Stella Oleson (Kielen Sanchez), the only survivor of the horrors that occurred at the hands of vampires, is fighting to expose the truth on the government cover up of the events in Alaska. Stella is not alone and three vampire hunters approach her, Paul (Rhys Corio), Todd (Harold Perrineau), and Amber (Diora Baird). Their proposition scares Stella at first, but once she finds out they are making their way to Los Angeles to kill the leader of the vampires, Lilith (Mia Kirshner), she decides is time to strap on some weapons and go do some hunting of her own in order to find some closure.
The release of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days in the form of direct to video left some skepticism among fans of the original film. Anyone who has seen the first knows it contained plenty of gore, plenty of blood, and enough scares to leave a horror fan satisfied. However, the sequel appears to have forgotten what the first film laid in front of it. At this point it seems that the direct to video label continues to be bad. What is left over is the name of the first film and its premise, other than that it remains unoriginal. I can’t get my head around how badly this movie came to be really, when the first had so much potential for a remake and left everything ready for a possible franchise to emerge from it, but I guess a bigger budget wasn’t ready for a proper sequel.
Dark Days follows up the events from the first film and Stella, the main protagonist, is the same character. However, it is not the same actress and the acting has suffered a considerable toll. The entire film had some questionable acting, but that’s just the beginning of the other issues. Special effects are cheap and story was very predictable. The sequel was gory and bloody, but far from carrying the same scares as the first. Could be me, but the sequel was just trying to capitalize on the name of the first movie. A proper sequel with a bigger budget would probably have done better justice to the first film.
30 Days of Night: Dark Days arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4-AVC framed at 1.85:1. Colors are well reproduced even though the film is primarily overwhelmed by darker scenes. Black levels are deep and inky, but they do overwhelm the picture in a few scenes that take away from some of the detailing in the background. The detailing in the film is great throughout and it features a very stale look. Skin tones are reflective of the surroundings and difficult to pass judgment on. Dark Nights looks fine on Blu-ray.
30 Days of Night: Dark Days arrives on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track. This is another top notch on a title that seems to have underperformed in terms of the film, but regardless Sony’s commitment is commendable. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout. The track is spacious and it takes no time to let you know how well it can handle anything thrown at it. Ambience effects are used subtlety, but effectively. Screams and screeches can eerily be heard with clear precision through the surrounds. Gunshots come across the soundstage with strength and personality with the help of the bass. Dark Days is not a perfect track, but it does a good job with the task at hand.
Audio Commentary – This track features co-writer/director Ben Ketai and producer J.R. Young. The track covers the basic topics like casting, filming, creative choices, etc. It’s a decent track that some of the fans of the film might enjoy.
The Gritty Realism of Dark Days – This feature gives the cast and crew an opportunity to talk about the film among other topics.
Graphic Inspirations: Comic to Film – This feature is neat, it lets the user browse through a few pages of the comic and selecting a page brings up a behind the scenes featurette. There are a few featurettes and they all very in length.
Trailers – Red Hill, Game of Death, Faster, The Experiment, Harry Brown, Takers, 30 Days of Nights, Breaking Bad, and Fearnet.com.
I was seriously expecting something better, I didn’t necessarily have high expectations, but given the track record of the first it felt like a letdown. I am sure there are people out there that will enjoy this direct to video sequel and I am sure there is a much bigger crowd that will not like this film. The Blu-ray features a good set of video and audio transfers. There is a variety of supplements that are worth the time so if you like the film take your time to see what else in included in this release. If you are a fan of horror and have no problem with cheesy vampire flicks, by all means take a gander. Otherwise I’d suggest to take your money elsewhere.
