30 Days of Night proves that a great premise and accomplished technical execution don't mean squat if you don't actually successfully write and direct a movie. No offense to David Slade, who proved he can take the reigns as a director with the underrated Hard Candy, or the trio of writers who adapted the legendary graphic novel. But so many things went wrong before film even rolled on 30 Days of Night that there was no way to save the final product. The emphasis is so heavy on the visual experience in the latest vampire tale that anything that approaches character, logic, or plot gets completely discarded. This one makes the Underworld movies look downright logical. Now, like those movies, late at night and in the right mood, 30 Days of Night could be the perfect bloody bite, but it's got some serious problems by the light of day. A DVD that favors the technical over the logical with a solid video/audio transfer and numerous featurettes about the production, 30 Days of Night will appeal to movie fans who value a film's look above everything else. But if you're the type to question the movies you see, Night is not for you.

The premise of 30 Days of Night most definitely rules, but you can't give the movie too much credit for that one. Based on a hugely popular graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, 30 Days of Night is set in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States. There's one month in every year when the city goes completely dark. Not a bad place for vampires, right? The lack of sun gives a few creatures of the night (led by the typically-great Danny Huston), the chance to turn the entire city into a 24-hour buffet. These vamps are smarter than average and they start by separating the getaway sled dogs from their innards and somehow know they need to destroy all of the cell phones in town. The electricity gets cut and the creatures of the night start to feed. Josh Hartnett stars as the Barrow Sheriff, the man tasked with saving as many people as possible from this feast of blood.

30 Days of Night looks great because the color and light choices of Slade leap from the screen on the well-produced Sony DVD. All of the design elements of 30 Days of Night are highly interesting and engaging and their execution is well-documented on a series of eight featurettes and a great commentary with Hartnett, co-star Melissa George, and producer Rob Tapert. Wit so many tracks out there that feature the writers and directors, it's nice to get a break from the technical dryness to hear a commentary with some on-camera talent. Slade and his team are well-represented in the featurettes, so why not give the actors a chance to speak on the commentary? It's a cool change-of-pace and it's the best thing about the 30 Days of Night DVD. Sadly, it's not the movie. The creation of the vibrant visual sheen that's so essential to 30 Days of Night might be well-documented but there's one question never well-answered - to what end?

Note: One final thing. Sony has included a whole episode of the anime series Blood+ on the 30 Days of Night DVD and we can't stress enough how much we like this idea. Blood+ is a series that would probably appeal to fans of 30 Days of Night, but one that many are unlikely to have heard of before. It's a feature idea that more studios should follow - giving them a sample of another product that they might like even more but hasn't gotten as much exposure.