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• 30 Days of Night

30 Days of Night was originally a three part horror comic, but has since led to other mini-series type stories. Make sure to checkout this and other independent books from IDW Publishing.

Melissa George arrives at the premiere of "30 Days of Night" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007. (Chris Carlson for The Star)

30 Days of Night, which was originally a three part horror comic written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Ben Templesmith, is a movie that had so much potential that the actual film couldn't possibly live up to my expectations.

The story is set in Barrow, Alaska. It is in the extreme north where the sun doesn't rise for a whole month. It doesn't take a genious to see that this was one of the best potential settings for a vampire movie ever. Imagine it, a whole month where vamps can attack 24 hours a day.

I think there are a couple of things about this film that left me disappointed. The first is their choice of Josh Hartnett as the lead, Eben Olesen. I know that Hartnett has a lot of fans out there, but I wouldn't even think he could sell me a used car, let alone make a really believable performance. There are a couple of films that I liked him in, such as Virgin Suicides, but most of the time he only gets work because the ladies find him "dreamy."

The second thing about this movie that bothered me was the tempo of the story. The speed of onslought meant that there wasn't much time to develop characters or build suspense, although the movie ends up highly suspensful. The story seems to zoom along, glazing over scenes and instances that could have real horror intensity and then slowing down at pointless intersections. There are also points where they fade out to return to 18 days later. I remember thinking, "ok, drastic?"

The one redeemer, and the thing they got right from the comic, is the nature of the vampires. These are the most scary vamps in recent film history. Rather than sleek, almost fop-ish metrosexuals, these vampires are blood thirsty animalistic blood-gluttons. They rip people apart, stalk prey and play with their dead. In a way they are a sort of vampire meets zombie creature. They are definitely the scariest vampires in a good long while. There's even a creepy child vampire which is always a good time.

All and all this is worth a watch, but I reccomend the comic book more than the film (I usually do).

Click here to watch the 30 Days of Night Trailer

For those of you who have seen the film, I have included a picture of Melissa George, the lovely vixen of the film, because you never see more than a face behind a fluffy hat and big coat.