Vampire movies generally suck, especially emotional vampire movies where the leading vampire dude is pale, moans over lost love and gets entangled in a three-way with a human and a werewolf. Its like watching a vampire version of sex and the city, or desperate housewives. The only vampires i personally like are ones with Christopher Lee in it, The Lost Boys, and John Carpenter's Vampires. These vampire movies had A: Vicious, animal-frenzy vampires and B:Kick-ass vampire killers. Which is how it should be. So when a new vampire movie comes up that defies the current trend of sissy vampires, you take notice and appreciate. Cue 30 Days of Night and the direct to video sequel 30 Days of Night: Dark Days.
The Skinny: This is continuation from the first installment, where the surviving wife of the sheriff who died whilst defending his small Alaskan town from decimation from a group of vicious vampires, grabs the opportunity to exact revenge on the head vampire which led to the death of her husband. The synopsis from imdb.com reads:
"It has been a year since the isolated Alaskan town of Barrow's population was decimated by vampires during its annual month long sunset. Riddled with grief over the death of her husband Eben, bound by nightmares and void of all emotions beyond hate and sorrow, Stella Oleson has spent the past months traveling the world, trying to convince others that vampires exist. Met with skepticism and laughter, she is ready to throw in the towel when a group of lost souls offers an incredible opportunity: the chance to exact revenge upon Lilith, the vampire queen responsible for the assault on her sleepy Alaskan town. With nothing remaining to live for, and nothing left to fear, Stella joins their mission and ventures into the uncharted underbelly of Los Angeles where she pushes herself to the most extreme limits to stop the evil from striking again. Written by Fango".
The Helmer: Ben Ketai - 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust (2008 TV), Megan (2008), Suck (2008)
The Casts: Kiele Sanches (Stella), Mia Kirshner (Lilith), Rhys Coiro (Paul), Ben Cotton (Dane) Stacy Roy (Jane), Troy Ruptash (Agent Norris)
Release Date: 5th October 2010
The Prediction: As a general rule, direct to video movies tend to be low-budgeted, sub-standard produced efforts which, to the best of intentions, gets to the business of just indulging in the whims of audience who are curious about what happened next which in effect dilute over time and sequels. But, there are exceptions, such as Wrong Turn: Dead End ,a sequel to the hugely popular Wrong Turn. It essentially depends on the writer and director and the money splurged on this. Ben Ketai seems to have a career in helming horror movies, and though the original 30 Days was not hugely successful, it was done with great care and craft. Looking at the trailer, production costs and value seems to be high and the pacing pretty exciting. Which added up, looks very promising.
