30 Days of Night: Dark Days

They turned a gloriously atmospheric vampire flick into an action shoot-out. Cameron or Balagueró could pull off something like this, Slade maybe, too, but they shouldn’t replace the bloodsuckers with, well, bloodsuckers. Ben Ketai, however, who replaced Slade behind the camera, is barely an average craftsman and he made a film without originality, tension, or anything. I think it’s better to pretend that 30 Days of Night doesn’t have any sequel. PS: If you still don’t believe that this is so bad, let me tell you that I fell asleep during it, something that hadn’t happened to me for year or so. (24/09/2010)

It's beyond clear that the filmmakers were trying to ride the wave of success of the truly ingenious first film, but the result is a mess bordering on the catastrophic that not even the flashbacks or any references to the first installment can save (even though I uncritically admit that it was probably the only thing that raised a certain amount of hope in me... ah yes, nostalgia:)) And as far as any purely serious criticism, the second film is lacking in everything that was so unique and original about the first. There’s no psychology to speak of behind any of the characters here; it's a very mediocre, rather below average affair with a tragically impassable soundtrack. The absence of David Slade and Sam Raimi, the architects of the original film's success, speaks volumes. In all respects a textbook bad sequel, made only because of the undeniable quality of the first (and for me, only!) installment. (24/11/2013)