The evidence has unequivocally shown that audiences love high concept horror movies, they also have a soft spot for vampires, and they can’t get enough of comic book adaptations, either. Strangely, then, when the three were combined in David Slade’s 30 Days of Night, it didn’t quite take off among critics or at the box office in the way many were expecting.
The snow-capped chiller was still a million miles away from being a commercial catastrophe, bringing in $75 million at the box office on a $30 million budget, before going on to generate in excess of $27 million in domestic DVD sales alone. In fact, 30 Days of Night proved so popular that it was followed by VOD sequel Dark Days, as well as prequel and sequel miniseries Blood Trails and Dust to Dust.
It’s the OG that’s painting the streaming ranks red at the moment, though, with 30 Days of Night having spent the weekend sinking its fangs into iTunes most-watched list, per FlixPatrol. The premise is an absolute doozy that’s as ingenious as it is simple; what happens when a town that doesn’t experience sunlight for a month is forced to deal with a vampire infestation? The answer is nothing good, nothing good at all.
Reviews may have been tepid at the time, but Hardy Candy director David Slade’s sophomore feature nonetheless marked him out as being a dab hand when it comes to blood, guts, and gore, while his experience in helming a hit movie about hordes of the bloodsucking undead may well have contributed to his next gig behind the camera being The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
