Barrow, the northernmost town of the U.S. in the Arctic Circle.  “Vampires should have come here a long time ago”, the vampire lead (Danny Huston) says as they descend into 30 DAYS OF NIGHT for a feast on blood with no sunlight to stop them.  Based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles, who also co-wrote the script, the film centres on Barrow’s sheriff, Eben (Josh Hartnett) and his estranged wife (Melissa George).  Eben saves the town – or what is left of it – and his marriage.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT dispenses a strong narrative with consequences.  It rightly delves into the vampire genre with a loose plot.  Vampire film audiences generally want gore and violence and little story.  Still, it is expected for the film to hold together.  The script required characters to appear or disappear out of nowhere with rash explanations offered.  An example is gramps who suddenly escapes from the safe house with nothing ever heard from him since or the transformed girl who suddenly appears.  Odd though is that director Slade is persistent in continuity.  Hartnett’s facial growth is proportional to the days gone without light.

As far as vampire films go, 30 DAYS has the most nightmarish feel of them all.  Director Slade takes the full first half of 30 DAYS to set up the mood, atmosphere for the film.  It is the start of 30 days and nights of darkness.  The residents are preparing for the cold as the undead are getting ready for a feasting massacre.  Something is fishy in the town.  Cell phones are destroyed, sleigh dogs are slaughtered and electricity cut.  These devices are perfect in the setting up of a scary scenario.  The writers go so far as to have the vampires have their own language and code of misconduct.  But best are the action sequences that would leave many at the edge of their seats.  Humour is present but restrained.  Hartnett is excellent in his role of husband and elder brother but Danny Huston (best remembered as the psycho in THE PROPOSITION) is largely wasted as the lead vampire.

But the trouble is that once revealed to be a vampire film, 30 DAYS degenerates into typical predictable vampire territory.  It is a small handful trying to escape the vampires.  Though the setting and atmosphere might be varied, the audience cannot help it but feel that all this has been seen before.  Still, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT is still cream above the top.