When most people think of comic book movies they think of superheroes. While Marvel didn’t exactly invent the genre, the MCU has certainly put it front and center when it comes to entertainment, delivering some of the biggest box office hits of the last 20 years. But while superhero movies are massive, they aren’t the only comic book stories that get brought to life on the big screen. Horror comics also get adapted and have given movie fans some truly iconic—and terrifying—films. Now, one of them is free to stream this month on Pluto TV.
Based on Steven Niles’ 2002 horror comic of the same name, 30 Days of Night was first released in theaters in 2007. The film, which stars Josh Hartnett and Melissa George, centers on a remote Alaskan town that finds itself beset upon by vampires during its 30-day-long polar night. The film was a box office hit and went on to kick off a franchise thanks to two television miniseries, the sequel feature Dark Days, and more.
While films like Let the Right One In, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Nosferatu frequently come to mind when we think of great vampire films. 30 Days of Night deserves to be in that conversation as well. It’s a film that takes a very different approach to the concept of the vampire. While certain vampiric elements remain standard—the consumption of blood, the nocturnal nature of the vampires—the monsters of 30 Day of Night aren’t gothic-toned immortals. These vampires have more in common with the zombies of The Walking Dead in that they’re feral, vicious, and horrifically violent. Sure, the vampires here are more methodical and organized (these aren’t mindless creatures, they’re intelligent and their leader Marlow is chilling) but that only makes them scarier.
It’s the inelegant, focused brutality of 30 Days of Night that makes it work so well as a straight up horror movie but also lets it shine as a vampire film. It’s refreshing, as the movie’s story makes no effort to humanize it’s monsters the way we frequently see in vampire movies. It is, in its nearly purest form, a good versus evil story where everything has insane stakes. Because it’s so different than one might expect from a vampire movie, it delivers in ways that most comic book horror movies don’t and it’s one that you do not want to miss this month on Pluto TV. Bonus? The sequel, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days is also free to stream.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
