One year ago, a clan of vampires devastated the small Alaskan town of Barrie during its annual month-long sunset. Now Stella Oleson, a survivor of the rampage, has moved to Los Angeles and is purposely seeking out and attempting to expose the local vampire population in order to exact revenge for the death of her husband, Eben.
Stella's work is cut out for her as she is up against the skepticism of the local population, a government bent of covering up the truth and, of course, the vampires themselves. But she has found others who have also been the victims of the vampires and who are also out for vengeance.
Ultimately, Dark Days is an action movie wherein the bad guys happen to be vampires. The connection to the original is only really through the main character, Stella, and even she is played by a different actor. The vampires themselves just don't seem as menacing and unbeatable as in the original. The fact that they can be moved down by machine gun fire makes them seem a lot more mortal than in 30 Days of Night.
Dark Days totally lacks the creepy atmosphere of the original, which was set in Barrie, Alaska, during a month of darkness and on the backdrop of soon to be blood-drenched snow. This time we find ourselves in Los Angeles. Why on Earth are vampires setting up shop in such a sunny locale? Do they have part-time aspirations as movie stars? It's not exactly as spooky and doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense.
Add on a smaller budget and a weaker plot and you have a sequel that is far from being up to par with 30 Days of Night, which was a really excellent vampire movie. But if you happen to be in the mood for a action-packed shoot 'em up adventure with vampires then I guess you've hit the jackpot. At least it's not Twilight.
2.5 vampire vacation cruises out of 5
Rated R for bloody violence, language and some sexual content.
Watch the Dark Days trailer.
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