DVD
REVIEW: 30 DAYS OF NIGHT
03/01/08
REVIEW: “30 days of
Night” is a movie where I admire in its originality of
presenting vampires in another different way, lately Vampire
movies have portrayed these characters as lusty, romantic,
sexy, and elegant creatures who has been cursed with a
thirst for blood, some of them have been portrayed as
victims, and they also have been stereotype as a high class
monster , most of them living in great mansions and having
many servants. In this movie however, they are not that,
they are just blood thirsty and nastier as it gets, plus the
using of their own language was also an extra feature that
worked well. The movie is fairly entertaining and
stimulating for lovers of the genre, it is the typical chase
between cat and mouse all the way to the end.
The story takes place in the northern town of Barrow Alaska,
where every year during winter there is a period of 30 days
where the sun never rises. Things get complicated when a
group of vampires come to the city to make it their all you
can eat buffet. The few survivors’ only chance to survive is
to wait for the sun to come up again. Writers and directors
did a great job exploiting this natural phenomenon to the
fullest, it is the perfect set for a vampire movie, and as I
stated before the villains were incredible. The special
effects, sound, and the flow of the movie are very well
done, this is one graphic movie, it has blood everywhere and
some scenes where taken to another level my favorite scene
the one where the little vampire has her head chop. Where
the movie loses points in my opinion is in its alternate
story: the love relationship of the main characters is been
play out, and also that little is known about some other
characters.
The actors all did a terrific job, performing their
characters Josh Hartnett shows us all he is made up taking
this challenge in a horror genre, Danny Foster, Melisa
George, and Danny Huston’s performance were also outstanding
as the stranger, Stella, and Marlow respectively. Director
David Slade took a gamble in Making a dark and bloody
picture and it works fantastically. The sets are amazing and
very realistic from the beautiful landscapes, to the ghost
town like Barrow, it will give the audience chills not only
for the horror but for the weather itself, it is hard to
imagine that it was filmed in New Zealand. 30 Days of Night
is a great adaptation from its graphic novel version. I
recommend this movie to fans of the series, they will not be
disappointed, and for people who has not read the books it
will keep you in their seat entertained for good 113
minutes, and it might get you to read the books.
VIDEO:
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English, and French
5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles - English Spanish
French- Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES: The
DVD comes full with Special features, for lover of manga and
anime it has an episode of the marvelous vampire series
Blood +. It also has about 49 minutes of the making of the
movie. It will take you step by step of how this movie was
produced.
Audio Commentary
with Josh Hartnett, Melisa George, and producer Rob Tapert.
Featurettes: this is
an 8 behind the scenes feature that takes you step by step
of how the movie was made, it goes from preproduction, make
up, stunts and special effects. (49:58)
Preproduction:
Steve Nile creator of the graphic novel gives his vision
on the series, and producer Rob Tapper visions for the
movie.(8:27)
Building Burrow:
how main stage was made for the movie and the location
where they filmed (5:15)
The Look: how the
look of the movie was set, the idea of keeping it as
realistic as possible, kind of cameras and styles used to
achieve this dark movie (6:48).
Blood, guts and nasty @#$%:
how the special effects were done (7:24)
Stunts: shows how
all the key stunts were made in the movie (7:15)
The Vampire: it was
the vision of the director for the vampires used it talkes
from movement to looks(5:57)
Night Shoots: How
the shooting was done and how the effect of the night was
done (6:00)
Casting: This is a
self explanatory feature (9:05)
Boold + First Episode :
First Kiss: a Beautiful and entertaining anime series, by
far the best feature in the DVD. (20:40)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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| BONUS
FEATURES |
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Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
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