30 Days of Night: Dark Days - DVD

Film: David Slade's adaptation of the graphic novel "30 Days of Night" by Steve Niles was a small success in the cinema. Nevertheless, the sequel did not make it into the cinema. The significantly lower budget is definitely noticeable in Ben Ketai's film. Compared to other cheap direct-to-DVD sequels - such as those to "Lake Placid" - "30 Days of Night: Dark Days" does surprisingly well, though.

After Stella (this time played by Kiele Sanchez) witnesses her vampire-turned-husband turn to ash, the broken woman henceforth travels across the U.S. to educate people about the existence of vampires. When a group of vampire hunters offer her the chance to join them and hunt down the Vampire Queen (Mia Kirshner), Stella agrees after some hesitation. But despite their best preparations, Stella and her new companions soon find that the vampires seem to be one step ahead of them...

"30 Days of Night: Dark Days" is not really a good movie. For example, it actually completely lacks the menacing atmosphere of the first part, which was achieved there by cutting people off from the outside world. Part 2 is really just a vampire action movie, which has some decent splatter interludes to offer, but hardly manages to build up real creepiness.

Positively, it should be noted that Ketai managed to make a movie with a relatively low budget, which can at least convince visually. The film doesn't necessarily come across as a cheap DVD production. Also, the fact that the movie isn't a pure copy of the first movie, but tries to go a new way (just like the underlying sequel of the graphic novel), is a positive thing. But unfortunately Ketai only partially manages to elaborate the positive aspects in a way that the film could noticeably benefit from them.

Whoever is looking for simple action horror will be entertained by "30 Days of Night: Dark Days". But who hopes for suspense, atmosphere and creepy bloodsuckers, will unfortunately be disappointed.

Picture + Sound: Technically, the disc is on a very good level. The picture seems stylistically a bit sterile, but can convince in terms of sharpness, contrasts and colors quite convincing. The sound is atmospheric and has some good multi-channel effects to offer. Good!

Extras: The DVD doesn't really have much in the way of bonus material to offer. An audio commentary by director Ben Ketai and his producer J.R. Young, and a short making of (about 10 min.) are the only bonus features on the DVD. The audio commentary is not uninteresting, even if the two gentlemen are a bit too convinced of their film and even want to sell obvious weaknesses, like the recasting of Stella, as a stroke of luck for the viewer. The making of is not uninteresting either, but at 10 minutes is far too short to be truly substantial.

Conclusion: "30 Days of Night: Dark Days", especially when compared to the first installment, is not really a good film. But as a direct-to-DVD production with a fairly low budget, the film can still provide at least decent entertainment. No unconditional purchase recommendation, but the walk in the video store can be quite suggested to genre fans

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp