Genre: Thriller, Vampire, Horror.
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, Mark Rendall, Mark Boone Junior, Megan Franich, Amber Sainsbury, Nathaniel Lees, Joel Tobeck, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Manu Bennett.
Year Of Release: 2007
Certificate: 18 (UK)
Runtime: 109 Minutes
Director: David Slade
Synopsis: "After an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires."
IMDB
I remember the first time I seen this film, was during its original run in the cinema in 2007 I was 17 at the time so getting in for an 18 certificate film was ALWAYS fun back then. I miss the old days of sneaking in or tricking cashiers into believing the age. Anyway, on to the review.
As night falls on an Alaskan outpost village where it will stay dark for the next month, a murderous crew of vampires come creeping into the village for a feast where they plan to feast on the mortal souls of the skeleton crew that keeps the village going. Main trouble is Marlow's (Huston) crew are almost feral like monsters like vampires should be. When the vampires arrive so does the loss of power including phones and internet, with the nearest town over 80 miles away the inhabitants know they are in trouble.
It takes them more than a few hours to realise how dire the situation they have found themselves in has become, meanwhile the crew of vampires are attacking with brutal violence and humans being ripped apart after they are running the streets expecting to actually fight these monsters. Each time resulting in their earlier demise, it is around this point that Sheriff Olseon (Hartnett) and his band of merry men are starting to realise they have no hope or chance of survival so they go to ground to play the waiting game.
Which does not result in the outcome that they want, the vampires just keep coming picking people off like it is all for fun.
Overall, the film isn't your typical Horror film it is a far cry from some of this boring ass vampire crap we have had in recent years, I would go as far to say it is the best vampire film in the past decade potentially the past two excluding Blade while a vampire film I still consider it prominently a comic book film. The film is also beautifully gorey and refreshing in its approach to the deadly action and the fact they do not use silly one-lines or use the typical jokes when something gorey happens. They try to humanise the world in which these vampires exist, making the actors fear what they see or are experiencing like a lot of other films.
The film is a thoroughly enjoyable watch, full of gore, action, Horror and brilliantly written scenes. There is some missed opportunities in the film like in all others, their main could be said that they under use the talents of Danny Huston he doesn't nearly get enough usage as he deserves. In conclusion the film is a triumph by relatively new director (at the time) David Slade the best vampire film since Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" over two decades ago.
8/10
