In 2007 the vampire subgenre was almost reinvigorated. Whilst Buffy and Angel (awesome as they were) had made vampires more relatable, 30 Days of Night came along and brought the bloodsuckers gnashing and growling to the big screen with an animalistic ferocity that made them genuinely scary for the first time in years. A stylish, neat and visceral mainstream action horror, it was a superb and necessary step in showing that vampires can still send a chill down your spine. Then, a year later, something terrible happened. Twilight.
Now to be perfectly honest, Twilight isnt a bad film in itself. Its just that the effect its had on the vampire flick has been absolutely devastating. No longer are vamps blood-sucking phantoms thatll stop at nothing to sink their pearly whites into your jugular. Theyre now sparkly, moaning teenagers who would rather whinge about their man-period than rip some poor unsuspecting victims throat out. Now this wouldnt be a problem if it was a one-off, but due to the entire teenage demographic of the western world going batshit for the all things Twilight, its spawned a bunch of sequels and opened the floodgates for a heap of other pieces of frightless vampire shite to come sniffling to the masses like an injured puppy. Naturally, theyre all a far cry from the tons of genuinely scary vampire tales that came before. As such, any hopes that 30 Days of Night would cause the genre to step back into terror territory were dashed within a year.
With the term straight-to-video no longer being synonymous to fucking awful, the idea of a 30 Days of Night sequel hitting shelves sounds more like a beacon of hope for the vampire movie than another crappy entry into a subgenre thats getting more and more tedious as it rapidly expands. Sadly, Dark Days falls somewhere in the middle. Definitely not quite as wussy as its teary-eyed contemporaries, it retains the aggression and blood thirst of the original.
Picking up where the first flick left off, Dark Days sees Stella travelling the States in an attempt to spread awareness of the neck-chompers existence. Before long shes in Los Angeles and catches the eye of a band of vampire hunters that are looking to bring down their species by offing their mysterious leader Lilith.
First things first, Dark Days feels like a radical departure from its big bro. For one thing, it lacks the hook that made the first one kinda cool namely the danger of constant darkness in a remote location. Secondly, Melissa George has been replaced by the vastly different-looking Kiele Sanchez in the lead role. As such, for the most part it doesnt even feel like it has anything to do with the original. With the plot being far from inspired and the whole experience suffering from some mild pacing issues, its unlikely to defy the odds and turn the genre around.
However, its far from dreadful. The vampires are still (relatively) fierce and eerie (though not quite to the extent of the first film), the effects are impressive and there are some pretty awesome deaths that include shooting a vampires head into pulp and smashing another ones face in with a cinder block. It makes for some pretty jaw-dropping viewing at points. On top of that, the acting is nothing to sniff at as Harold Perrineau, Rhys Coiro and Kiele Sanchez deliver their performances with more enthusiasm than youd expect from a direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray horror sequel. Still, its not quite enough to help it meet the standards of the first 30 Days of Night. Rather it remains an inoffensive but uninspired instalment into a genre that were very much stuck with for the time being.
Still, in terms of the Blu-ray, it certainly lives up to the high standards set by the originals high def outing. The darkly lit scenes all look fantastic with every subtle black tone standing out clearly. Similarly the detail in the lighter scenes is pin-sharp. With the transfer also handling fast movement with aplomb its a disc that, dare I say, is perfect in terms of image quality. With the high def audio being equally flawless and immersive, its a beautiful disc for showing off the technical capabilities of a home cinema system. While the special features arent up to much, its hardly a big loss as the film isnt really good enough to warrant a massive demand for related materials. Still, its an impressive disc for a film thats not quite as good as youd hope, but much better than it could have been.
Overall Verdict: Yet another foray into the ever-increasing vampire genre, Dark Days manages to have much bigger fangs than its competition in terms of terror, even if its not a particularly great flick. Awesome looking Blu-ray though.
Special Features:
PS3 Wallpaper Theme
Filmmaker Commentary
The Gritty Realism of Dark Days
Graphic Inspirations: Comic to Film
Reviewer: Jordan Brown