30 Days of Night (2007)

Elevator Pitch

Barrow, Alaska is the most northen city in the United States and for 30 days in mid winter the sun never rises above the horizon. During this period many of the townsfolk emigrate to sunnier places, but a few people remain, including the sheriff and his estranged wife. As darkness is falling a lone man arrives in the town apparently from a shadowy vessel stuck out there in the ice, and subsequently all the dogs are killed and the communication systems destroyed. Then in the night the town is taken over by a group of vampires who gradually pick off the population. Will anyone survive?

Content

The people in the town are attacked by menacing vampires who have dark eyes, and mouthfulls of very pointy teeth. There is a lot of blood in the snow. The sheriff has occasional battles with them, some of whom are his former friends, using his handgun, and a big axe. The town has a bio facility for creating heat with a big grinder in it. We will see more of that. Mostly the survivors hide in an attic and the vampires hunt them, with varying degrees of success. There is a lot of violence and bloodshed, just a bit of drinking and no sex or nudity.

A View

If you like to see people (or vampires) being dismembered in a variety of ways, spraying blood every whichway then this could be for you. It is an unusual view of the vampire trope, instead of being sleek and attractive they are groteque and mostly stand about in the snow covered in blood. I found myself worrying about them a bit. They are not having any fun. There is not really much tension, except when the vampires send out decoys to attract the humans, but more blood and gore than I like. If this review does not put you off it could be for you.