Another (Graphic) Novel Adaptation

Steve Nile's 30 Days Of Night is one of my favorite graphic novels. I believe it was Todd who introduced me to it. I can't believe no one had thought up the idea of vampires attacking a town in northern Alaska during the time of the year when the sun essentially disappears for a month. How brilliant is that?! When I heard that Sam Rami (Evil Dead flicks, Spider Man) was going to produce the movie version, I got very excited. When I heard that Steve himself would be writing the screenplay, I was happier still.

Then I heard Josh Hartnett was going to play the lead.

Thankfully, I moved past that and went to check out the film this weekend. Directed by Hard Candy's David Slade, the film has just the right look. Not as hard core dedicated to the graphic novel as say Sin City or 300, but the grays and blacks and whites in contrast to the shock of the blood red made me think of the work of Ben Templesmith, the illustrator. Some of the vampires looked as though they walked directly from the page to the screen.

Unlike a lot of today's horror flicks, Slade spends time with the characters. This sort of investment actually goes a bit against the graphic novel itself, which was quick and sharp, only giving you time to get to know Eben, his wife Stella and a bit of back story on the vamps. Still, this is a movie version, so you knew some things were going to have to be fleshed out from the original story.

The characters have changed and multiplied. Again, this is probably due to needing to expand the story and the fact that there ended up being 3 screenwriters. While I expected the movie to have some slow spots (we are covering 30 days after all), I was a bit disappointed that it seemed to slow down almost too much now and again. Still, some of the fleshing out bits (no pun intended, but enjoy it if you want!) made the film darker on an emotional level. This is not a happy movie, but neither was the source material.

I ended up enjoying the film, and being pleasantly surprised by Josh Hartnett. I've only seen him in Virgin Suicides, Sin City and Black Hawk Down. All great movies to be sure. I don't really have anything against him, but most of his projects hold no interest for me. I thought he did a good job in this, especially with the angsty stuff. And, he is nice to look at which doesn't hurt things.

Speaking of nice looking, one complaint would be that our survivors didn't look like they'd been trapped in various places for 30 days. Sure, some of the minor characters looked like shit towards the end of the flick, but Melissa George held up pretty damn well, as did Hartnett. Sorta picky I know, but the only way you knew time had passed would be when a graphic popped up letting you know what day it was. I also thought a bit of foreshadowing at the very beginning was a bit cheesy. I mean, the sherriff has been around the town for awhile and you're telling me he had to have a large bit of equipment in the towns water processing plant explained to him. As soon as I saw those big, metal "teeth," I knew what was going to happen.

I really liked the overhead shot of the town being attacked by the vampires. Several vamps were nicely creepy too. You can never go wrong with a kid vampire in my book. The vampire attacks were definitely bloody, as were some of the human retaliations. I particularly enjoyed a moment involving a head and an ax. I also appreciated the fact that they kept the ending the same as the comic. I would have been really horked if they had changed it into a happy, Hollywood moment.

It may not be for everyone, but if you'd like to try a different sort of vampire flick and don't mind a slight snooze part way through, it's worth checking out 30 Days Of Night.