Van Damme plays Rudy whose father, Oscar is an archaeologist. His father goes to Israel. When his father disappears, he goes to Israel to find him. The chief of police claims that his father never entered the country, but an old friend of his father’s was expecting him and before he could tell him more, some people start shooting at them. He manages to get away, and when he goes back to the police chief, he still refuses to believe that a crime has been committed. He then has Rudy deported, but Rudy convinces the police woman assigned to bring him to the airport not to and help him find his father. Written by {rcs0411@yahoo.com}

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A woman and a man awake in individual white cells in an abandoned prison or mental institution wearing only underwear and without any memory. They hear a strange and creepy noise and decide to look for a way out of the facility. They meet six other strangers in the same situation and one of them is attacked and killed by a shadow. While trying to escape from the place and the shadow, they find the brain washing apparatus with the indication that had been used eight times. When they meet the ninth stranger, they realize that one of them is lying and knows what have happened with them. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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A remake of the 1974 horror movie Black Christmas. The movie tells the story about Billy, a young boy who was abused by his mother as a child. While his mother was cheating on Billy’s father, she eventually killed his father and kept Billy in the attic - for good, while she was with her lover and starting a “new” family. As Billy’s mother fell pregnant with a daughter and treated her with love, which Billy had never experienced with his mother, Billy came out of the attic after years and brutally murdered his mother and her lover. Cut to present day, a group of eight sorority sisters consisting of Kelli (Katie Cassidy), Dana (Lacey Chabert), Lauren (Crystal Lowe), Megan (Jessica Harmon), Claire (Leela Savasta), Heather (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Megan (Jessica Harmon) and Melissa (Michelle Trachtenberg) and their house mother (Andrea Martin),who now live in Billy’s childhood home, find themselves being harassed by threatening and intimidating mystery phone-calls during Christmas Break and as one of the girls goes missing, the girls begin being murdered one by one by no other than Billy… Written by Anonymous

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Catharine Deane is a psychotherapist who is part of a revolutionary new treatment which allows her mind to literally enter the mind of her patients. Her experience in this method takes an unexpected turn when an FBI agent comes to ask for a desperate favour. They had just tracked down a notorious serial killer, Carl Stargher, whose MO is to abduct women one at a time and place them in a secret area where they are kept for about 40 hours until they are slowly drowned. Unfortunately, the killer has fallen into an irreversible coma which means he cannot confess where he has taken his latest victim before she dies. Now, Catherine Deane must race against time to explore the twisted mind of the killer to get the information she needs, but Stargher’s damaged personality poses dangers that threaten to overwhelm her. Written by Kenneth Chisholm {kchishol@home.com}

Set in 19th Century Canada, Brigette and her sister Ginger take refuge in a Traders’ Fort which later becomes under siege by some savage werewolves. And an enigmatic Indian hunter decides to help the girls, but one of the girls has been bitten by a werewolf. Brigitte and Ginger may have no one to turn to but themselves. Written by Wallace Entertainment

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Based on the true story of Henri Charriere, also known as Papillon, which is French for ‘butterfly’ (the character even sports a large tattoo of a butterfly. A petty criminal, Papillon is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a French penal colony in ‘Guiane’ (French Guiana, South America). Papillon is determined to escape but attempt after attempt meets with difficulty, resulting in eventual recapture. He continues his attempts to escape despite incarcerations in solitary confinement as punishment. Written by Reid Gagle

The Story

Josh Hartnett stars as Eben Oleson, Barrow, Alaska’s hard-working and dedicated sheriff. While most of Barrow’s citizens take off right before the sun disappears from their town for 30 days, Eben stays put – ready to take care of the remaining townsfolk no matter what the emergency. But even Sheriff Oleson can’t protect the people of Barrow from a pack of vampires who figure out a town pitched into darkness by 30 days without the sun is the perfect feeding ground.

Only a handful of Barrow folks survive the initial attack by the vampires who invade the town only after a crazy man longing to be a vampire (played by Ben Foster who is so good at playing loony) does all the dirty work. ‘The Stranger’ steals and then burns everyone’s cell phones making communication with the outside world difficult. He also kills off all the dogs so that they can’t alert their owners about the oncoming invasion of vampires.

Those lucky enough to elude the vampires first attack include Eben’s estranged wife Stella (Melissa George), Eben’s younger brother Jake (Mark Rendall) and a few other assorted Barrowians (or maybe it’s Barrowers). The ragtag collection of survivors must use all their skill and cunning to escape from being made into vampire chow.

The Cast

Danny Huston makes one of the creepiest vampires in film history as Marlow, the leader of the vampire pack. Huston’s just recognizable beneath the jagged vampire teeth and scary vampire makeup. Delivering choppy bits of dialogue in a strange, made-up vampire language, Huston is pure evil. When he tells one afternoon snack there’s no God, Huston cements his place in movie vampire history.

Josh Hartnett’s very convincing in the role of sheriff, carrying the majority of the scenes involving the Barrow survivors on his shoulders with no problem at all. George and Hartnett work well as a couple experiencing major marriage problems, and the rest of the cast do more than just scream and run around like chickens with their heads cut off. There’s a little more meat on these horror movie characters than is normal for the genre – and particularly for vampire movies – so that’s a refreshing change of pace.

The Bottom Line

The night feeders in 30 Days of Night are ugly, monstrous creatures who care nothing about those of us running around with beating hearts, other than how quickly they can kill us. These vampires are a far cry from the romanticized versions which populate TV shows. Their kills aren’t clean and neat and they aren’t accompanied by witty quips. This is a vampire story for those ready for a whole lot of gore, and for those able to accept without analyzing the rest of the plot. Puzzling over how the humans survive without heat or electricity in the freezing cold - or how they get by when they never seem to eat – is pointless. Ignore the gaping plot holes. It’s just a vampire movie, albeit one that’s a fresh, gruesomely fun take on the bloodsucking creatures.

Rebecca Murray
Hollywood Movies Guide

A Ronald Reagan-obsessed serial killer targets a bunch of hippies who are heading to a weekend-long concert.

Unfortunately the San Diego press wasn’t offered the opportunity to view the film in the IMAX format, but I can say the 3-D digital version screened for the media in my area (and on which I’m basing my review) was beyond gorgeous. 3-D’s never been one of my personal favorite formats, but Robert Zemeckis’ spectacular achievements have turned me into a real believer in the beauty of performance capture and 3-D.

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