Title: 30 Days of Night: Dark Days
Starring: Kiele Sanchez, Rhys Coiro, Diora Baird, Harold Perrineau, Mia Kirshner
Duration: 90 minutes
Certificate: 18
Released: 11th October 2010
Just in time for Halloween 30 Days of Night II is the follow up to the film of the same name from 2007. I was pretty impressed by the original. It was a decent horror film let down only by some sloppy plotting in the final third. The vampires were scary and the set up was really well thought out and realised. So is this sequel of a sort any good? Well yes it is actually. It’s not really a sequel as most of the characters from the first film are of course dead and the action is also relocated to Los Angeles from the original setting of Alaska which was of course so clever in terms of the whole 30 days of Night idea.
Our heroine from the first film Stella Olemaun 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. She takes her chance to take revenge upon Lilith, the vampire queen responsible for everything that happened in Alaska in the first film.
Stella was originally played by Melissa George but George does not return for the sequel (she is now played by Kiele Sanchez) nor does original director David Slade which is a shame, he is replaced by Ben Ketai. So what we really have is an entirely new film right, with no real links to the original? Well not exactly, writer Steve Niles does return with a writing credit so there is some continuity. However you really will not need to have seen the first film in order to enjoy the second.
Dark Days ramps up the horror, gore and the frights. But what we have lost is the setting of Alaska as a haven for vampires and the closeness of the claustrophobic town under siege from vampires. In all honesty this sequel is not as good as the original. Well sequels rarely are. It tries earnestly enough but the higher budget and therefore production values of the original movie plus the originals slightly better calibre of actors shows through. And I never thought I’d say that Josh Hartnett was a high quality actor.
That said as a Halloween night rental or even a DVD purchase for a horror aficionado this is still pretty decent as a genre effort.
