'Night' and day

"We should have come here ages ago," says one vampire to another in the new horror film "30 Days of Night."

The first line of my "Night" review in The Washington Times should have said it all. But the film, out today on DVD, couldn't carry through on its premise. Here's the rest of my review:

"Here" is Alaska, and the bloodsucker has a point. What's taken Hollywood so long to set a vampire movie in a state with an entire month of darkness? And why did it take a graphic novel to supply the idea? The ingenuity behind "Night" doesn't stop with the setting. These vampires are cunning and fleet of foot, far meaner than Bela Lugosi in that billowing cape. And the peculiar culture of the Alaskan town makes the action more interesting than had we been invited into another haunted house.

But after ringing some clever new changes on the vampire theme, "30 Days of Night" ultimately falls back, hard, on familiar horror tropes. "Night" opens with the sun fading in a small Alaskan town where night reigns for a whole month this time of year. Most residents have fled for sunnier climes, but Sheriff Eben (Josh Hartnett) is still working the beat. He knows how to handle the terrain, day or night. In fact, he and his neighbors take pride in their ability to endure the elements.

Trouble begins just as the first of 30 nights falls. A group of sled dogs is slaughtered, and then power throughout the region goes out. A pack of vampires has descended on the town, though we never learn where they came from or why they chose this moment to strike. (The source material offers better details on both fronts.) Still, "Night" grabs us by the throat.

The vampires provide a relentless enemy, and the overcaffeinated score is as unsettling as the vampires' blood-smeared grins. And bravo to Ben Foster for adding to the suffocating sense of doom. His twitchy performance as a wannabe vampire is just plain creepy. Once our heroes get cornered, the vampires suddenly become easier to defeat. It's a common flaw in modern horror films — establish the monster as all but unstoppable, then let the heroes find a way to defeat them that defies the established logic.

"Night" comes on the heels of other comic book/graphic novel adaptations, like "300" and "Sin City." Those films delivered stark visuals, gray and white compositions that could be hung in a gallery. But director David Slade quickly loses interest in his canvas. His sole inspired shot, and it's a stunner, presents a bird's-eye view of the vampires streaming through the town chasing down their hopelessly slow-footed human prey. The vampire film gets made over more times than Madonna — too bad "30 Days of Night" doesn't have the ambition to pump the genre up with all-new blood.