While I'm on the subject of great movies (see my last post for one you really, really don't want to miss), I'm giving Starz (DISH Network channel 350) 30 extra points for running 30 Days of Night this month.
I'm going to say this real fast: it'savampiremovie. But before you click away to YouTube to watch some guy pull a hamster out of his nose (no, I didn't check, but it wouldn't surprise me if you find it -- or worse), you should know that 30 Days manages to breathe life (an undead sort of life, but still) into the tired world of bloodsucking movies.
Let's start with the scenery: gorgeous, wintry, bleak, and utterly claustrophobic, despite the fact that 30 Days takes place in the vast snowchoke that we call Alaska. And there, in Barrow, perched above the Arctic Circle, night falls hard, fast, and for a month at a time -- and that makes for 720 vampire happy hours in a row.
Then there's the acting. Josh Hartnett delivers an understated -- and all the more powerful for that -- performance as Everyman Sheriff Eben Oleson. Ben Foster is truly creepy as the traitorous Stranger. And Danny Huston as Marlow, the grand vampire poobah? His "God? No God" alone is worth the price of entry.
And yes, 30 Days of Night is based on -- gasp! -- a comic book. But before you turn up your nose and take a long, hot shower to scrub away the stench of low-brow art (which graphic novels aren't, but people get these funny ideas), remember that some of the best received films of this year were born of ink-stained geek dreams.
But enough of my yakkin' (This Is Spinal Tap reference alert), get Starz, turn out the lights, and get ready for a suckfest that doesn't actually suck.
