"30 Days of Night"

Movie number 5: "30 Days of Night".
Anyone who knows me, or even anyone that's just read some of my previous AMN (Alphabetical Movie Night) posts on here, will know that I do NOT like horrors, or vampires, or anything with do much blood and gore and viloence. So, I wasn't too stoked when I learnt that JP owns "30 Days of Night".

Tonight I'm feeling a wee bit unwell - earache etc, but I was feeling the guilts from JP cause he really really really wanted to watch it tonight. So I put on my woolie jumper, track pants and slippers, got myself a hot cup of peppermint tea, turned on ALL the lights in the lounge, and sat myself down in front of the telly. I was also very greatful when my cat Bunker came to sit on my lap - he was good for extra comfort!

I was a little intrested in watching this movie as it was filmed in NZ and my sisters partner (we'll call him MS) did some sound engineering work on it. Once the credits rolled, I had my nose up close to the telly, just waiting for his name, and there it was - Assistant Dialogue Engineer: MS. VERY COOL!

It stars Josh Hartnett and Melissa George as the law enforcers of a small town at the very top of Alaska. A town that every year for 30 days the sun doesnt' come up. While most of the more intellegent people leave town for this month, a select few made the mistake of staying behind. As soon as the sun goes down the town is cut of from the rest of the world and that's when the vampires arrived. They proceed to rampage through the town, hunting and killing almost everyone they find. A handful of people, led by Josh Hartnetts character, spend most of the movie either running from shelter to shelter or getting killed off. Of course by the end of the day only a very small handful of people have survived, all thanks to a heroic Josh Hartnett.

I didn't like it, but we all know that. What I did like was the constant parade of characters played by known Australian and New Zealand actors. I counted at least two ex - "Home & Away"ers and several ex "Shortland Street"ers. You'd have never known it was filmed in NZ if Marj from Shortland Street wasn't in it!

I had to have a wee giggle at the "language" the vampires spoke, which reminded me about a very amusing and ongoing joke amongest me and my workmates regarding secret gibberish codes (you have to be part of the elite "cool" crowd to realllly understand what I'm talking about here, but trust me it's funny. ;)

To be fair, there wasn't any cheesy dialogue, or totally typical points, although you could probably have predicted the ending right at the start.

I do like to talk to the tv, especially during movies I don't particularly like (almost as a self-soothing mechanism?!(wow, how self-actualised did that sound?!) (or, that even?!)). But I'm fast discovering that JP doesn't really appreciate that I do it, or that I ask questions like "How is it possible that no one or any thing can get to the town, just cause it's dark?" or "If they are stuck in the attic for 7 days, how are they going to the toilet?". Or that I make comments such as "It's been 27 days, I bet they smell bad" or "That's the guy that played Vinnie on Shortland Street". Sorry mate, but it's just the way I am :) Plus, I've threatened to play "The Sound of Music" on the sing-a-long version if he continues to mock my way of dealing with movies I find disturbing.

Overall, not something I'll ever watch again, but only because I don't like that sort of thing. Probably a good one to watch for those of you that do. I'm not the best person to be taking vampire movie advise, so I'll leave it to JP to offer that opinion.

Next movie? - "40 Days and 40 Nights". Another Josh Hartnett movie, but this time one thats much more my cup of tea.