i've never cared for the vampire mystique. something about vampires' cool eroticism, their lurking in shadows just beyond the window frame, that leaves me cold. too mannered to be menacing, i suppose. the novels of anne rice about the vampire lestat i find boring. the same goes for the film versions. tom cruise and brad pitt are certainly beautiful creatures, yet i find their performances rather fey and quite simply silly. tom cruise certainly is other-worldly, but not so as a vampire.

the same goes for most vampire films. okay, bela lugosi is bad-ass, and jess franco's vampyros lesbos is a surreal gem. but on the whole, vampires and the entire cult of vampirism - those idiots running around claiming to be actual vampires - has me scratching my head wondering what the fuss is all about. could it be that body fluids are a taboo to be broken? could it be the fact that vampires live forever, are intelligent and tortured souls, can nuzzle up to satan, darth vader and dr octopus and still get the dudes/chicks?

who knows. i do know that i've just watched 30 days of night directed by david slade, who is unknown to me, but from this work i'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for more of his films. based on a graphic novel the set-up goes like this: a group of vampires led by danny huston [again, an unknown actor to me, but based on his performance a dude to watch for] as marlow attacks the citizens of barlow, alaska during the depths of winter where for 30 days every year the sun literally don't shine. most of the town's citizens leave during this period which slade covers in the 1st 10 minutes or so of screen-time.

so far so good. there are wonderful ambient shots of the town nestled above the arctic circle. the score is creepy, it is in fact so good and creepy that i stayed past the credits for as long as it played. the vampires' renfro then is dispatched to the town to kill all the sled dogs, destroy phone lines and internet connections, a helicopter and so forth. again, the tension is mounting.

by the time the vampires attack, it is so swift and sudden that even tho this film does not break new ground there are still plenty of jumps out of yr seat to be had. the initial attack lasts only minutes, and the rest of the film is yr rather standard zombie fare where the survivors hole up trying to hide from the marauders.

but even still, slade knows how to frame a shot. there is a wonderful tracking shot of the town from the air during the initial attack. the editing is crisp and powerful, and the photography enthralling to the ideas of man and beast as man. if a horror film is the sum of its set pieces than this one is a singular beauty.

character development is rather thin, but who cares. the hero of the film in my book is huston's marlow. the other hero is played by a game but rather bland josh hartnett as barlow's sherrif. oh yes, melissa george plays hartnett's estranged wife who gets trapped in the town just in time for the massive carnage. if the end of the film is rather sappy, so be it, for the preceding 80+ minutes were kick-freaking-ass adrenaline.

the vampires are nattily-dressed - even when blood-soaked they make their threads look good - and vaguely eastern-european. they speak a language that sounds like a cross between klingon and romanian. there is no explanation of origins and they are not tortured souls enduring an eternity of self-pity. they are predators. even tho the movie is rated a very hard r, and the cast plays it rather serious and dour, when the vampires attack they display a kind of child-like glee. the attacks are gory and have more in common with zombie killers than the gentle two-pronged love kiss of most vampire films.

this type of film ain't for everybody, and it is getting rather so-so reviews. however, if yr looking for a serious horror movie for halloween, see this movie.