Yet more horror movies joining the Hallowe’en line up and this time it’s the vampires, which seems rather fitting now that the nights are getting longer, although nothing like those in the Arctic Circle.
Ever since Bram Stoker brought Dracula to life, vampires have become a very popular source of inspiration for writers and filmmakers, with Joss Whedon’s Buffyverse almost usurping Stoker’s story as the definitive mythology, although Dracula is still the number one bloodsucker – even in Buffy’s world. Bearing that in mind, the BFI has released a fully restored version of DRACULA, Christopher Lee’s debut as the Count as part of the 50th anniversary of this Hammer classic. It will be showing at cinemas nationwide from November 2. Full details can be found at the BFI website.
Also on release is 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith (Niles also co-wrote the screenplay), it is such a great idea you wonder why no one thought of it earlier. The polar opposite of Insomnia, it takes the fact that vampires can’t stand the sunlight and moves them to Alaska in the winter where the sun doesn’t rise for thirty days (hence the film’s name). The fact they are already dead means that they aren’t to bothered by the cold so they can dress as goth as they like without having to be burdened by heavy coats.
Produced by Sam Raimi and directed by Brit David Slade (HARD CANDY), the film stars Josh Hartnett as Eben Oleson, the sheriff of Barrow, and co-stars Aussie actress Melissa George as his estranged wife Stella.
As the sun goes down for the last time of the season, the majority of the town has left for sunnier climes, leaving a hard-core skeleton population. The trouble is most of them end up as skeletons when the vampires come to town looking for something a bit fresher than frozen food, and start a bloody feeding frenzy. It takes the townsfolk, at least the surviving ones, a while to realize it is vampires that are killing them off, but they soon settle into surviving and getting retribution.
The writers and director manage to get some real tension and action going, although sadly they do falter a bit when they try to introduce any of the ‘human interest’ stories, which come with some horribly cheesy lines of dialogue. Luckily they are few and far between and when the main focus is following the action it manages to redeem itself with a few nice scares and plenty of gore.
If you like a vampire movie where they don’t talk with dodgy European accents (here they speak their own language which is subtitlted), then this could be for you. It’s certainly a fresh approach to vampires that is closer to Blade than Stoker.
30 DAYS OF NIGHT is on general release from November 1 through Icon Distribution