What Do The Critics Say?

"Not only is "30 Days of Night" the first fright flick in a long time to be chilling in every way, it's also the one to return our fangy friends to their rightful frightfulness." Staci Layne Wilson HORROR.COM "30 Days of Night sparks with crackling energy. It's a symphony of shocks." Colin Covert MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE "Decent vampire movies are few and far between, and I'm having a hard time remembering a recent one that impressed me like 30 Days of Night." Pete Vonder Haar FILM THREAT "These vamps could use stakes as toothpicks and garlic as garnish on their meals of human flesh. Their only weaknesses are a well-swung ax to the jugular and sunlight." Phil Villarreal ARIZONA DAILY STAR "David Slade hasn't revolutionized the vampire genre, but he may make you wet your pants." Joshua Tyler CINEMABLEND "Although the film contains its share of ripped-out throats and arterial sprays, Slade knows how to tighten the screws by cutting away from the gore to show the faces of dying humans, the faces of the feasting undead, or the beautifully stylized comic-book scenery. A truly terrifying hell-ride through darkness for grownups." Tirdad Derakhshani PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

"Director Slade has fashioned a horror film that, for all its narrative shortcomings, succeeds at what it set out to do: make vampires scary again and terrify audiences doing it." Stax IGN MOVIES "30 Days of Night is the well-paced and entertaining horror debut of Hard Candy director David Slade, who captures the coolest parts of Steve Niles' comic book series on the big screen." Peter Hartlaub SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "The coolest vampire movie since Near Dark." Scott Weinberg FEARnet "This is a full-on, non-stop horror film. You're either on the bus or off the bus. But if you are on, you're hanging on with both hands and your hair flying back for the better part of the movie." Bill Goodykoontz ARIZONA REPUBLIC "30 Days of Night manages to do for the vampire genre what 28 Days Later did for the zombie flick: give age-old monsters a modern-day makeover." Scott Bowles USA TODAY "Fleshing out their minimalist story in a way that won't cause the blood to drain from fans' faces, it's one of the better recent efforts as both a comic adaptation and a fright flick." Mark Rahner SEATTLE TIMES

The Inside Story "30 Days of Night" began its journey to the bigscreen with the publication of the graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. The miniseries, just three books, became a career-defining moment for both. As they brought both a new look and a new story to the vampire legend, Niles’ and Templesmith’s work has been lauded as a revival of the horror comic. "We fell in love with the idea of vampires coming to Barrow, Alaska, once the sun has set for a month," says producer Rob Tapert, who. with producer Sam Raimi. founded Ghost House Productions to bring this kind of story to the screen. "It was a project that got us excited because it delivers a level of intensity and stylized horror that, as a young guy, I loved in these kinds of movies and to this day I still enjoy. For Sam and me, "30 Days of Night" is a return to our Evil Dead roots." To direct, Raimi and Tapert tapped David Slade, whose first film, the independent "Hard Candy", impressed them. "David has a style and way of working unique unto him," Tapert says. "He has a very specific idea of what he wants and how he wants everything to be and then he finds a way to work this out with the actors. He is a believer in lots of tight shots, close-ups with attention to details, which frenetically ramp up his movie." Slade says that long before getting involved with "30 Days of Night", he had bought the first edition of the graphic novel. "I love Ben Templesmith’s artwork, especially the image of Eben looking out and seeing the vampires for the first time," he saids. "After I directed my first film, I had a meeting in which an executive at Columbia Pictures who mentioned that they owned the property." And what did Slade have to say? "Hang on a minute. I would chew off my arm to do that!" The authors saw "30 Days of Night" as an opportunity to steer the genre back to its roots and away from the gothic, affected vampires that had taken over their favorite monsters. "One of the things Ben and I really wanted to do was make vampires scary again," says Niles. "We’ve seen vampires made into Count Chocula. Teenage girls are dating them. These should be feral vampires that see humans as nothing more than something to feed on. And Ben took that ten steps further with the look of the book." "I was going for pure savagery, with just a hint of alien," says Templesmith. "The classic image of the vampire is the goth, romantic ponce. I wanted eating machines." One of the filmmakers top goals was to bring the source material’s striking imagery to life. "I wanted the look of the film to be very close to Ben Templesmith’s artwork, which I very much liked," Slade says. Templesmith says that the filmmakers achieved that vision. "Within reason, they’ve taken the look of the movie from the page. The color’s stripped back, the vampires look like the vampires in the book, the integrity is there." "David and his team have really captured the stylized texture and feel of the graphic novel," Tapert adds. "Combining Ben’s artwork with a live action style has given this movie a look all its own." The first task the filmmakers faced was to identify the actors that would bring the graphic novel's characters to the screen. Josh Hartnett, who stars in the film as Eben, the sheriff of Barrow, was impressed by the way that the original comic book blended all the best aspects of the genre. "It was funny and scary, a simple story but pure. I especially liked that it was character-driven; if you can follow interesting characters through the story, you can take the leap into their supernatural world." Before signing on to play Eben, Hartnett met with David Slade to discuss the director’s vision for the film. "We went to a bar that I’ve been going to since I was 21, it’s very familiar to me. As we were leaving, he took a couple of pictures of this bar and sent them to me in an e-mail a couple days later. The way he exposed them, they looked haunting, I didn’t recognize the place." So what did he think? "This guy’s gonna make something really creepy." "Josh’s take on the character is just right," says Slade. "Though he’s by nature playing a romantic lead, he's playing a fragmented hero, which I think is always more interesting." 1994 Logie & 1995 Silver Logie winner Melissa George ("Home and Away") was cast in the role of Eben’s estranged wife, Stella. "She’s a very strong woman," says George. "I love parts that show a toughness and yet vulnerability to the character. She loves the people in her town, she loves Eben, and she loves her gun." Tapert says that it was Slade who initially brought up the idea of casting George as Stella, and it was easy to see why. "Only Melissa brought the warmth to Stella," he says. Danny Huston took on the role of Marlow, the leader of the vampires. He says the film, "represents a very pure kind of filmmaking: it is going to scare you. In addition, because it’s based on the graphic novel, this movie is very stylish; the vampires aren’t your normal, everyday vampires, if there is such a thing." "I have a lot of compassion for someone like Marlow," Huston said. "We worked entirely at night, so I got into the vampire mode; driving back from the location at night, I would recoil from the sunlight. The nails, the teeth, the eyes, the prosthetics made me uncomfortable, but very sensitive as I suppose a vampire would be. Being a vampire is, potentially, a very tough life." "Danny absolutely owns his characters. I’ve followed his career since I saw him in "XTC" and "The Proposition", his dedication is unparalleled. For instance, he was very involved in shaping the language that his character speaks," says Slade. Ben Foster, who plays the Stranger revealed he was attracted first and foremost by the opportunity to work with Slade. "I’d known David Slade socially for a couple of years and I was already a fan of the graphic novel," he says. "In our first meeting, Ben started grilling me about the character; questions I answered gleefully," Slade says. "He asked where the Stranger is from." I said, "It would be great if he was from the South. Ben spent his own money learning a note-perfect Cajun accent, which is terrifying and enriched the character." When it came to the production, the filmmakers say their key goal was to create a film as stylish and creative as the graphic novel that inspired it. "David was very clear about referencing the graphic novel as a leaping off point," says production designer Paul Austerberry. "Successful graphic novels, like "30 Days of Night", are compelling both because of their story and because of their drawings," says Slade. "To be true to the book, we had to be true not only to the story, but to the vision represented in the pictures." Director of photography Jo Willems first referenced the graphic novel when beginning to plan how he would shoot "30 Days of Night". The book’s art direction, color palette, and vampire design all required extensive tests in order to achieve the look that Slade envisioned. "More than seventy percent of the film is set at night, so if we went for something very dark it would be a hard movie to watch," Willems says. "The way we have brought the look of the graphic novel is not so much monochromatic but a de-saturated kind of color palette, punctuated by the blood red." In the end, Willems achieved a look that is slightly cool, almost blue, that leaves the vampire skin with a scary silvery sheen. "I found the graphic novel very visually interesting; Ben Templesmith’s drawings are quite detailed," says production designer Paul Austerberry. One of Austerberry’s greatest challenges was designing and building the town of Barrow, Alaska; the desolate, barren landscape that would provide the feeding grounds for the vampires. The real Barrow did offer Austerberry some great reference material and inspiration. "Barrow is the most northern settlement in North America. They have only basic materials; there is no adornment," he says. "The real Barrow has a lot of junk lying around; it is a long way to bring stuff to Barrow and a long way to get rid of trash as well." Creating a fictionalized Barrow for the film gave the filmmakers a needed freedom; most interestingly, they built the town’s main street, Rogers Avenue, from scratch on a massive back lot that had once been a large outfield surrounding an Air Force base. There, the filmmakers could blow blizzards, set fires, perform stunts, and portray as much carnage as the story required. "“We’ve got black buildings and white snow; David really wanted to create a silhouetted, rigid geometry of the black against the white," Austerberry says. "It’s like a Western town; albeit an ice Western! A place where the townsfolk live in their little town isolated in the middle of nowhere until the vampires come strolling down the main drag." The snow team, led by special effects supervisor Jason Durey, created over two hundred and eighty tons of snow. This was the team’s largest production to date; significantly larger than their work on "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", which consisted of thirty five tons. To create the snow, the team of thirty used one hundred and fifty tons of Epsom salts; ninety tons of shredded paper; twelve tons of wax; nine thousand bags of bark; over three tons of fake snow; twenty six thousand yards of white blankets; four hundred boxes of eco-snow (replacing the former ingredient, potato peelings) and, seven thousand litres of foam. Another key ingredient, of course, was blood. When the vampires attack, red becomes the film’s primary color. Four thousand litres of fake blood were concocted for the film. As for the terrifying vampires, Slade says, "They’re not super-human, just super vicious." Synopsis

Each year during winter, the isolated town of Barrow, Alaska, is plunged into a state of complete darkness that lasts 30 days. That doesn't normally present any problems for the town. Those who can't bear the long period of complete darkness and snowstorms leave town. This winter it will be different. The lucky ones, who have managed to make it out of town and headed south, will be spared a terrible fate. Cunning, bloodthirsty vampires, relishing in a month of free rein, are set to take advantage of the darkness, feeding on the helpless residents. The first inkling of trouble comes when the towns power system goes down. Sheriff Eben goes to investigate. The operator is missing. It won't be long before the lawman will discover the terrible truth. It is up to Sheriff Eben, his estranged wife Stella, and a small group of survivors to do anything and everything they can to last until daylight returns.

The Verdict "If the thought of having your throat ripped out by a blood-sucking Vampire scares the crap out of you, then what ever you do, don't even think about seeing "30 Days Of Night". Set in the middle of winter when the sun no longer shines and darkness rules, this tale of a town named Barrow, will have your pulse racing and your heart pounding. These Vampires, as the townfolk and audiences quickly discover, mean business. Josh Hartnett and Melissa George give good performances, but it's the bleak dark of an artic winter and the Vampires who hold centre stage. Will anyone survive? Can you survive "30 Days Of Night"? Be afraid. Very afraid. Of the dark! Recommended to all those who love being spooked. 3 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "30 DAYS OF NIGHT" stars .......
Milan International Film Festival Best Actor Award winner Josh Hartnett ["Black Hawk Down", "Sin City", "The Wrong Man" and "The Black Dahlia"]; Mark Rendall ["Len and Hugo", "Charlie Bartlett" and "Silk"]; Danny Huston ["Children Of Men", "The Number 23" and "The Kingdom"]; Ben Foster ["Hostage", "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "3:10 to Yuma"]; Manu Bennett ["Lantana", "The Marine" and "The Condemned"] and Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award winner Melissa George ["The Limey", "Mulholland Dr", "The Amityville Horror" and "Derailed"] as Stella Oleson.
"30 DAYS OF NIGHT" was .......
directed by David Slade ["Do Geese See God?" and "Hard Candy"]; costume design by Jane Holland ["Soft Fruit", "Boogeyman" and "The World's Fastest Indian"]; production design by Gemini Award winner Paul Denham Austerberry ["The Tuxedo", "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "Assault on Precinct 13"]; edited by Art Jones ["Hard Candy" and "Internal"]; director of photography Jo Willems ["Do Geese See God?", "Hard Candy" and "Rocket Science"]; original music by Brian Reitzell ["Friday Night Lights" and "Stranger Than Fiction"]; produced by Sam Raimi ["The Grudge", "Boogeyman" and "The Messengers"] and Robert G Tapert ["The Gift", "Boogeyman" and "The Messengers"]. Who's Who?

Josh Hartnett Melissa George Danny Huston Ben Foster Mark Boone Junior Mark Rendall Amber Sainsbury Manu Bennett

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Eben Oleson Stella Oleson Marlow The Stranger Beau Brower Jake Oleson Denise Billy Kitk

Run Time 110 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Sony Pictures - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.