There's something about vampires that's fascinating. That's why we get at least one vampire movie a year. Sadly, they're often not that good. When I first heard about 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, which is based on Steven Niles and Ben Templesmith's comic, it sounded like a promising premise — vampires attack a remote Alaskan town when it plunges into 30 days of night. When this premise clicks, the film is at its best, however the lack of character development undermines the film's emotional pull to often.
Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett, SIN CITY) is the sheriff of Barrow, Alaska. When the town descends into 30 days of continuous night during the winter, 4/5th of the population leaves. On the evening of the last sunset, strange and bloody occurrences plague the town. Cell phones are stolen and burned, dogs are killed, helicopters are destroyed. While dealing with these events, Eben learns that his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George, DERAILED), a fire marshal, is in town. She wants to keep her presence a secret, but a traffic accident forces her to ask Eben for help. Unwilling to talk, he sends a deputy to pick her up so that she can make the last plane back to Anchorage. Well, she doesn't make the plane (as I'm sure you guessed), and ends up helping Eben deal with a stranger (Ben Foster, 3:10 TO YUMA), who is causing trouble in the dinner. As they lock up the haggard-looking man, he warns them that death is coming. With the promise of eternal life, he has set up the scenario to allow a tribe of vampires, lead by Marlow (Danny Huston, THE CONSTANT GARDENER), to feed freely on the helpless and isolated town for the next month.