30 Days of Night December 25, 2007

 

I am not sure Barrow, Alaska would be my first place to spend Christmas but I’d love to travel there someday!   

Ground zero for cold: As winter begins, Barrow braces for brutal temperatures, food shortages and more darkness” Last December, we kicked off a wintertime series about Barrow, Alaska — the northernmost town in the United States. With a population of 4,500 (57 percent of them native Inupiat Eskimos), Barrow holds the record for the lowest average temperature in the United States. But the town won another distinction this year: It is the supposed setting for the horror movie “30 Days of Night,” in which Barrow is attacked by a gang of bloodthirsty vampires. The real town of Barrow doesn’t have a movie theater, so the film won’t be available there until the DVD release in February. But even without seeing the film, people in Barrow said they were skeptical. They complained that the title, “30 Days of Night,” was just plain wrong. Every year Barrow is plunged into darkness when the sun dips below the horizon in late November and doesn’t come back until late January. But that means — let’s count the calendar days — the darkness lasts for more than two months. Maybe “60-Some Days of Night” seemed too long for restless audiences. Then there is the setting. The movie was shot in New Zealand, where filmmakers reportedly used tons of Epsom salts, shredded paper and white blankets to re-create Barrow’s arctic landscape. “I think the movie was a bit of a non-event here. People pretty much laughed at the whole idea. It was a ridiculous concept,” said David Ongley, the director of Barrow’s library. “There aren’t too many movies that get Alaska right.” — Colleen Mastony

Retrieved from the Chicago Tribune. (Thank you, Mary Ann)