Ryan McFarland

We went to Seth’s this evening and watched 30 Days of Night. It’s a vampire movie set in Barrow, Alaska during the winter. I’m not a big fan of the horror genre in general but the premise for the movie (and book) is neat. The vampire weakness for ultraviolet radiation is moot during the perpetual darkness above the Arctic Circle. I partially think Seth invited us over because he didn’t want to watch it by himself on a dark Alaskan winter night in his remote cabin. But then again, he knows how much we like to watch movies — especially in his big high definition screen and on a Blueray disc. We brought one flashlight for the walk back to the car. I think he should install remote control lights like these hid boat lights. Right now, when you walk down the hill to his place the lights light up the last quarter of the path. But walking up the hill the sensor turns on after you have already walked that quarter of the path.

Back to the movie… as i said, nice premise. The special effects were pretty decent but a few things bothered me. The Alaska Pipeline is featured in the movie but the pipeline is 200 miles from Barrow. The “last flight” out of Barrow for thirty days? Alaska Airlines flies there daily. Oh — and 30 days? Barrow actually has 67 without direct sunlight. But they do experience a combined dawn/dusk during that time. Finally, the population in the movie supposedly drops from over 700 to under 200 for their 30 winter days. Barrow’s population exceeds Petersburg’s with over 4,000 people.