Barrow, Alaska is a cold, lonely place. It’s even lonelier when the sun dips below the horizon for a full month and the local sheriff realizes his town is being hunted by something that doesn't just want to kill—it wants to feed. When David Slade brought the cast of 30 days of night together in 2007, he wasn't just making another generic vampire flick. He was reinventing the monster. Gone were the capes and the brooding romance. These vampires were sharks in human skin.
Honestly, the movie worked because the people in it felt real. You’ve seen horror movies where the protagonists are just "victim #3" or "the guy who trips over a twig." This was different. Josh Hartnett and Melissa George carried a weight that made the stakes feel heavy. It’s been nearly twenty years since those screeching, black-eyed monsters hit the big screen, and looking back at the ensemble today reveals why the film remains a cult masterpiece of the genre.
Josh Hartnett and the Weight of Eben Olemaun
At the center of it all is Eben. Josh Hartnett was at a weird point in his career back then. He was the "it" boy of the early 2000s, but he started pivoting toward grittier, more intense roles. Playing Eben Olemaun required a specific kind of exhaustion. He wasn't playing a superhero; he was playing a guy who just wanted to protect his younger brother and keep his crumbling marriage from falling apart while the world literally went dark.
Hartnett’s performance is understated. You can see the gears turning as he realizes they aren't dealing with a prank or a typical homicide. There’s a scene where he has to execute a neighbor who has turned, and the look on his face isn't one of triumph. It’s pure, unadulterated trauma. That’s the human element. Hartnett’s presence anchored the movie. Without his groundedness, the supernatural elements might have felt campy. Instead, they felt like a death sentence.
The Dynamics of a Broken Marriage
Melissa George played Stella Olemaun, Eben’s estranged wife. Her character wasn't just a damsel in distress. She was a Fire Marshal. She had her own agency. The chemistry between George and Hartnett didn't feel like a movie romance; it felt like two people who had a lot of history and very little time left to process it. George brought a sharpness to Stella. When she’s trapped under that car, you aren't just watching a jump scare. You're watching a woman fight for every breath in sub-zero temperatures.
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Danny Huston and the Birth of the Apex Predator
We have to talk about Marlow. If you want to know why the cast of 30 days of night is so highly regarded by horror nerds, look no further than Danny Huston. Most movie vampires talk too much. They explain their plans. They wax poetic about immortality. Marlow doesn't do that. He barely speaks English, and when he does, it’s to mock the very idea of hope.
Huston is a tall, imposing guy with a voice like gravel being crushed. He worked with a linguist to develop the clicking, guttural language the vampires use in the film. It sounded alien. It sounded like something that hadn't been human for a thousand years. When he stands in the middle of the street and says, "No God," it’s one of the most chilling moments in 21st-century horror. It wasn't just the makeup—it was the posture. Huston moved like a wolf. He didn't walk; he prowled.
Ben Foster’s Unsettling Cameo
Before the vampires even show up, the movie introduces "The Stranger." Ben Foster is one of those actors who just disappears into a role, and here, he’s basically the harbinger of doom. He’s the guy in the diner eating raw meat and telling everyone they’re going to die. It’s a small role in terms of screen time, but it sets the entire tone. Foster’s twitchy, bug-eyed energy makes you uncomfortable before a single drop of blood is even spilled. He’s the bridge between the human world and the nightmare coming for Barrow.
The Supporting Players Who Made Barrow Feel Alive
A horror movie is only as good as the people you don't want to see die. The cast of 30 days of night was packed with character actors who made the town of Barrow feel lived-in.
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- Mark Boone Junior as Beau Brower: You might know him from Sons of Anarchy. In this film, he plays the town's grumbly snowplow driver. He’s the guy who finally snaps and uses his heavy machinery to take some of the monsters down with him. His sacrifice feels earned. It’s messy and violent.
- Mark Rendall as Jake Olemaun: Eben’s younger brother. He provides the emotional stakes for Eben. Seeing a teenager forced to grow up and hold a shotgun against ancient monsters adds a layer of desperation to the narrative.
- Manu Bennett as Deputy Billy Kitka: Before he was Crixus in Spartacus or Deathstroke in Arrow, Bennett was a soft-spoken deputy. His character’s fate is arguably the most tragic in the film. The scene in the tool shed? Brutal. It’s the moment the audience realizes no one is safe. Not even the "good guys."
Why the Casting Choices Broke the Mold
Most horror movies of that era were chasing the Scream or Saw trends. They were either meta-slasher flicks or "torture porn." Director David Slade and producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert went a different way. They cast actors with dramatic weight. They treated the source material—the graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith—with a weird amount of respect.
The makeup by Weta Workshop was incredible, sure. But makeup only goes so far. You need actors who can act through the prosthetics. The actors playing the vampires had to wear these massive black sclera lenses that basically made them blind. They were stumbling around in the dark, in freezing New Zealand locations (doubling for Alaska), yet they managed to convey a coordinated, hive-mind intelligence.
The Physicality of the Performance
The vampires weren't just actors in face paint. They were performers who had to learn a specific way of moving. They didn't use their hands like humans. They used them like claws. If you watch the background of the "overhead massacre" shot—one of the most famous shots in horror history—you see the cast of 30 days of night moving in sync. It’s predatory. It’s efficient. It’s scary because it looks like nature taking its course, not a movie monster choreographed for a jump scare.
Common Misconceptions About the Production
Some people think the movie was filmed in Alaska. It wasn't. It was filmed in New Zealand. The "snow" was mostly salt and citric acid, which apparently stung the actors' eyes and skin. This added to the palpable sense of misery on screen. When you see Josh Hartnett looking like he’s over it, he probably was.
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Another thing people get wrong is the "vampire rules." This isn't Twilight. There are no sparkles. There are no crosses or garlic. The cast had to play these scenes with the understanding that their characters were facing a biological threat, not a religious one. That shift in perspective changed how the actors reacted to the monsters. They weren't praying; they were trying to find bigger guns.
The Legacy of the 2007 Ensemble
Looking back, the cast of 30 days of night represented a high-water mark for mid-budget horror. We don't get many movies like this anymore. Nowadays, it’s either a $200 million franchise or a $5 million indie. This was a gritty, R-rated, mean-spirited survival story that took its characters seriously.
Josh Hartnett eventually stepped away from the Hollywood machine for a while, later resurfacing in projects like Penny Dreadful and Oppenheimer. You can see the seeds of his later work in Eben. The stillness. The intensity. Melissa George went on to become a scream queen in her own right with Triangle. Danny Huston continued to be the best "refined villain" in the business.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans and Collectors
If you're revisiting the film or discovering it for the first time, there are a few things you should do to really appreciate what this cast pulled off.
- Watch the "Behind the Fangs" Featurettes: If you can find the old DVD or Blu-ray extras, watch the segments on the vampire language. Seeing Danny Huston and the others practice those clicks and hisses makes the performance even more impressive.
- Compare to the Graphic Novel: Steve Niles wrote the screenplay along with Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson. Notice how the actors captured the "jagged" feel of the original art. Hartnett’s Eben is much more sympathetic than the comic version, which was a deliberate and smart choice for the film.
- Check out the Sequel (With Caution): There is a sequel, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. It features a different cast (Kiele Sanchez takes over as Stella). It’s a very different vibe—more of an action-revenge flick—but it shows just how much the original cast brought to the table. Most fans agree the first one is the only one that truly captures the dread.
- Look for the Cameos: Keep an eye out for Andrew Stehlin as Arvin. He’s a stuntman who brings a terrifying physicality to the vampire ranks. His movements are often the ones used in the most violent "feeding" scenes.
The movie works because it treats the premise with total sincerity. There’s no winking at the camera. There are no jokes. When the cast of 30 days of night looked out into the darkness of that fake Alaskan night, they looked like they were seeing the end of the world. And for the people of Barrow, it was.
To truly appreciate the film today, focus on the sound design and the silent performances of the vampire horde. While the leads carry the story, the unnamed actors in the background create the atmosphere of a town being systematically erased. If you haven't watched it in a few years, put it on during a cold night, turn the lights off, and pay attention to Danny Huston's eyes. It still holds up. Get the 4K restoration if you can; the contrast between the white snow and the black vampire eyes is exactly how the film was meant to be seen.