Barrow, a small town perched on the edge of Alaska within the Arctic circle, is preparing for it’s annual month-long plunge into darkness. Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) begins to link together a series of strange crimes whose purpose becomes startlingly apparent as the darkness descends.  Deaths come thick and fast as a group of ferocious vampires terrorize the town. The only question is whether the survivors will ever see the sun again.

30 days of night is based upon a comic book written by Steve Niles and there are times when it feels those pages of terror are rendered strikingly onto film. It really is visually stunning in places. Most notable is the capture of the majestic snow covered land of northern Alsaka, and an overhead shot of the vampire’s attack on the town, making the whole scene graphically compelling.

Unfortunately the stylish shots aren’t there throughout the film. It’s a shame because they are the only real highlight. The premise of a small town cut-off from the rest of the world having to endue 30 days of terror couldn’t be better for a horror movie. The trouble is the film fails to be truly scary. There are too many close-up shots of vampires idly screaming into the night to garner any real suspense or frights.

The cast are fine and on the human side the plight of Barrow’s inhabitant’s makes sense and is handled well. Disappointedly the vampires don’t get off so easy and are almost an afterthought with no real focus or ambition. The leader is reduced to the odd ramble, as if to explain their presence or why they haven’t been detected for centuries. None of it comes off with any satisfying results. It’s annoying as this is one of those movies that feels it’s missed out on being a cult classic.

If you don’t take any of it seriously there is enough here for a couple of hours of gory fun. The only cringe worthy scene  is the final showdown between the Sheriff and the vampires. It couldn’t be more anti-climatic, only serving to completely undermine the preceding violence and gruesome blood sucking. The final violent act is a sadly comical ending for all concerned.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this movie or that is wasn’t worth watching. There’s just not enough to make you want to hide behind the sofa. It’s always disappointing when the instigators of horror fail to live up to their billing.