30 Days of Night (film)

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30 Days of Night
Teaser poster
Directed by	David Slade
Produced by	Sam Raimi Ted Adams
Written by	Steve Niles Stuart Beattie
Starring	Josh Hartnett Melissa George Danny Huston Ben Foster Mark Boone Junior Mark Rendall
Music by	Brian Reitzell
Cinematography	Jo Willems
Editing by	Art Jones
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	October 19, 2007
Running time	113 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32 million
Gross revenue	$70,806,224 (worldwide)
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

30 Days of Night is a 2007 thriller film based on the comic book miniseries of the same name. The film is directed by David Slade and stars Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Danny Huston. The film was released in the U.S. on October 19, 2007 and November 1, 2007 in the UK by Columbia Pictures.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Differences from the real Barrow 4 Reception 4.1 Box office release 4.2 Critical reception 5 DVD release 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

[edit] Plot

Barrow, Alaska is preparing for its annual "30 days of night," a period during the winter when the sun will not be seen: some inhabitants leave for Fairbanks or other parts south. As the town gets ready, the Stranger (Ben Foster) rows ashore from a larger ship and once in Barrow, he sets about sabotaging the town in the belief that the vampires will make him one of them if he helps them with their plans. Barrow's sheriff, Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) investigates these crimes. As he does so, he learns that his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George), missed the last plane out of town and will have to spend the 30 day period in Barrow. Although they try to avoid one another, when Eben confronts the Stranger in the town diner, she helps subdue him and take him to the station house.

From the jail cell, the Stranger taunts Eben, Stella, Eben's teenage brother, Jake (Mark Rendall) and grandmother, telling them that death is coming for them. Just then, vampires attack the local telecommunications center and power supply, rendering the town dark and cut off from the outside world. Eben goes to the telecommunications center and finds the operator's head on a spike. He and Stella then go through town, trying to find the ones responsible for the gruesome crimes.

Meanwhile, the vampires, led by Marlow (Danny Huston) attack the town. Marlow speaks in an ancient, guttural language, clarified by subtitles; the other vampires shriek. He tells them after they feed on the humans to take off the head, to make sure that there will not be any more competition. Unless they are shot in the head, bullets are useless against them, and they slaughter most of the town, including Eben's grandmother, whilst the survivors congregate in the diner. The vampires attack Eben and Stella but Beau Brower (Mark Boone Junior), the local snowplow driver, rescues them. Everyone decides to go to the boarded up house of someone who had left town earlier that day. The house has a hidden attic where they will be able to hide. Marlow finds the Stranger in the jail and, rather than turning him into a vampire as the Stranger wished, kills him instead. Marlow orders the vampires not to turn anyone into a vampire; they will slaughter the town and then disappear in order to preserve modern humanity's belief that vampires are the stuff of bad dreams and nothing more.

Over the next week, Eben, Stella, Jake and seven others stick it out in the attic. They fight about leaving but most stay; only Wilson and his senile father, Isaac are lost. Eben ventures out to try to help a stray survivor, being used by the vampires as bait for any other survivors. During his attempt, he finds John Riis, in the shade under a hut and attempts to help him. He discovers however that he had become a vampire, and ends up killing him. He then learns that beheading the vampires will kill them. When a blizzard hits, Eben and the others use the whiteout conditions to make it to the general store. There, a young girl vampire attacks and wounds one of them. The whiteout conditions end, preventing them from making it back to the abandoned house. Eben decides everyone should go to the police station. He will provide a diversion by running to his grandmother's house to retrieve an ultraviolet lighting system. Eben makes it to the house, turns on the generator and turns the light on the vampires who have followed him. It hideously burns a female vampire named Iris, forcing Marlow to kill her. Eben escapes the house followed by the vampires. Beau comes to the rescue, killing many of the vampires with his backhoe. He crashes into a hotel and then ignites a box of dynamite using road flares, trying to kill himself. His ploy is unsuccessful though as Beau lives through the blast and Marlow crushes his skull, but it gives Eben the time to make it to the police station. There, the wounded member turns into a vampire. With some shred of his humanity left, he asks Eben to behead him. Eben complies.

Two more weeks pass. Stella and Eben find his deputy, Billy Kitka (Manu Bennett), signaling them with a flashlight from across the street. Eben and Stella make it to Billy's house. When the vampires attacked, he killed his wife and daughters but his gun jammed when he tried to commit suicide. Stella and Eben take him back to the station house. There they learn that the others have made it to the utilidor, a power station that controls the oil pipeline, the only structure that still has power. Eben, Stella and Billy begin to sneak towards the utilidor. Stella stops to rescue a young girl who is being stalked by a vampire, Zurial (John Rawls). Eben and Billy try to distract him while Stella gets the girl to safety. Instead, Billy and Eben are separated. They both eventually make it to the utilidor, but another vampire follows Billy inside.

Eben is happy to see the rest of the survivors have made it alive. The vampire attacks Billy, ripping into his neck and dazing him. When the vampire turns to attack Eben, Billy gets up and knocks it into the gears of the utilidor's pump, shredding the creature. Billy's arm gets caught in the gears as well and his entire forearm is completely gone. Billy screams in pain as Eben tries to calm him down. Eben then realizes that Billy's screams become vampiric shrieks. Eben is then forced to kill Billy with an axe - chopping off his head.

The sun is due to rise in a few hours. The vampires decide to burn the town to cover their tracks. Stella radios to Eben that she and the young girl are hiding under an abandoned truck across the street from the utilidor, the flames rapidly approaching them. Realizing he cannot beat the vampires as a human, Eben injects himself with Billy's infected blood so he can fight them as a vampire. He and Marlow fight a vicious battle. As the battle comes to a close, Marlow charges Eben as Eben throws a punch. The punch runs through Marlow's mouth and out the back of his head. Leaderless, with the sun about to rise, the other vampires disappear.

Eben and Stella watch sunrise together. While Stella rests on Eben's shoulder, they share one last kiss. Stella holds Eben tightly in her arms as he lets out a bloodcurdling scream. His body slowly burns until there is nothing left but ash. The end of the film is marked as Stella closes her eyes, cradling Eben's ashen corpse.

[edit] Production

Following the publication of the 30 Days of Night comic book miniseries in 2002, studios, including DreamWorks, MGM and Senator International, bid in the $1 million range for rights to a potential vampire film based on the story. Director and producer Sam Raimi expressed interest in adapting the miniseries and was negotiating a production deal with his producing partner Robert Tapert to establish a label with Senator Entertainment, of which Senator International is the sales division.^[1] In July 2002, Senator International acquired the rights for 30 Days of Night in a seven figure deal with Raimi and Tapert attached as producers. 30 Days of Night author Steve Niles originally conceived of the story in the form of a film but after meeting a lack of interest in initial pitches to studios, Niles was able to produce it as a comic with Ben Templesmith deciding to collaborate on the project and provide artwork. When Niles and his agent, Jon Levin, shopped the comic around as a potential film adaptation, Niles found that the idea "went shockingly well," with Sam Raimi and Senator International picking up the property based on the original concept and Templesmith's unique mood and concepts for the vampires.^[2] According to Raimi, the potential project was "unlike the horror films of recent years".^[3]

By October 2002, Niles was working on adapting 30 Days of Night for the big screen, keeping the film true to the miniseries, though fleshing out the characters more significantly in the adaptation process.^[4] In February 2003, Columbia Pictures partnered with Senator International to work on 30 Days of Night, which was developing under Senator internationals newly-established production company, Ghost House Pictures. Mike Richardson, the Dark Horse Comics publisher who supported the adaptation project from the beginning, after having turned down an offer to initially publish the project, was attached as executive producer.^[5] The following March, Richardson revealed that Steve Niles had turned in the initial draft for the 30 Days of Night screenplay.^[6] In March 2004, however, Columbia Pictures requested that Niles's initial screenplay to be rewritten in preparation for production.^[7] Sue Binder, the business manager of Ghost House Pictures, indicated that filming for 30 Days of Night was still at least a year away, as Ghost House planned to produce three films before the vampire thriller.^[7] The following May, Stuart Beattie, one of the writers for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, was rewriting Niles's 30 Days of Night draft for production.^[8] Niles was pleased with Beattie's faithfully rewritten script, which was submitted to the studio in October 2004.^[9]

In September 2005, it was announced that director David Slade had signed on to 30 Days of Night, which would be distributed by Columbia Pictures mainly in North America and Mandate Pictures in international territories.^[10] In March 2006, Slade revealed that screenwriter Brian Nelson, who wrote the screenplay for Slade's previous film Hard Candy, was writing a new draft of the 30 Days of Night script, replacing Beattie's draft.^[11] The director said that filming would begin in summer 2006 in Alaska and New Zealand.^[11]

In June 2006, it was announced that Josh Hartnett was cast as the husband of the married couple that serves as the town's sheriff team.^[12] Melissa George joined the 30 Days of Night cast as the wife of Hartnett's character.^[13] Danny Huston joined the cast as the leader of the vampires.^[14] Filming did not begin immediately, but in a September 2006 interview, executive producer Mike Richardson said that 30 Days of Night would be shot on 35 mm film, though there had been discussion to shoot the film on Genesis.^[15] In an interview prior to filming, Slade explained that the illustrations of the graphic novel's illustrator, Ben Templesmith, would be reflected in production design. Slade also considered Nelson's draft to be the most faithful to the graphic novel. He also stated his intention to make a "scary vampire film", of which he didn't think there were many. "The rest of them, they fall into all kinds of traps. We're going to try to do our best... and one of the ways we have to do it is be more naturalistic than the graphic novel, because it's very over-the-top," said Slade.^[16]

By February 2007, the production phase was completed, and a rough cut of the film was prepared.^[17] In April, composer Brian Reitzell was hired to score the film.^[18]

[edit] Differences from the real Barrow

• The number of dark days in Barrow, Alaska is 84 rather than 30.
• The polar night is not characterized by a plunge into and out of total darkness, as suggested by the film; rather a period of bright twilight exists during the midday hours except close to the winter solstice.
• Barrow is not isolated without outside contact while the sun is down as portrayed in the film, but in fact has daily commercial 737 airline service from other cities in Alaska^[19] even during the depths of winter. That fact has been noted in a number of sources, including the comic, by AP movie reviewer David Germain^[20], and others^[21].
• Inupiat people make up 60% of the town, contrasting sharply with the film which presented the town with a largely white population.^[22]
• Barrow has an actual plane route.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office release

30 Days of Night was released in 2,855 theaters in the United States and Canada on October 19, 2007. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $15,951,902,^[23] placing first in the box office.^[24] As of November 18th 2007, 30 Days of Night has grossed $39,141,000 in the United States and Canada and $10,986,792 overseas. It has grossed $50,127,792 worldwide.^[23]

[edit] Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, 49% of the 138 film critics gave the film positive reviews.^[25] On Metacritic, the film received a metascore of 53 out of 100 from 29 reviews, considered to be mixed or average reviews. Both of these ratings are considered to be much better than typical horror movies. Film site Bloody Disgusting called it the "best vampire film in decades."^[26]

[edit] DVD release

30 Days of Night was released February 26, 2008 on DVD, Blu-Ray, and UMD for PSP in the United States. The DVD is a single disc and includes 8 featurettes, one of which is a full episode of the hit anime Blood+. The UK Region 2 release is a two disc special edition, released in April 2008. Despite being exactly the same as the theatrical release, the BBFC re-rated the film from a 15 to an 18. Even though it still only has the eight featurettes on the second disc, it includes a bonus 30 Days of Night graphic novel.

[edit] See also

• 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Tim Lebbon (September 2007). 30 Days of Night (Mass Market Paperback), Novelization of the film, Pocket Star. ISBN 1416544975. 

[edit] External links

• Official site
• 30 Days of Night at the Internet Movie Database
• 30 Days of Night at Rotten Tomatoes
• 30 Days of Night at Metacritic
• 30 Days of Night at Box Office Mojo
• 30 Days of Night at Allmovie
• Production video journals at Ghost House Pictures^{[dead link]}
• Steve Niles Interview for 30 Days of Night at UGO.com
• Official multiplayer game for the film (with character design by Ben Templesmith)
• Composer Brian Reitzell discusses his score for 30 Days of Night

Preceded by Why Did I Get Married?

Box office number-one films of 2007 (USA) October 21, 2007

Succeeded by Saw IV

v • d • e 30 Days of Night Creators Steve Niles • Ben Templesmith • Dan Wickline • Matt Fraction • Kelly DeConnick Comics 30 Days of Night • Dark Days • Return to Barrow • Bloodsucker Tales • Three Tales • Spreading the Disease • Eben & Stella • Red Snow • Beyond Barrow Novels 30 Days of Night • Rumors of the Undead • Immortal Remains Screen 30 Days of Night • Blood Trails Characters Eben Olemaun • Stella Olemaun • Marlowe • Vicente • Lilith • Brian Kitka • John Ikos • Andy Gray