Netflixorama: Double Featuroo! Part I

Ahh it's been a long time, hasn't it? Which is why I decided to attempt a double feature article with two movies that have nothing at all to do with one another besides the simple fact that I pressed play on my Netflix account and watched them beginning to the final credit rolled.

The first film is one that I was tempted to see when it was playing in theaters, mainly for the fact that I love a good vampire flick and it was based on a comic book that I liked a little bit (sorry to all the lovers out there, not the biggest Steve Niles fan. And I tried many times, will try again as well). The movie is of course 30 Days of Night starring Mr. Mumbles himself, Josh Hartnett. And I have to say he finally stepped it up, considering I remember him just sleepwalking through his roles in both The Faculty and Halloween: H20.

I sat down and watched it with Danyell, because she had seen the stark colors being used and was as intrigued as I was in the first place. Also, being lovers of the film Hard Candy and knowing that David Slade had directed that first and then 30 Days of Night, it brought my attention level to a higher point. So what is there to say about the film? Not as gory as I thought it would be, which wasn't a bad thing. It had the proper amount of scares, Ben Foster played a creepy and dirty drifter who is helping the vampires in a scene stealing performance, the fantastic and underrated Danny Huston playing lead villain Marlowe with the iconic line of 'No God' working even after seeing the tons of trailers with it in it, the very likable Melissa George playing Hartnett's soon to be ex-wife and ultimately it's all tied together with Josh's subtle portrayal of Sheriff Eben Oleson.

Trust me, I never thought I'd say that. Especially after Hollywood Homicide. You know it!

Seriously, though, he's a regular guy, doing his job to the best of his ability before the month of darkness come to his small town. When a rash of vandalism starts occurring right before total darkness, he likens it to kids just messing about before they're cooped up for the month. But when he sees one of the townsfolk's dogs all murdered viciously, he knows something more is going on then common childish vandalism.

What commences is a tense thriller mixed with a different take on the vampire lore we're all accustomed to in film. Gone is the normal fare from films such as Twilight where all vampires are flamboyant and emo hipsters to what they should be; a visceral bunch of animals who have but a smidgeon of humanity left in them peeking on through their suits. But when it comes time to feed, they let loose and the animal instinct comes through, while they tear the throats out of all the town members who aren't quick enough to get into hiding or strong enough to fight back. Throughout the next 30 days, it's a nonstop fight for survival of Eben and his small band of survivors who keep dwindling down in number.

Weaknesses are found, hints at how the vampires work, even the sadistic nature of the vampires is shown when they let a victim go look for help, but use the person as bait, hoping that any survivor would be a good samaritan and come out there to help their brethren. Luckily Hartnett's Eben is a smart guy and doesn't fall for that, which is when we see Danny Huston's lead vampire Marlowe utter the familiar line "No God" to his bait when not being able to do what he set her out to do in the first place. And instead of just killing her, he has his minions slowly beat her up and get some slashes in before they ultimately feed on her.

Of course there's some proper gore posted throughout the film as well, a lot of corn syrup goodness which is always a favorite of us gorehounds out there. Blood is splattered through the winter landscape and looks really nice in the HD sharp contrast of the film. Sometimes it wouldn't work, ala Underworld, but I prefer it in this film. I think it's Slade's directorial expertise in music videos of yesteryear and his first film tweaking it to the full potential.

In no way am I saying this film is the end all, be all of vampire films. Give me John Carpenter's Vampires, Near Dark, The Lost Boys or Blade/Blade II any day, but 30 Days of Night is a nice addition to the vampire myth on the silver screen. Sadly films like Twilight sell to the teeny bopper crowd that prefers vamp to vampire.

Part II of Netflixorama: The Double Featuroo will continue later tonight or tomorrow. It's on a film that I know and love for years and re-watching on Netflix for the first time in about 5 years has opened various other doors in my psyche that I had to write about it. Can you guess the film? It stars one of my favorite comedic actors. And directed by a former Ghostbuster. Til then, the 360 needs to cool down.