kurt’s fangasm from here.
Kurt: I’m going to go clean up.
Magician Apprentice #10 (Of 12) $2.99
Marvel Adventures Iron Man #6 $2.99
Marvel Illustrated Man In The Iron Mask #4 (Of 6) $2.99
Marvel Masterworks Nick Fury Vol 1 HC Var Ed 83 $54.99
Marvel Masterworks Nick Fury Vol 1 New Ed HC $54.99
Kurt: Look, I love Nick Fury. But, I’m not spending $55 on this. Get an Essential volume out, please.
Marvel Spotlight Marvel Zombies $2.99
Kurt: All right, I love Robert Kirkman. I’m sure that Marvel Zombies is really great, though I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. But seriously, Marvel has milked this cow dry. It was cute and quirky the first few times. This is just stupid.
Marvel Zombies Covers HC $19.99
Ben: This is a capital crime.
Moon Knight #13 CWI $3.99
She-Hulk 2 #22 $2.99
She-Hulk Mcguinness Var #22 $2.99
She-Hulk Vol 5 Planet Without A Hulk TP $19.99
Kurt: I think there’d be lower insurance costs and less property damage in a planet without a Hulk.
She-Hulk Zombie Var #22 $2.99
Thunderbolts #117 $2.99
Ultimate Spider-Man #115 $2.99
Ultimate Spider-Man Zombie Var #115 $2.99
Ben: This make me want to take up domestic violence as a hobby.
What If Planet Hulk $3.99
Ben: …actually took advantage of the story telling opportunities available at the beginning of the event?
X-Factor Vol 3 Many Lives Of Madrox TP $14.99
X-Men #204 $2.99
X-Men Die By The Sword #2 (Of 5) $2.99
X-Men First Class Vol 2 #5 $2.99
Ben: But they always make Nightcrawler sit coach.
Kurt: Usually next to a screaming baby.
