''30 Days Of Night"

30 Days of night is the horrendous story of the small town of Barrow, the northern most settlement in the United States. For 30 nights a year this small innocent town is plunged into total darkness and this is the time Marlow and his entourage of frenzied vampires choose to feed upon the unsuspecting townsfolk.

Really convincing and evil looking make up

The film came from a graphic novel and if the novel is as twisted as the film i credit the author. The original setting of the film really interested me. I think this was because the solar events which cause Barrow to suffer this blackout do actually happen, but with no vampires, I hope. The reality of their situation really went well with the fictional story which had been applied to it. A lot of the effects and make up are also really incredible with really viscous looking blood and pulsating wounds inflicted by the vampires. I especially like the glossy black eyes as I think good eyes makes a good vampire from a film perspective.





The sound the vampires make is also a vital part of their character as the gut wrenching wail of the vampires really gets into your head as a really unpleasant sound even to the viewer. The sound they make just adds another level to the brilliance of their design.

As far as being a horror film is concerned it comes off really well. First time i watched it i was really freaked out by some of the gruesome deaths which occur as well as the creeping tension when vampires are close but you cant quite see them. These both amount to a really quite frightening film to watch, especially on their own. The acting from Josh Hartnett was pretty good and he makes a convincing sheriff and overall hero of the story, a lot of the support cast are bad in places but they generally work well and pull off their characters.

I liked this film for its originality (not counting the graphic novel and vampire design. Both played a key role in making this film pretty terrifying.


7/10

''From Dusk 'Till Dawn''

Another Tarentino classic.. but in a different way. The incredible man himself stars in what is a very different yet very good rendition of the vampire mythology. The film stars Tarantino and George Clooney who are Richard and Seth Gecko respectively, who are on a brutal killing spree and are on the run across the USA. When i read the back of the DVD case the word that attracted me to it was 'Vampires'. Vampire are always fun, whether they are killing people or people are killing them or both and this film definitely doesn't disappoint with regards to people and vampires a like being horrifically disembowelled. 

What I really enjoyed about this film was the build up. The first half of the film is about the escaping of the two criminals across the border into Mexico. The two brothers manage this by taking a family hostage and forcing them to drive over the border. The family of 3 become integral characters as the brothers and family start to identify with one another once the common enemy of the vampire menace has been established 

I really like this shot as both Clooney and Tarantino look really menacing

One of the best things about the film is the art direction. The settings, costumes and models especially are really well done and are very grind-house esque. Here are some more of my favourite shots:

With this particular shot I love how that when the vampires turn up
and start eating people the environemt around them reflects the dramatic change.
for example in the image above the guitarist was playing a guitar and is now playing a human torso
just because the people look like vampires now.

Seth Gecko: One of the coolest and most ruthless characters ive seen in a film

The interesting thing about this film is that it completely changes your percpetion of vampires. In
From Dusk Till Dawn vampires arent sexy and cool, they're just monsters. The spin, style and
look of the vampires I thought was really refreshing as the ugliness and savagery of them makes
them scarier.

Great shot of the bar from the outside. Lighting compliments the colours.

actually pretty proud of this screenshot. Well timed I think and reflects the gross death of this guy

I also love how when the vampires die they turn into a skeleton immediately like the classic way of portraying dead vampires 

My favourite shot of the film. Total destruction.