30 Days of Night

The comic David Slade adapted began as a rejected film pitch. Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith turned it into a three issue IDW miniseries in 2002, and only then did it become a film. The real darkness over the town lasts nearly twice as long as the title says. In Utqiagvik the sun goes down on 18 November and does not return until 23 January, roughly 66 days. The film cuts that to 30 and counts them off with title cards. These vampires are not silent. Slade had a linguist in Auckland help build a language of click consonants limited to basic actions, hunting, eating, yes and no, and the dialogue is subtitled. Vicente, the head vampire of the comic, is replaced by Marlow, played by Danny Huston. Shooting took place in New Zealand. It opened on 19 October 2007 in 2,855 cinemas and took first place that weekend. At the 34th Saturn Awards it was nominated for Best Horror Film and for Best Make-up, with Davina Lamont and Gino Acevedo named; both went elsewhere. A good fit if you accept vampires who speak an invented tongue you have to read, and a sheriff whose answer finishes him too. Not for anyone who wants the creatures accounted for, because the film never says where they came from.