I went to the movies this weekend to catch 30 Days of Night. Overall, I liked the film. Great story idea. I wasn’t even disappointed in the cast. I’d recommend it to horror movie fans.
I did have problems with the movie though… The pacing felt wrong, a little forced in places, and there were some logic flaws in how things went down. And once again I’m forced to ask why people who make movies have a hatred of “fade to black” cuts. Almost every cut in this movie is from a well lit scene to another well lit scene with no transition and sometimes they put text on the screen to let you know that time has passed. This kind of quick scene cut tends to heighten urgency, like you are supposed to be cutting from action to action, but when used between scenes that are supposed to be emphasizing loss and desperation, it just ruins the mood.
Example of quick cut:
Scene shows people locking themselves into a building. People settle down into corners, some near windows to keep watch. One person sets down a bag we previously saw get filled with supplies. Guy at the door says, “Looks like we’re stuck here for a while.” Quick scene cut. Text on the bottom of the screen says “Day 27”. People now look a little more tired, someone is licking the inside of a twinkie wrapper and the guy at the door says, “We can’t wait anymore.” …
Example of fade to black:
Scene shows people locking themselves into a building. People settle down into corners, some near windows to keep watch. One person sets down a bag we previously saw get filled with supplies. Guy at the door says, “Looks like we’re stuck here for a while.” Scene fades to black. Text on the bottom of the screen says “Day 27”. Scene fades in and people now look a little more tired, someone is licking the inside of a twinkie wrapper and the guy at the door says, “We can’t wait anymore.” …
This being a text medium and all, I’m not sure I’m getting my point across. Maybe I’ll need to drag out the video camera and shoot some short scenes, put them up on YouTube or something. I’ve just seen so many movies over the past couple of years that just didn’t communicate the passage of time.
30 Days of Night was a good movie. Semi-feral vampires are always better that Elizabethan top coat wearing gay vampires any day of the week. But at the end, it really only felt like 3 Days of Night at most. Worth seeing, but don’t pay full price.