“30 Days Of Night” is one of those horror movies that has stuck with me over the past couple of days. Sometimes, I forget about movies as soon as I see them. I have mad retention skills.

But this movie did some things very, very well, and other, not so good. The good stuff it did, however, I believe outweighs some major, goofy plot line devices that fell flat for me which means it will probably stick around in my dark subconscious mind for awhile for horror geeks like myself.

All in all I liked it. A lot. Here’s why:

Spoilers after the jump …

I really don’t think about Josh Harnett, I realize he’s an actor and he has those smoldering good looks (I think he tends to look rock-like) that makes the girls crazy. In this movie, he plays the sheriff of a small Alaskan town that shuts down basically when night comes for, I know this is crazy, for 30 days. And then “THEY” come.

The movie is somewhat reminiscent of the claustrophobia of “The Thing” however it isn’t as effective as both of those movies. A lot of this has to do with Harnett’s performance. It’s not bad but sort of bland.

The same cannot be said about Danny Huston as Marlow chewing up the screen (literally) as he is amazing. These vampires are not the romantic stereotypes of Anne Rice novels and Buffy would have a hell of a time trying to kill these bastards. And the monsters are terrifying. They are smart. They are about death but these vamps do more than just kill for food. They kill for sport. They are savage, their mouths covered in the dried blood from their feast. In one scene shot overhead, the monsters are literally killing the town, blood spreading on the white snow as they move quickly and efficiently across the landscape. Another scene has Josh Hartnett and his estranged ex-wife in one of the earlier scenes in the movie riding in the sheriff’s cruiser as one of the vampires beats on the top of the cab in one of the most visually pleasing moments of the movie.

And, for horror nuts, the visuals are incredible.

So, did I like it?

Yes. Plot holes a plenty and the ending scene was a bit anticlimatic for my tastes as the decisions made didn’t seem necessary. Josh Hartnett does his finest acting in his final scenes with Marlow, but anytime Huston is on the screen you cannot take your eyes away. Best horror movie performance I’ve seen in a long time and Huston deserves credit. (I know I’m being hard on Hartnett, but he’s bland. I guess when you look at the old monster movies of the ’50′s and ’60′s, the lead guy was pretty boring too, but I digress.)

It’s lurches sometimes but ultimately I think the movie works.

If you dig horror movies, go see it for Huston’s performance and the way the movie is shot when the monsters are on the screen. If you don’t dig horror movies, that’s groovy too.

I still thought it was hipster creepy.