30 Days of Night: Graphic Novel vs. Movie
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
A growing trend in today’s film and television industry is the adaptation of comic books and graphic novels. The horror genre is no exception. So I thought I’d start writing some book-to-film comparisons for those of you who may be unfamiliar with one of them. We’ll begin with 30 Days of Night.
The graphic novel written by Steve Niles with art by Ben Templesmith, is a short (83 pages), fast paced, brutal, and bloody vampire story. Set in the town of Barrow, Alaska, a town so far north that every winter the sun doesn’t rise for 30 days. A community of vampires sees this as an opportunity to feed at will without having to hide during the daytime: 30 days of uninterrupted hunting. However, the town’s sheriff, Eben, will do whatever it takes to save his wife and his town.
The novel doesn’t waste anytime getting into things, as the action is already beginning by page 18 and doesn’t slow down until its conclusion. While in some ways, the short length is what makes it such a good read; it is also the vehicle for all its problems. Because it’s so short, there’s no room for characters or character development. The sheriff, Eben and his wife Stella, are essentially the only characters in the story. While there may be others here or there, they are either in the background or only have one or two lines of dialogue and are easily forgettable.
There’s a small sub-plot about a group of people in New Orleans who are trying to show the world that vampires exist that doesn’t really work. The book would have benefited if this sub-plot were deleted and replaced with additional characters, more plot development, or something to build some actual tension. In these terms, the book falls a little short and you feel like it’s just missing something.
Now let’s look at what the book does offer us, cause I feel like I’m selling it short at this point. The book is pretty violent and filled with lots of blood and gore. And this is definitely highlighted by Templesmith’s art. Templesmith’s sketchy, pseudo abstract, soft focus, and partially digital artwork really helps add to the chaos of the narrative. The dark blue and grey tones give the book a very dark mood and atmosphere while letting the brighter colors of blood and fire really pop off the pages.
David Slade’s (Hard Candy) film adaptation follows the same basic premise, though it has many changes as it went from a short graphic novel to a two-hour movie. There were two major changes in the film version: 1.) The addition of multiple characters and 2.) The vampires in Slade’s version speak some sort of vampiric dialect while those in Niles’ speak English. There is also some added drama between Eben and Stella’s relationship. Additionally, Slade’s version has a more isolated and claustrophobic feel to it as its’ characters spend much of their time hiding. It’s these scenes of additional drama and tension that the book was missing and flush out the story to make it stronger and more complete.
There was no way the movie could acquire the same look as the novel, though it did try to stay true by keeping a dark palette. Like the book there is lots of blood and gore with an even higher death count. The film even kept the same ending, which I have to say, surprised me a bit. While the ending in the novel worked pretty well, it didn’t seem like it would translate to film. After watching it a couple times, it still seems a little cheesy; it works much better in the book.
All in all, the film adaptation of 30 Days of Night is pretty faithful to its original source. Changes needed to be made to make it a feature length film, but most of them were pretty solid. If you have only seen the movie, I would recommend reading the book and vice versa. The movie is probably better because it is a much more complete story, though the book still stands on its own and is worth the time.
