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30 Days Of Night - Special Edition 2 DVD set with 48-page Graphic Novel & Slipcase [2007] | ![30 Days Of Night - Special Edition 2 DVD set with 48-page Graphic Novel & Slipcase [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RfZ7qIMOL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: David Slade
Actors: Manu Bennett, Josh Hartnett, Joel Tobeck, Melissa George, Danny Huston
Studio: Icon Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £10.00
You Save: £9.99 (50%)
New (18) Used (10) from £9.39
Rating:  53 reviews
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region: 2
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.9
EAN: 5051429101316
ASIN: B000ZK9T5W
Release Date: April 14, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: factory sealed
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
The problem with vampires is that, usually, they can't go out in daylight. That means that, however menacing they might be after sunset, when morning rolls around again, the heroes can just dig 'em up and stick a stake in them. 30 Days of Night sidesteps the whole daylight problem by setting its story in Barrow, Alaska, a town which is so far north that during the winter, the sun doesn't rise for a month at a stretch. It's such a perfect setting for vampires that it's almost shocking no-one's thought of it before now. 30 Days of Night has another trick up its sleeve, too. Its vampires aren't gothic hedonists who enjoy their claret out of jewelled goblets. Nope, these are vicious, nasty, brutal creatures who'd snap your neck as soon as look at you. They look terrifying, all misshapen foreheads and far too many teeth, and the creepy shrieking noise they make only makes it worse; they seem entirely inhuman. Barrow's isolated, blizzard-stricken location makes for a literally chilling atmosphere even before the monsters show up. The plot loses its way towards the end, and the inevitable triumph of the heroes stretches logic to its limits, but the setting is original enough to make up for that. 30 Days of Night isn't a film you'll forget in a hurry. --Catherine Haskins
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| Customer Reviews:
 My favourite vampire film ever March 26, 2008
KM (England)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
'30 Days of Night' is the movie based on the best selling graphic novel by Steve Niles. The story begins when a group of vampires flock to Barrow, Alaska where the sun sets for 30 days, allowing them to feed without the burden of sleep to avoid lethal sunlight. Because of the cold, the vampires' senses are weakened and a few of the town's residents are able to hide. One resident is Sheriff Eben Olemaun (Josh Hartnett), who attempts to save the town and the lives of the few remaining townspeople, including his wife Stella (Melissa George).
This was probably the film that I was most looking forward to in 2007 and when I finally got to see it, I wasn't disappointed at all. At the time when I first watched this film I hadn't read any of the comics, so the story was new to me, but I enjoyed it all the same. I've read the comic since seeing this and the film version has a lot more added to it, which I feel was definitely necessary as only the beginning and the end are featured in the original. There's plenty of gore, a great storyline, good characters, lots of scares and some excellent camerawork. The setting of Barrow feels very isolated and creepy and very, very atmospheric. The vampires have twisted, ugly faces and make eerie, high pitched wails to each other and speak in their own language, taking the sexy, seductive image away from the over-used and tired character.
Overall this is without a doubt one the best films of 2007 and is definitely the best vampire film I have ever seen. If you like horror movies and want something different, this is a film for you. Having the original graphic novel free with the R2 release is also a fantastic bonus as it is also a good read to accompany this brilliant film. I just hope that they decide to make a Return to Barrow movie now as this is by far the best of the comic series. Highly recommended.
 The best vampire movie since "Near Dark" December 22, 2007
russell clarke (halifax, west yorks)
9 out of 21 found this review helpful
The comic book miniseries this film is based on is a visually stunning but poorly written and characterised story about a cabal of vampires descending on the isolated Alaskan town of Barrow just as its plunged into round the clock darkness for the thirty days of the title. The film directed by David Slade (Who directed the excellent "Hard Candy") with a re-drafted script by Brian Nelson (Who did the script for "Hard Candy") remains faithful to the Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith comic both visually and narratively though the characters have been fleshed out more . This does,nt prevent the script however from repeating some of the problems inherent in the original miniseries, problems i will address later in the review.
The main premise for the story is remarkably simple and extremely intriguing. However it is factually flawed. The town of Barrow is preparing to shut down for the month long period when total darkness descends on the town .Factually this as about as accurate as a Steve Harmison over. The town is actually in SEMI-darkness for around 65 days. The film also shows many of the residents abandoning the town for the duration when in fact this does,nt happen and the demographic make up of the town residents could hardly be described as accurate either showing the population as predominately white.
However if facts had have been rigidly stuck the story would,nt exist so as it is a stranger (Ben Foster) arrives in town sabotaging the towns infrastructure and making dire predecitions of impending doom in a bizarre accent, sort of Deep South -America that is via Capetown. Sherriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) suddenly finds he has lots of irritating things to investigate while his estranged wife Stella,s (Melissa George) plans to leave on the last plane are scuppered by an errant snow plough.
When the vampires arrive led by Marlow(Danny Huston) arrive they slaughter everybody they can get their hands on. Now vampires are by nature not very nice but this lot are really nasty. Marlow who talks in an ancient sounding glottal language instructs his minions(Who are genuinely weird looking with large oval eyes and a screech like "Nasguls" from "Lord Of The Rings") to remove the heads of their victims so none will return as vampires thus providing more competition . The vampires attack like the "Infected" from "28 Days Later" , ripping out throats with their mouthfuls of lamprey like teeth. Their dental hygiene leaves a lot to be desired too.
A group of survivors led by Oleson and including Stella and his younger brother Jake (Mark Rendall) hide out in a loft.Here the film rather like the comic loses focus. It jump cuts to a week down the line. We are supposed to beleive that the vampires would just sit it out rather than hunt survivors down. They do try to lure them out using another survivor but this seems unnesseccarily subtle. Why not just systematically search everywhere, after all they have plenty of time to do it?The under current between Stella and Eben also comes into play but we are supposed to beleive that they would co-exist in a confined space for over a week before confronting their relationship issues. Its clear that the writer and director had no clear idea how to successfully overcome the problem of portraying the narrative over the 30 day period so just chose to ignore grerat chunks of it and hope the audience would,nt notice too much.
Once the film ramps up again when the survivors have to venture out to find food and other survivors it,s highly tense and exciting cinema, thus percipitating a grand stand final confrontation with Eben coming up with a novel solution to finally defeat the un-dead horde -realising that the vampires cannot afford to leave anyone alive ,lest word of their actual existence gets out.
30 Days Of Night for all its structural problems is a very welcome addition to the vampire genre. It ,s use of sound and imagery is often outstanding (One overhead tracking shot of the rapacious vamps surging through the town , the snow blotched red with blood displays it,s comic book origins but is absolutely stunning ) The acting is good enough to convince and it does,nt flinch from the visceral impact of the story. This is nasty brutal stuff .It,s in fact an unremmitng exercise in true horror. A desolate place where people live becuse "Nobody else can" invaded by creatures with no mercy and an insatiable appetite to quench. Sounds like many British town centres on a Friday.....coming soon 30 Nights Of Pints!I jest of course, seriously this a very fine vampire movie, probably the best since "Near Dark".
Russell Clarke
Loved it! A fresh new take, and the best vampire film since near dark! January 29, 2008
Ms. P. M. Boyd (Edinburgh)
8 out of 13 found this review helpful
This film is fantastic! One of my all time favrioutes I think, it is all slightly styalized, from the graphic novel which adds a great surrealistic and sleepy feel on it. It had an amazingly intense and atmospheric score from Brian Reitzel; Josh Hartnett has finally found his role, the one he is totally at home with and can execute to perfection.
Another thing I loved, was the vampires were brought down to earth, instead of being seven foot were - bats, they were angry Eastern - European guys, was a great invention. It is also like a Western in winter, this fim is so deep and effects on so many levels; it is like an epic vampire poem!
Yawn December 23, 2007
blackbour
6 out of 17 found this review helpful
I'm a big fan of the books and I like vampire films. This one was just boring. one of my friends wandered off out of the cinema after half an hour. I sat through it and found it dull. Great visuals, good start, nice atmosphere, then... 30 days of vamps sitting on the rooftop. All the vamp plot stuff from the books is missing, it's just vamps screaming at each other. Come back Blade, I miss the highly stylised and stylish violence. 30 Days of Night is also not a patch on Near Dark. The vampires in Near Dark were interesting and had a story to tell. Quotes - Jesse: "Let's just say I fought for the South. We lost. ..." Or how about Severen: "It's finger-lickin' GOOD! ..."
 30 days of tedium December 29, 2007
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Vampires in movies tend to be portrayed one of two ways -- as sexy pretty people, or barely-controlled beasts who only think about neck-gnaws.
Well, Sam Raimi claimed that "30 Days of Night" was a different kind of vampire film, and would avoid falling into cliched traps. Too bad he and David Slade couldn't deliver on that -- it's a mishmash of bad cliches, illogical script, and a plot that is subzero on the "scary" scale.
Seriously. Any movie with lines like "That cold ain't the weather, that's death approachin'" simply can't be taken seriously. (And yes, it IS the weather -- Alaska in winter?)
Barrow, Alaska is about to have its polar night, in which the sun isn't seen for a month. Most of the people (the smart ones) leave right away, but a mysterious Stranger (Ben Foster) arrives and traps the few remaining people there. Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) and his ex-wife Stella (Melissa George) capture him, but the damage is done. They'll have to stay there all month.
Of course, something horrible happens right away -- a pack of bloodthirsty vampires invade the place, intent on sucking the humans dry before sunrise, and they've got all month to do it. Now Eben and Stella, as well as a small band of survivors, must try to avoid becoming vampire food -- or worse, one of the vampires themselves.
"30 Days of Night" actually had some promise at the beginning -- it's based on a cult comic book, and it has an intriguing premise. The idea of being trapped in a frigid, dark, isolated town for a whole month is freaking creepy, even without supernatural threats. The pale, chilly look of the place is pretty creepy.
But then the vampires appear, and the whole thing becomes a simplistic game of hide'n'seek. That's "30 Days of Night's" besetting sin -- it has few twists to compensate for its lack of good script, outside of the predictable UV lamp. Just lots of gore, whining, snow, and the occasional gesture to remind us that vampires are really, REALLY evil.
Moreover, the anemic scripting doesn't make us care much about Barrow or its inhabitants, and is saddled with clunky dialogue ("The things you'll do to save your own." "We were like that once, weren't we?"). And it's riddled with plenty of plot holes, usually about the food and ammo (wouldn't Alaskans have lots of both?), characters' actions, and even the action scenes -- precisely why can a five-minute-old vampire kill a big bad old powerful one?
And the vampires? Well, they're not scary, and the writers deliberately squirm out of telling us anything about them -- where they come from, what they are, what they hope to achieve, and what the heck they're doing in ALASKA rather than, say, New York or Los Angeles. Marlow is a generic bad guy, and the others are screeching deformed creatures who are pretty inept at finding our heroes.
And Josh Harnett tries to act. He really does. But he's painfully wooden as the experienced small-town sheriff with a Sad Marriage behind him. Most of the other characters are "types" instead of people -- plucky little brother, ex-wife whom he still loves, token sacrificial people, et cetera. You're given no real reason to care about them.
"30 Days of Night" reminded me of "Night of the Living Dead," but with a leaden script, boring acting, a "night" a month long, and annoying screeching vampires instead of freaky zombies. Give it a miss.
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