- Genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Suspense/Horror, Thriller and Adaptation
- Release Date: October 19th, 2007 (wide)
- Distributors: Sony Pictures Releasing
- U.S. Box Office: $39,568,996
- Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Jon Bennett, Mark Boone Jr.
Synopsis :
Barrow, Alaska, is preparing for its annual "30 days of night", a period during the winter when the sun will not be seen: some inhabitants leave for Fairbanks or other parts south. As the town gets ready, the Stranger (Ben Foster) rows ashore from a large ship and once in Barrow, he sets about sabotaging the town in the belief that the vampires will make him one of them if he helps them with their plans.
Barrow's sheriff, Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) investigates these crimes. As he does so, he learns that his estranged wife, Stella Oleson (Melissa George), missed the last plane out of town and will have to spend the 30 day period in Barrow. Although they try to avoid one another, when Eben confronts the Stranger in the town diner, she helps subdue him and take him to the station house.
From the jail cell, the Stranger taunts Eben, Stella, Eben's teenage brother, Jake (Mark Rendall) and grandmother, telling them that death is coming for them. Just then, vampires attack the local telecommunications center and power supply, rendering the town dark and cut off from the outside world. Eben goes to the telecommunications center and finds the operator's head on a spike. He and Stella then go through town, trying to find the ones responsible for the gruesome crimes.
Meanwhile, the vampires, led by Marlow (Danny Huston) attack the town. The vampires speak in an ancient, guttural language, clarified by subtitles. Unless they are shot in the head, bullets are useless against them, and they slaughter most of the town, including Eben's grandmother, while the survivors congregate in the diner. The vampires attack Eben and Stella but Beau Brower (Mark Boone Junior), the local snowplow driver, rescues them. Everyone decides to go to the boarded up house of someone who had left town earlier that day. The house has a hidden attic where they will be able to hide. Marlow finds the Stranger in the jail and assures him that they will will take care of him. then, rather than turning him into a vampire as the Stranger wished, kills him instead. Marlow orders the vampires not to transform anyone into one of them; they will slaughter the town and then disappear in order to preserve modern humanity's belief that vampires are "only bad dreams" and nothing more.
Over the next week, Eben, Stella, Jake and seven others stick it out in the attic. They fight about leaving but most stay; only Wilson and his senile father, Isaac are lost. Eben ventures out to try to help a stray survivor, being used by the vampires as bait for any other survivors. During his attempt, he finds John Riis, in the crawlspace under a building and attempts to help him. He discovers however that he had become a vampire, and ends up killing him. In the process he learns that beheading the vampires will kill them.
When a blizzard hits, Eben and the others use the whiteout conditions to make it to the general store. There, a young girl vampire attacks and wounds one of them. The whiteout conditions end, preventing them from making it back to the abandoned house under cover. Eben decides everyone should go to the police station. He will provide a diversion by running to his grandmother's house to retrieve an ultraviolet lighting system. Eben makes it to the house, turns on the generator and turns the light on the vampires who have followed him. It hideously burns a female vampire named Iris, forcing Marlow to kill her. Eben escapes the house followed by the vampires. Beau comes to the rescue, killing many of the vampires with his backhoe. He crashes into a hotel and then ignites a box of dynamite using road flares, trying to kill himself. His ploy is unsuccessful though as Beau lives through the blast and Marlow crushes his skull, but it gives Eben the time to make it to the police station. There, the wounded member, Carter Davies (Nathaniel Lees) turns into a vampire. With some shred of his humanity left, he asks Eben to behead him because he wants to remain faithful to the team and not harm them. Eben complies.
Two more weeks pass. Stella and Eben find his deputy, Billy Kitka (Manu Bennett), signaling them with a flashlight from across the street. Eben and Stella make it to Billy's house. When the vampires attacked, he killed his wife and daughters but his gun apparantly jammed when he tried to commit suicide. Stella and Eben take him back to the station house. There they learn that the others have made it to the utilidor, a power station that controls the oil pipeline, the only structure that still has power. Eben, Stella and Billy begin to sneak towards the utilidor. Stella stops to rescue a young girl, Gail Robbins, who is being stalked by a vampire, Zurial (John Rawls). Eben and Billy try to distract him while Stella gets the girl to safety. Instead, Billy and Eben are separated. They both eventually make it to the utilidor, but another vampire follows Billy inside.
Eben is happy to see the rest of the survivors have made it alive. The vampire attacks Billy, ripping into his neck and dazing him. When the vampire turns to attack Eben, Billy gets up and knocks it into the gears of the utilidor's pump, shredding the creature. Billy's arm gets caught in the gears as well and his entire forearm is completely gone. Billy screams in pain as Eben tries to calm him down. Eben then realizes that Billy's screams become vampiric shrieks. Eben is then forced to kill Billy with an axe, beheading him.
The sun is due to rise in a few hours. The vampires decide to burn the town to cover their tracks to preserve the thought that they don't exist. Stella radios to Eben that she and the young girl are hiding under an abandoned truck across the street from the utilidor, the flames rapidly approaching them. Realizing he cannot beat the vampires as a human, Eben injects himself with Billy's infected blood so he can fight them as a vampire. He and Marlow fight a vicious battle. As the battle comes to a close, Marlow charges Eben as Eben throws a punch. The punch, empowered by Eben's vampiric super-strength, runs through Marlow's mouth and out the back of his head, killing him. Leaderless, with the sun about to rise, the other vampires disappear.
Eben and Stella watch the sunrise together. While Stella rests on Eben's shoulder, they share one last kiss. Stella holds Eben tightly in her arms as he lets out a bloodcurdling scream. His body slowly burns until there is nothing left but ash. The end of the film is marked as Stella closes her eyes, cradling Eben's ashen corpse.
