30 Days of Night (15)
Dir. David Slade
Reviewed by Matt Adcock
‘Board the windows. Try to hide. They're coming…’ No, not the in-laws – something much, much worse…
30 Days of Night brings a brutally effective new imagining of the vampire myth and the very bad news for the plucky potential victims here is that when the sun goes down in Barrow (the most northernmost town in the US) it’s a whole month before the next dawn.
Based on the groundbreaking graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, David ‘Hard Candy’ Slade’s film adaptation is a turbo charged kill ride that will drag you kicking and screaming through a very tense couple of hours.
The vampires on offer here are pure modern nightmares made flesh - black eyed, multiple toothed, and with a fiendish plan so cleverly co-ordinated that, whatever their star status, there’s no guarantee that any of the cast will make to see the final credits roll.
Danny Huston is excellent as Marlow – the merciless ancient vampire leader who speaks in a language of corruption and who is responsible for the plan to take advantage of Barrow’s unique 30 days of darkness. It basically represents an ‘all you can eat buffet’ for the vampire clan who plan to wipe out the entire township and leave nothing and no-one standing to explain what happened.
The hopes of the ever-dwindling group of survivors lie with town sheriff Josh Hartnett who finds himself in this most desperate of situations, trapped with his estranged ex-wife Stella (Melissa George), up against foes that doesn’t abide by any of the usual vampire conventions. So throw out your garlic, crosses and any holy water – these blood hungry enemies can only be killed by decapitation, cue very graphic scenes including possibly the best ever use of a massive chainsaw like trench digger!?
So it’s not for the squeamish or those who flinch at the sight of blood, in fact there is an aerial tracking shot of the snowbound town being completely overrun that is liable to stay with you long after the nerve shredding action has wrapped.
Ben ‘Alpha Dog’ Foster also delivers a stand out performance as a weasel faced human who yearns to be a vampire and sells out his fellow men by doing lots of dirty work for his bloodsucking masters.30 Days of Night is a welcome injection of fresh new blood into the vampire genre and certainly one of the best monster movies of the year.
Out of 5 you have to go with a top draw 4 (thrilling and cool - a savoury treat)...
Darkmatters ratings:
Action öööö – bloody good show...
Laughs öö – not really a laughathon
Horror öööö –pushes the boundaries of a 15 cert
Babes ööö – Melissa George is a babe for sure
Overall öööö (excellent fangster fun for horrorheads)
"Cool artwork - a ready made screen look from the graphic novel"
Darkmatters: H O M E
No comments:
Post a Comment