30 Days of Night 4K 2007

This is a really good movie. Unfortunately, it’s not scary at all (aside from the jump scares), but it’s incredibly beautiful.

This movie breaks certain stereotypes about vampires—they’re really not refined here, as many have mentioned; they’re more like… zombies. Indeed, in the best traditions of zombie cinema, they’re driven by a thirst for flesh; they don’t care how they look, yet they’re intelligent, deeply philosophical, and—as befits people (is that the right word?)— having lived a long life and “tasted” life to the fullest, they no longer understand what they actually want. Whether it’s to punish those despicable little humans, to remind them that there’s a far more powerful force out there, or simply to eat. It’s unclear. But they prefer to do it all at once.

The cast is well-chosen (I used to think of Josh Hartnett as just a pretty face, but when I saw how, in 50 minutes of screen time, he visibly aged about 10 years from everything he’d seen and experienced, I realized he’s actually quite good). Ben Foster—I just recently saw him in "The Train to Yuma", and he stuck in my memory even more than the main characters. And the vampire leader is just awesome.

Beautiful visuals, good makeup, some decent jokes, and a well-crafted atmosphere. But I can’t say this is a movie about vampires. It’s more about vampires who were once human, and humans who were once alive. It’s worth watching.