30 Days of Night: Dark Days (2010)

After surviving the incidents in Barrow, Alaska, Stella Oleson relocates to Los Angeles, where she intentionally attracts the attention of the local vampire population in order to avenge the death of her husband, Eben.

Director:

Ben Ketai

Writers:

Steve Niles (screenplay), Ben Ketai (screenplay)

Stars:

Kiele Sanchez, Rhys Coiro, Diora Baird

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kiele Sanchez	...	Stella
Rhys Coiro	...	Paul
Diora Baird	...	Amber
Harold Perrineau	...	Todd
Mia Kirshner	...	Lilith
Troy Ruptash	...	Agent Norris
Ben Cotton	...	Dane
Katie Keating	...	Jennifer
Katharine Isabelle	...	Stacey
James Pizzinato	...	Clyde
Peter Hall	...	Ship Captain
Stephen Huszar	...	Eben
Marco Soriano	...	Axel
Jackson Berlin	...	Ivan
John DeSantis	...	Gunther (as John De Santis)

Storyline

It has been a year since the isolated Alaskan town of Barrow's population was decimated by vampires during its annual month long sunset. Riddled with grief over the death of her husband Eben, bound by nightmares and void of all emotions beyond hate and sorrow, Stella Oleson has spent the past months traveling the world, trying to convince others that vampires exist. Met with skepticism and laughter, she is ready to throw in the towel when a group of lost souls offers an incredible opportunity: the chance to exact revenge upon Lilith, the vampire queen responsible for the assault on her sleepy Alaskan town. With nothing remaining to live for, and nothing left to fear, Stella joins their mission and ventures into the uncharted underbelly of Los Angeles where she pushes herself to the most extreme limits to stop the evil from striking again.

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Plot Keywords:

motel | hung by wrists | hung upside down | sex standing up | female rear nudity | 

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Taglines:

Don't walk into the dark.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence, language and some sexual content

Did You Know?

Trivia

Harold Perrineau and Kiele Sanchez had previously appeared together in the TV drama Lost.

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Connections

Referenced in 31 Days of Horror: Sequels! The Second Chapter (2019)

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Soundtracks

Sweet Annabelle
Written By: Ken Morrison
Performed By The Morrie Morrison Orchestra
Courtesy Of Crucial Music Corporation

User Reviews

Just so very...meh.

So I wasn't what you would call, a huge fan for the first 30 Days of Night movie. I hadn't read the graphic novel, but I heard the movie was a fairly accurate adaptation of it. I did enjoy it, but I felt the pacing was slow, the characters weren't very well acted or flushed out, and really for a movie...devoid of any extensive plot. It was a slow, but occasionally fun watch.

Dark Days, the straight to DVD sequel of 30DON, delivers a lot of the same, only with a smaller budget. The basic plot is as follows: Stella Oleson, one of the few survivors of the first movie (albeit played by a different actress), is out for revenge on all vampires for the death of her beloved husband Eben. She makes her way to a major city, where she holds what are essentially vampire awareness seminars as a way to draw out the occasional one or two inquisitive vampires. This catches the attention of a small pod of vampire hunters, who contact her for their crusade against the uber vampire...Lilith.

The plot really isn't too shabby, but feels very under worked in this film. The lead females' (except for Lilith who has maybe a total of 5-7 minutes screen time) have a pretty believable performance, the lead males are...eh...well they're there at least.

The special effects for a straight to DVD are actually really well done in this film, it's somewhere in between expensive made for TV movies and terrible Hollywood films that should never have made it to the big screen. Cgi isn't hokey, make-up design for the most part is pretty well done. Although the teeth prosthetic look well...well they're kind of like those fake vampire teeth you pick up in the 99c bin during Holloween. Some of the gruesome death scenes and graphic gore is done quite nicely though.

The reason I didn't really care for this movie is the pacing is just terrible. The plot doesn't have enough material to fill up an entire movie, so we get these long dull sequences that just feel like filler. The action isn't too bad, but all of it is filmed in darkness illuminated by flickering lights. The scenery is almost entirely a warehouse district, and tunnel scenes...which can easily BE shot in a warehouse, so your eyes will get bored with the sets. This combined with the sub-par acting by many individuals in this film...just made this film so very...meh.

Basically it was interesting enough that I was able to sit and finish watching it, but it's a completely forgettable film for anyone who's not a die-hard 30 DON fan. It's a fairly bland vampire action flick, personally if I were to watch it with company I'm fairly certain everyone would be too bored to finish it.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

30 Days of Night: Dark Days

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stage 6 Films, RCR Media Group, Ghost House Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1