How sad is my life?
I can watch a decent vampire movie and think only how it compares to US Army doctrine for fighting an insurgency.
30 Days of Night came out last year, and came out on DVD this year. It’s yet another movie based on yet another graphic novel, like Wanted, like 300, like everything else.
Barrow, Alaska is our most northern city, and in this fictional account of life in this small town, the 500 people there mostly leave for the 30 days a year when it’s all but dark all the time.
On that last day, as most are trying to get onto that list flight out of town, a strange arrives by boat. And starts to cause problems. Kills the dogs, sabotages the phone network, and just poses a general menace.
And right after that, the vampires arrive. And they are a mean bunch.
Now, I don’t know how much you know about vampires, but, well, they vary a bunch. One main tenant of being a vampire seems to be that if you’re a vampire, you drink the blood of your victims to survive. The blood is their food, and given their hyper metabolism, I’ve always guessed that they need a bunch of it.
But in this movie — wow, they’re not in it for the nutritional value. For all the killing they’re doing, on what is a finite number of people in this sleepy down, you’d think they’d put heroic effort into getting all the blood they can from each victim. Eventually, it turns into siege warfare.
I could tell you more, but really, it’s a vampire movie. And really, it’s an insurgency. No one fights clean, and everyone is fighting to win. There are no masses of soldiers in formation, standing off on each side of an open field ready to fight, out of the way of the civilians and in some sort of noble manner.
No, none of that. Just lots of blood spilled, spilled on the white, white snow.
As vampire movies go, this one is OK. Middle of the road. On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 6. But it’s new, and it’s pretty well made. I guess I’d rather watch a decent new vampire movie than a better old one.
If you need to see a vampire movie, sure, see this one. But if you don’t need a vampire movie, well, skip it.
Though the little girl vampire is a nice change.
