I suppose that I should admit right up front that I’m a big fan of edgy horror comics. When it was announced that “30 Days of Night” was being made into a movie, I immediately went home, pulled the graphic novel from my bookshelf and re-read it, letting the anticipation simmer and build for the eventual movie release. When I read in “Variety” that they’d wrapped up principal photography, I went home and re-re-read the comic. I went to sleep that night with a big grin plastered across my face, thinking about how cool the movie was going to be. And now that this comic favorite of mine is finally in theaters, I decided to re-re-re-read the book one last time…

As you might have guessed, there’s no way that the film could ever possibly live up to the hype that I’ve created in my mind, but the film is still the film to see this Halloween season. It’s brutal and bloody and a lot of fun for those just looking for a scary good time at the movies. I wish that it had been scarier and I wish that it had a better cast of actors, but I suspect that most horror fans will be happy with these gory thrills.

The concept is so simple that it’s brilliant: we all know that vampires have to hide away during the day, so what would happen if they decided to go to Alaska during the winter months when it’s almost always night? Pick a sleepy town that’s cut off from the world and the bloodsuckers would have a 30 days to do whatever they wanted, with no pesky humans to track them down during the day.

Enter Josh Hartnett, playing the town sheriff, desperately trying to find a way to survive the vampire onslaught. He teams up with his estranged wife (Melissa George) and the few remaining townsfolk, but it becomes abundantly clear that these vampires are here to massacre the entire town. Led by Marlow (Danny Huston), this is a vicious pack of monsters intent upon nothing short of an orgy of blood and gore.

The onslaught is intense, leaving you on the edge of your seat for the full two hours. It also has a strangely beautiful visual impact, with all that crimson blood staining the white snow. The original comic was done as abstract art; this comes pretty close to recapturing the original style.

I’m still not convinced that Josh Hartnett has enough gravitas to be an effective leading man, and even those who haven’t read the book will be able to see where the story is headed from a million miles away, but great acting and writing have never been the foundation of successful horror movies. “30 Days of Night” succeeds because it has just enough scares and bloodshed to get your pulse racing. Besides, the “Saw” franchise is played out, so this is your best choice for fun frights before a night of track or treating.

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News.” Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kavutv.com.