Movies From Beyond: 30 Days Of Night & Shaolin Soccer

Welcome to Movies From Beyond and this week we are very excited. Not only has Mario Kart finally come out on the Nintendo Wii but one of the best recent vampire movies, 30 Days Of Night has just been released on Blu-Ray.

It is not often that we talk about new releases but this is well worth a mention, starring Josh Hartnett (Sin City) and produced by Mr. Evil Dead Sam Raimi, this is a really good adaptation of a graphic novel set in Alaska where they actually have a month of darkness - and who loves darkness more than vampires? No-one, that’s who, and these ones aren’t fruity crushed-velvet cloak-wearing ones. Remember what 28 Days Later did for zombies? Well this does it for vamps, making them super fast and strong as you like.

There are some pretty gut-wrenching scenes of violence and blood-play as well as a high level of blood and guts which always gets our vote.

We were really impressed with the crystal clear HD transfer and the whole perpetual darkness thing adds a real sense of atmosphere and of course hopelessness to the plight of the merry band of townsfolk struggling to survive until the sun comes up. By the way, if you thought Josh Harnett was a bit of a pretty boy who would be afraid to get his hands dirty, think again as he becomes an axe-wielding vampire slayer pretty easily.

Not that it is the most important thing in the world to us but the extras on the Blu-Ray disc are pretty good, and especially worth checking out are the comparisons between the original comic book and what eventually became the film. We’re pleased to say that is pretty true to the source material and adds to what is probably one of the first ‘must have’ discs of the year so far.

For a complete change of pace we also watched Shaolin Soccer last week. This movie almost defies explanation and can only really be seen to be believed, but in essence it’s a 2001 Chinese movie about a group of past it kung-fu masters and shaolin monks that use their skills to play football, with over the top wire fighting scenes and spontaneous dance routines mixed in for good measure.

It is pretty much a standard sports movie - can a ragtag bunch of losers make it to the big final and win the cup? We won’t spoil the ending for you but it might be a massive shocker.

There are a couple of versions of this movie knocking about but as usual we recommend the original subtitled Chinese version, as the US version was a little toned down, and this is the perfect introduction to high energy Asian movies and the work of director Stephen Chow which includes Kung Fu Hustle and the soon to be released CJ7.

[story by Simon Woodley]