3rd Twilight lands director
Summit Entertainment has hired David Slade to direct "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg. It will be the third film in the franchise based on the Stephenie Meyer books and will be released June 30, 2010.
Slade directed "30 Days of Night," a horror tale about ravenous vampires that turn up for the prolonged winter darkness in Alaska, and the psychological thriller "Hard Candy" with Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page.
This is what I had to say about "30 Days," which received 2.5 stars out of a possible four:
Movie Review: '30 Days of Night' Vampires feast on unbaked Alaska Friday, October 19, 2007 By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston.
- Rating: R for strong horror and violence.
- Web site: www.sonypictures.com
I miss the old days when vampires dined with discretion -- a swirl of the black cloak and neat puncture holes in the victim's neck. In "30 Days of Night," vampires feed on their prey like starving wolves and come up with beards of blood.
Based on a graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, "30 Days" is set in Barrow, Alaska, where the 30 days of darkness trap everyone -- living and dead -- in town. Stella (Melissa George), estranged wife of the sheriff (Josh Hartnett), misses the last plane out. "I can't stay here. I got bills to put in the mail and my plants will die."
Plants aren't all that are about to die. Vampires have discovered paradise -- "We should have come here ages ago" -- and start cutting off outside communication and attacking the residents. And there's nothing like fresh powder to highlight the red, red color of blood, as director David Slade proves again and again.
The dwindling band of survivors, the assortment of townspeople who meet their frightful fate and the countdown to possible freedom is nothing new. But "30 Days" has several things in its favor, from its lonesome snowy landscape to the casting of Danny Huston as a vampire leader and prosthetics that alter the vampires' faces so they have a hint of alien about them.
"30 Days" isn't the scariest movie you'll ever see, but it gives the genre an infusion of fresh blood, so to speak.