Shaw is an operative for the United Nations’ covert dirty-tricks squad, using espionage and quasi-ethical tactics to secure peace and cooperation. When a shipping container full of dead Vietnamese refugees turns up on the docks and China’s ambassador is gunned down at a dinner celebrating a new trade agreement with China and the US, Shaw is framed for the murder and must evade the FBI and Triad gangsters to find out what is really going on. Written by Jeff Cross {blackjac_1998@yahoo.com}

A lethal virus spreads throughout the British isles,infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. To contain the threat, acting authorities brutally quarantine the country as it succumbs to fear and chaos. The quarantine is successful. Three decades later, the Reaper virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, including Eden Sinclair, is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare. Written by Nicolettea

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An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is enlisted to prevent two angels from reentering Heaven and thus undoing the fabric of the universe. Along the way, she is aided by two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob. With the help of Rufus, the 13th Apostle, they must stop those who stand in their way and prevent the angels from entering Heaven. Written by Jerel Parenton {J.W.Parenton@student.tcu.edu}

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A rare mutation has occurred within the vampire community. The Reaper. A vampire so consumed with an insatiable bloodlust that they prey on vampires as well as humans, transforming victims who are unlucky enough to survive into Reapers themselves. Now their quickly expanding population threatens the existence of vampires, and soon there won’t be enough humans in the world to satisfy their bloodlust. Blade, Whistler (Yes, he’s back) and an armory expert named Scud are curiously summoned by the Shadow Council. The council reluctantly admits that they are in a dire situation and they require Blade’s assistance. Blade then tenuously enters into an alliance with The Bloodpack, an elite team of vampires trained in all modes of combat to defeat the Reaper threat. Blade’s team and the Bloodpack are the only line of defense which can prevent the Reaper population from wiping out the vampire and human populations. Written by Sean Daly

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The Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre (LETAC) has developed SID version 6.7: a Sadistic, Intelligent, and Dangerous virtual reality entity which is synthesized from the personalities of more than 150 serial killers. LETAC would like to train police officers by putting them in VR with SID, but they must prove the concept by using prisoners as test subjects. One such prisoner is ex-cop Parker Barnes. When SID manages to inject his personality into a nano-machine android, it appears that Barnes might be the only one who can stop him. Written by Murray Chapman {muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au}

Writer/director Takashi Shimizu took his Japanese blockbuster “Ju-On: The Grudge” and along with screenwriter Stephen Susco, revamped it for American audiences. The filmmakers cast familiar American actors, fleshed out the English-language version with unneeded extraneous scenes, and in a sense, dumbed it down. Plot points that were left up to your imagination in the original Japanese film are explained in detail in the new version. And while the original was creepy/spooky, the new one offers only a scattering of scary moments surrounded by scenes that only serve to test your patience and kill time.

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A DEA agent provides former Marine Tim Kearney with a way out of his prison sentence: impersonate Bobby Z, a recently deceased drug dealer, in a hostage switch with a crime lord. When the negotiations go awry, Kearney flees, with Z’s son in tow. Written by Anonymous

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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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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.