Halle and Alison say goodbye to the sun and hello to vampires to ruin 30 Days of Night.

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

[AD BREAK]

 

[theme music]: If scary movies give you dread. Keep you up late night in bed, here’s a podcast that will help you ease your mind. We’ll explain the plot real nicely then we’ll talk about what’s frightening, so you never have to have a spooky time. It’s Ruined.

 

Halle Kiefer: Oh, hello. Welcome to Ruined. I’m Halle. 

 

Alison Leiby: And I’m Alison. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And this is a podcast where we ruin a horror movie just for you. 

 

Alison Leiby: Just for all you guys. Halle, how are you? 

 

Halle Kiefer: I’m good. I’m dying my. Slowly dying my hair pink. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes yes. Walk me through the stage you’re in. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Well. 

 

Alison Leiby: I like it. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Thank you. I’m turning 40 this year, and I feel like if you’re a lesbian over 40 or queer woman over 40,  you are obligated to either dye your hair like you got to go full [?] with it. I think. 

 

Alison Leiby: I think so, too. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Or alternately, I and she. I don’t know if she’s straight or considers herself straight but straight. I say go get a big wacky hat like Amy Sherman-Palladino. 

 

Alison Leiby: Mm that is also an option. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Big hat dyeing your hair. And I think it just, I—

 

Alison Leiby: I’m, I’m leaning also, I have a few picked out, more stupid tattoos, so. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I decided I’m going to get a tattoo. I’ll show you a photo. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. Yes. Please do. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. I’m gonna get it next month. Yeah, exactly. I’m like, I’m not. I’m not here to. Nobody cares what I look like any more. Does that makes sense? 

 

Alison Leiby: No no. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I was like, oh, I could just do whatever. 

 

Alison Leiby: Not at all. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But also, again, if you’re younger than us, and many of you probably are, the earlier you can realize that it doesn’t matter. And it’s so hard because everyone tells you that. 

 

Alison Leiby: I know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I know, it matters for other people, but for me it matters. I got to do all this stuff. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I understand that, what I’m asking—

 

Alison Leiby: There’s something that shifted in me in the last like year or so. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Oh yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Perhaps the pandemic, like, accelerated it in a way that that I maybe wouldn’t have and I’m like I’m also like not dating at all. So I’m just like, who gives a shit? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: But I have felt a very like I thought I, I thought I knew I didn’t care, but now I’m like, oh no, now I actually don’t care. [laughs]

 

Halle Kiefer: I feel the exact same way. And it’s very it’s very strange. And I had to go to a lot of therapy for it. So it wasn’t something that just happens. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah no. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I’m sorry everyone  if you’re like, I should go to therapy, just go now. Go at 25. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah go now. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Knock this out by 30. Think of the things you’ll get to. 

 

Alison Leiby: You’ll have so much time. 

 

Halle Kiefer: If you don’t hate yourself. You know what I mean it’s just so much better, so much mental energy. 

 

Alison Leiby: I know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So I’m going to get something. It’s sort of a variation on this. This. I’ll shout out the tattoo artist. It was Nick Bruhl. He’s at Parlor SIX8 tattooing in Tustin, California and Orange County, and it’s sort of a—

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, I love it. 

 

Halle Kiefer: With sort of a cartoony flower coming out of it. 

 

Alison Leiby: I like that that feels very. You. Kind of. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Thank you. 

 

Alison Leiby: Splitting the difference of the two sides of who you are. [laughs] Really goofy and silly, but also obsessed with all things. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Death. 

 

Alison Leiby: Horrifically morbid. [laughs]

 

Halle Kiefer: Thank you. That’s how I feel about it. Alison, how are you doing? 

 

Alison Leiby: I’m good. I kind of I like a couple weeks ago I got, like, I stayed in on a Saturday night and took an edible and was just, like, very stoned and ordered a ton of like, apartment organizational things. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Great, good. 

 

Alison Leiby: And like they’ve started coming and I feel like I’m really, like, changing my life. You know, I really like I got like, I haven’t had a jewelry box in a really long time. Like, I haven’t, like, had an organized, like I’ve just had all my jewelry, like, loose in, like little velvet pouches and Ziploc bags in a, drawer that I don’t open—

 

Halle Kiefer: Oh yeah, I’ve carried a fistful of jewelry from between the States. My whole life. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, yeah. And I was just like, oh, I don’t wear most of my jewelry because it’s, like, not accessible to me. And so, like, I got a jewelry box and then I had to get a shelf to put the jewelry box on. And then I got, I have, shoe rack that’s on its way and some hooks to hang my towels from the pool up behind my door. Like, I’m really trying—

 

Halle Kiefer: It’s all happening. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, I got a bar cart to get all my liquor in one place and just really nesting, which is like such a January thing to be doing. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes, I love that. I actually have, I have a new desk arriving. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I’ll show you guys, once I get my apartment. Once I get my living room. Alison once you see my apartment, I realize you’re gonna be like that seems about right. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yep. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Because it’s got it’s got a very Pee-Wee Herman direction. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Not entirely under my control, but it’s just happening. 

 

Alison Leiby: These things happen. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But I also want to say that that what you just described is an episode of 30 Rock where she goes the Container Store—

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. I’m gonna fix everything. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. 

 

And then it all like, melts in a fire into one piece. 

 

[AD BREAK]

 

Halle Kiefer: So this is, we’re continuing, cold month. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: It is, of course, stunning here in Los Angeles, California. I don’t even have socks on in my own home, which for here is like, you know, it’s getting warmer. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. That’s—

 

Halle Kiefer: How are things in New York? 

 

Alison Leiby: Today, it’s like it was raining earlier, and now it’s just kind of, like, warm ish, like high 40s and cloudy. And I’m like, I’ll take it. I’ll take it.

 

Halle Kiefer:  I do miss New York. 

 

Alison Leiby: Like to put on, like like a mid weight coat and go for a walk. That’s nice. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Just heaven. Well, in this movie, I guess you’d be. You could walk. You could walk for a whole goddamn month if you wanted to. That’s right. We’re doing 30 Days of Night. Which I, I, I don’t know if he’s listening to this episode, but I, I always associate this movie with my friend Will. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s nice. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Who was a friend of his was like, oh, I want to show you a just went over to their house or whatever. Show you a documentary about, Barrow, Alaska, where they have 30 Days of Night. They have a full. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Month of night pitching it as a documentary. And my friend was like, yeah, okay, that’s seems fine. And it’s funny because—

 

Alison Leiby: And then it was this?

 

Halle Kiefer: The very beginning, like the opening shot. And I will talk about like, why it does have the sense of like, oh, we’re setting up like, oh, interesting. I also was like, I would absolutely watch that documentary about that town that’s really interesting. 

 

Alison Leiby: 100%. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And at the end of the day it is of course a vampire movie. And my friend was, horrified. [laughter] But it is, of course it is, came out in 2007. It is based on the comic book of the same name, and it’s directed by David Slade. And it is, written by Steve Niles, Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson. And, let’s see what else. Yeah. David Slade. What else has he done? Oh, he did, he did Hard Candy. Oh my God. 

 

Alison Leiby: Amazing.

 

Halle Kiefer: I, loved that film. If you want to listen to go, go to the Hard Candy. We’ve already done that for the pod. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Did a ton of, incredible television, but Hard Candy again. 1 in 1,000,000. And, we also like to have Alison watch the trailer for the movie. So, Alison, what did you think of the trailer for 30 Days of Night? 

 

Alison Leiby: Well, it I am now watching True Detective Night Country, which is, of course, kind of the same world, which is the above, the Arctic Circle, part of, Alaska that does have no sunlight for a full month. And so it’s like about solving a crime that happens during that phase. So it’s like dark the whole time, which I’m. I’m loving it. Only two episodes are out when we’re recording this—

 

Halle Kiefer: I need to check. I need to follow up on it—

 

Alison Leiby: I think you would enjoy it. It’s not horror, but, like, there’s definite horror elements present. And I got the same vibe from, you know, it’s just like. Oh, like weird things happen when it’s dark all day, every single day. I didn’t like the long nail record scratch that, I saw. I did not like that at all—

 

Halle Kiefer: There’s a lot of long wet filthy nails, scraping at, scraping at everything. So one thing that doesn’t get scraped to the filthy nail in this movie. And we also take a baseline scary. Alison, what do you think about how scary do you find the concept of vampires in the snow? 

 

Alison Leiby: I mean, I feel like of all of the kind of, like, monsters, they’re the most prepared for it because they wear kind of, like, long coats. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They have layers. That’s a really good point. 

 

Alison Leiby: They layer, they have capes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Now, what’s a monster that wouldn’t be prepared for the snow? You think? 

 

Alison Leiby: Frankenstein’s just in a sports jacket. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right. [laughs]

 

That’s a really good point. He’s not really ready. He’s kind of more of a fall monster.

 

Halle Kiefer: Right. He’s got the one jacket. He’s like, I guess I’ll wear that. 

 

Alison Leiby: He’s like, this, is. But it’s over a T-shirt. It’s not even, you know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Ooh, September for Frankenstein. 

 

Alison Leiby: I know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Ooh. The fall leaves coming down. Oh I love that for him.

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. He really. He’s such a he’s such an autumn boy. I mean, I feel like a werewolf is good for snow. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I guess a mummy, but that’s like a light layer. That seems like more of a spring thing. 

 

Alison Leiby: Very desert. Very desert chic. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Oh. Oh, there you go. Summer, summer weather and Blue Lagoon. Maybe that spring. You know, spring. Things are thawing. The Monster from the Black Lagoon. Sorry.

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, yeah. Wet stuff needs to be above 32 degrees, so. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. Absolutely. Or that’s the easier to beat, I guess. [laughs] Do you find that. Scary, or is it just sort of like, it’s, no scarier than if they were just walking around? 

 

Alison Leiby: I think the darkness brings it to be very scary, because there’s no moment where they’re not hanging out because aren’t they, like, allergic to the sun? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes, yes. And that is, of course, the problem with the town that they’re going to be invading. Is that. 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. 

 

Halle Kiefer: It it has 30 days of total night. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Which is a long time for a vampire to be out.

 

Alison Leiby: That’s a long time. Yeah. [both speaking] They can get a lot done. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. Unfortunately. 

 

Alison Leiby: I sometimes see like TikToks from this TikTok account of this woman who lives, I believe she’s in, you know, Norway or like a Scandinavian country way, way, way up at the top. So like it all, it also is like dark. Or maybe she’s a Greenland or something, but it’s—

 

Halle Kiefer: We’ll never know. 

 

Alison Leiby: Her name is like Silke and she’s like, oh, hello. I’m it’s noon here. And it’s like, pitch dark. She’s like, time to go for a walk. And it’s just like this very, like, delightful version of. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I love that. 

 

Alison Leiby: Life when it’s dark for for long periods of time. But like, she’s so, like, cheerful, but like, she’d be like, well, we don’t have plants anymore. Like, it’s just this, like, very strange. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I know it’s like you would get used to it, obviously. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Or you’re raised in it, but like, I think you’re right that I’m like, I would be, let’s just say, out in the shed. You know what I mean? I’d be, just fumbling around for something.

 

Alison Leiby: I would sleep the whole time.

 

Halle Kiefer: It would not be good. 

 

Alison Leiby: No. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Also, I wanted to add before we started that, this movie, when it came out in 2007, the name of the town is Barrow, and in 2006 the town actually, voted to change his name to. And I’m going to try to pronounce the night. You know, I apologize. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, boy yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But it’s, Utqiagvik. Utqiagvik.

 

Alison Leiby:  Wow. That feels close. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Listen, it’s literally written out, in the the Anchorage Daily News. It’s written out for people like me to try to pronounce. And, it is the local, leaders, indigenous leaders. It’s sort of the project of decolonization. And I think that they’re right to be like, well, we’re the ones who live here. It stands to reason. Reason. 

 

Alison Leiby: 100%. 

 

Halle Kiefer: We don’t have to use the name given to it by, for it by Rochfort Maguire. 

 

Alison Leiby: Nope. 

 

Halle Kiefer: In 1853. And he was, of course, and, from the Irish Royal Navy and just came and said, we’re going to call it Barrow. So I think, in 2016, everyone said, Hey, we don’t have to do this we’re allowed to name our own, our own place. So December 1st, 2016, it is now called again, I apologize to anyone who lives there or knows how this should be. Utqiagvik. So, shout out to that town. That’s cool. I think that’s beautiful. 

 

Alison Leiby: Cool as hell. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And then finally knowing what, you know, which is very little and, mostly from the trailer, what do you think the twist is? Would you like to guess the twist in 30 Days of Night? Alison? 

 

[voice over]: Guess the twist. 

 

Alison Leiby: Would you say there’s like, a twist? Twist? 

 

Halle Kiefer: That’s a yes. I would say at the ending there is a decision made. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: That I’m like, oh, okay—

 

Alison Leiby: Okay a decision— 

 

Halle Kiefer: I wouldn’t have expected that to happen. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. I’m going to guess that they don’t kill all the vampires and keep some of them alive because there’s like some kind of understanding that they’re like. Important. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Okay, great. That’s a really excellent—

 

Alison Leiby: That like that. Like it’s like maybe they kill like a lot of them, but, like, leave like one alive. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Okay. I love that. Okay. Let us begin. Ruining 30 Days of Night. We open on what at the time was called Barrow Alaska. And it’s it’s the it’s written text on the screen, and it’s sort of like disappearing in and out of the snow. So, again, it does feel like the beginning of a documentary, and it’s like lines of text and we see, it’s the northernmost town in the United States, is isolated in, 80 miles of isolated wilderness. It’s cut off every winter for 30 days. So when this town happens, when the 30 days happened, not only is it 30 days of night, they basically shut down the town. So there are no flights in and out because it’s just dangerous. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They don’t sell liquor, but you could if you would. You could get liquor beforehand. You’re allowed to drink it. But like the bar is closed is it’s basically like 30 days of everyone. Just like staying at home. 

 

Alison Leiby: Staying home. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And like, just making the town run. And then once the sun goes back, they start doing flights out in and out, you know? So it’s sort of like, just like you’re used to, title card, 30 Days of Night, we see a hollow eyed man in a parka staring at a ship that is sort of run aground in the ice, off the coast of Alaska. And that man is played by, Ben. Oh, God. Fuck sorry. What’s his name? Ben Foster, who I always associate with dating, Laura Dern and. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: He’s great in this movie. He plays a real creep. And, he sort of. We see him looking at this ship. We can sort of assume who’s arriving on it. And he takes a turn, and the stranger walks towards town, and we see him walking across miles of ice and snow. He is alone, and it’s daylight. Right. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. So there is daylight now. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. So it’s daylight now. It’s the day before, the month of night begins. So he finds himself. He’s on the cliff overlooking Barrow, overlooking Barrow. It’s gorgeous. I mean, like, you see the horizon. Stunning. And everyone is getting ready in the town. Basically, a lot of people leave for the month, so either they leave to go do a job, they leave to go visit family in the town, kind of clears out.

 

Alison Leiby: Stay somewhere that has sunlight, you know? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. 

 

Alison Leiby: Stuff humans like doing, I guess. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. We see people getting ready, like someone’s going to Portland, someone’s going to Seattle, someone’s going to take their kids to visit their mother. Sort of like, oh, an opportunity to get the hell out of town. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Because if you stay, it’s basically you’re going to sleep and you’re, you know, working. We meet up with our protagonists, Eben Oleson, played by Josh Hartnett. And it was nice to see him. 

 

Alison Leiby: Great to see him. You know, I know this isn’t like recent or anything like that, but like, it’s just nice to see Josh Hartnett. On screen. Great in horror.

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. And then his, colleague and fellow officer, Billy Kitka, and we see them finding in the snow outside town on that very cliff, a big mass of stolen satellite phones that have been thefted from the town that have been melted down. Clearly, they were set on fire. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And they’re like, what the fuck is this? Like, obviously, if somebody stole a satellite phone, that makes sense. They’re valuable up here. You could resell it, to destroy something that is extremely valuable. Why would you do such a thing? Well, you would do it, Alison, if you were trying to cut off people’s way of contacting people out of the town. Right? 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And they, we, look out. The sun is just hovering over the horizon, and Billy’s talk about his wife is like, you know, I brought Peggy here on our first date and Eben said, we all did not, Peggy, but, you know, are everyone’s first date in this town. You go up to the cliff, you see the sunset. It’s beautiful. And as they drive back into town, we see the sun start to dip below the horizon, and they arrive at the Barrow, Alaska population sign, like on the outskirts of town and Eben says, why even bother to do this? Billy’s like, no, it’s a tradition and he changes the population. In reality, the town has over 4000 residents. But in the movie, he’s switching it from 563 to to 152. So over 400 people are leaving today, and there’s a last flight that they’re all getting on, out of town. I mean, there’s multiple flights, but today everyone’s leaving 400 people are leaving town and they’ll come back in a month, basically. So we meet up with Stella, who is the fire marshal, and it’s basically she’s heading back out of town. She works for the Alaska Fire Department, for the state, and basically goes around all these little towns and just make sure make sure everything is up to date in their fire station. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: She also has the c-ntiest blond, I have ever like, I’m like, this is a you just think this actual woman is, like, not getting her roots done every month. You know what I mean like, this is a well enough that she wouldn’t want to. But I’m like, her job is flying to remote Alaskan villages. She might let the roots grow out a little bit. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, yeah, that she might be [both speaking] hair colors is not the most logical. Style for someone with her life. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But again, I did love that for her. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, it’s so fun. 

 

Halle Kiefer: That was very fun I’m like. Sure. Why not? And, Stella’s played by Melissa George, who’s in a ton of things. Oh. Mulholland Drive. There you have it. 

 

Alison Leiby: There you go. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And she’s sort of quickly finishing up. She’s talking to the fire chief, and he said Oh you heading out of town, sort of talking to her. His name’s Adam, and he’s like, you know, why don’t you just stay here for the month? Is kind of an opportunity to, like, come revisit the town after you left. And maybe while you’re here, you could sort of tell us why you separated from Eben. Because everyone wants to know what happened. And so apparently, they broke up. She left to go work for the fire fire department, and everyone’s like, why did they break up? You know, and to be fair, there’s so few people there. If there was a divorce, you would want to know. It would be the talk of the town. 

 

Alison Leiby: Of course. Yeah. You I mean, small town, you have to be up in everyone’s business. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I will also say everyone in this movie is like a, I mean, normal looking attractive person, but like a character actor that would live in a small town in Alaska, but like a beard or like a with like a bob—

 

Alison Leiby: It’s not just a bunch of like 20 somethings with like, flawless skin. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But then the main characters are Josh Hartnett and Melissa George which is so funny. Like, they look like it’s like if they if that person was in your town, it’s like, well, she’s the mayor. She’s the queen of the town. What are we going to? 

 

Alison Leiby: I mean, every single person would know who they are. And then—

 

Halle Kiefer: Like, yeah, if you knew that couple in that town, it’s like, well, we are talking about you. You are celebrities to us. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But she’s like, nope, I am headed out of town. I’m not doing that. I’m also not seeing Eben. So don’t even not only don’t tell him, but like I’m out of town. So like, don’t bring it up until after I leave, right? 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So we see, everyone’s packing up, but everyone’s heading to the airfield for last plane out of Dodge. Alison. Unfortunately, we see someone sneak up to a, corral of sled dogs and stabs them. And we see this, this figure, we don’t see their face sort of systematically murdering all the sled dogs in town. I’m sorry to tell you this. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s seems unnecessary. Just let them go at least. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Well, well, the reason doing is they once they got rid of the cell phones, and now they don’t want the dogs alerting anybody or perhaps attacking or defending anybody. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh I see. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right. So they’re trying to get rid of the things that would prevent, perhaps a group of arrivers, of tourists from showing up and taking over the town. Eben sees Beau who is the town’s snowplow operator. He cites him for leaking oil all over the street and Beau’s like, oh my God, isn’t that why we live up here is like there aren’t laws or rules. And he was like, I’m a police officer. I don’t agree with you on this. But he gets back in the car and Eben, and Billy says, you know, you didn’t have to give him a ticket, like it was just a mistake and Eben says he lives all alone on the South Ridge. A citation now again, reminds him he’s part of a community. It’s like, do you think the guy has money like what you’re talking about doing? 

 

Alison Leiby: What are you doing. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Just invite him to go get coffee. Like, if you’re—

 

Alison Leiby: It doesn’t have to be all, yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Or invite him to your church or whatever. You go there, you know, Alison, they get a call from Helen at dispatch. She tells him something bad has happened to John Riis’s dogs. So this is the first flag of the dogs getting killed. We see Stella is speeding to the airfield, to the last plane when she is T-boned by a giant piece of construction machinery that I’m going to call a thresher. I don’t know if that’s what it’s called, but I don’t know machines and some of the fre—

 

Alison Leiby: No. This is not a machines podcast. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And it never will be.

 

Alison Leiby: The fact that you said that is already impressive to me. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And it was scary, she’s T-Boned. And then, the the, sorry, the driver pops out, Malekai, who is indigenous and he’s like, I’m so sorry. I started to skid and the, the brakes locked up and and knowing, Stella obviously is from town, and it’s like, I’m so sorry. And she says, it’s fine. Except I’m probably gonna miss the flight, so she has to call the only other person who’s like, I know he has a car. She calls Eben to be like, I’m in town. I didn’t tell you, I’m leaving. Please come pick me up from this wreck and take me to the plane. 

 

Alison Leiby: Also like missing that flight. Sucks.

 

Halle Kiefer: Right? Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: 30 days. That’s not like. Oh, I hope there’s another one later. It’s like, this is it.

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. And Eben is like you were in town and you weren’t going to tell me. And she’s like, can we talk about this on the drive? Like I knew you were going to be? This is why I didn’t tell you. But instead he he tells Billy to go pick her up. He’s like, I’m not dealing with you. And also, I have to go find out who’s murdering all the dogs. 

 

Alison Leiby: That is a big question. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I know, Eben tell Stella. Let me know if the day comes when you actually want to talk and then hangs up on her. Okay. So clearly, you know, they have yet—

 

Alison Leiby: Things are tense. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes, things are tense. They have not sorted out why they got divorced. Eben goes to John Riis’s house. The dogs are brutally murdered, and John and his wife, Ally are extremely fucked up about it, reasonably. And they’re like, not only is this horrible, this is our livelihood. This is how we live up here. These dogs are like, how are we? This is our job. So. This person killed every dog we have. So Eben’s trying to be like, did you have a fight with anyone recently? John’s like, well, not a slaughter all your dogs kind of fight. Like what kind of fight would that have to be, you know? He says, no, there’s I wouldn’t be targeted for this. Like, this is insane. So now he was like, okay, great. So there is a perhaps a new element in town. And he is he or she might be murdering all the dogs, you know? 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. Something to keep an eye on. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Back at the station we see Eben show up, and he meets with. He chats with Helen. It turns out Helen is his grandmother. And then, the other guy working in the station is a 15 year old named Jake, who is Eben’s brother. And so it’s kind of a family affair up at the police station here. 

 

Alison Leiby: Sure. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And we find out that Helen grows weed for her cancer, which is illegal at the time, but she’s like, please don’t narc on me. I needed it for chemo, for my nausea. So, like, grow up, you know, and Eben obviously it’s a very rules guy. So he’s like, I’ll let it slide because you’re my ailing grandmother. 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But, you know, unfortunately there is a part of America that like, would have happily throw that woman in jail in the past. 

 

Alison Leiby: 100%. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And probably still would now, unfortunately. Alison, another call comes in. There’s been a act of vandalism at the utilidor, and I was like, what is a utilidor? 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. Is that. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I don’t. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s a word I’ve literally never heard before. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Well, it’s really it’s a real word. And, it is short for utility corridor. And basically it’s a, a utility facility, if you will. So it could have anything in there, fiber optic cables. It could be for TV or phones. In this case, it is for all of the utilities for the town. So it’s like garbage, you know. Oh, they don’t have Wi-Fi at the time, I imagine. But you don’t mean any telephones. 

 

Alison Leiby: Sure. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So it’s like anything that’s being run is being run on this utility building. And they say it’s very common in cold climates because things can’t be, buried because, of the, like below the frost line. So then all the utilities have to be above ground, which I thought was interesting. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Who knew? So he goes over to the utilidor and we all learned a new word today. So that’s nice. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s fun. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And we meet, Carter and Wilson. Carter is the guy who works the utilidor, and Wilson is the helicopter pilot that flies in and out of town. And Carter tells Eben I was running the trash compactor. So it’s basically just like one of those, like, spiraling, metal like claws that, like, you throw anything in there, it gets crunched up and shoved down. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I feel there’s a lot of TikTok videos where people throw things in them and—

 

Alison Leiby: Yes it’s really satisfying like that. And then also just like pressing down on something until it kind of like implodes and then explodes. And. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. 

 

Alison Leiby: There’s a lot of good machinery TikToks for, you know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. 

 

Alison Leiby: Whatever you want to call that corner of the internet. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. Crush and destroy. I’m not sure. Unfortunately, he says, I was running this when I looked down and I realized what was in it. He shows them it is, Wilson’s headset from his helicopter. But then Wilson says this. Somebody came to my helicopter and ripped, ripped out essentially half the mechanism and threw it in the garbage over here. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay, so they destroyed it so that the helicopter is not flyable. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. So the only other way out right now is the helicopter, and it is not operable. Obviously, again, a cause for concern for Eben. 

 

Alison Leiby: I would be worried. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. Meanwhile, Stella arrives at the airfield. Of course, it is simply too late. The last plane out of Barrow has left, so she is trapped here for a month, right? Eben tells Helen, could we call Point Hope and Wainwright? Which is like the next town they’re like 80 miles away through the snow. And we can’t really get there. But are they having anything weird? Is this, like, is it just us? Like, is something happening that I. We should know about? But meanwhile. Billy offers to let Stella stay with him and his wife Peggy and the girls. But he’s like, you can stay with us for a month for the charge is you have to tell us why you and Eben broke up. And everyone in town? It’s like. Well, they were. They were the dream couple. They were the hottest people here. Of course, they were gonna end up together why did they break up? 

 

Alison Leiby: Also information. Incredible currency. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. We also see here Eben, reference the tribe. And our understanding is that Carter’s wife and, and some other indigenous people live outside town. 

 

Alison Leiby: Mm hmm. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So he’s like, oh, you should have your wife come in during the month. And we could, like, hang out or whatever and Carter’s, like, yeah, you know, I mean, she’ll she’ll come when she’s ready, you know, but, obviously everyone in this town who, are seeing their livelihoods affected over the course of this day, also know there’s no way to repair any this for another month. 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right. Yeah, exactly. We then go over to the satellite cell phone station. So there is a cell phone station is specifically for satellite phones. That makes sense. The lights go out and Gus the operator realizes, well, that’s not fucking good. The cell phone station can’t go down. 

 

Alison Leiby: Nope. Really bad. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Alison. He sees a figure outside, and as it begins to snow. So he makes a tremendous mistake. He grabs a flashlight and he goes. It goes out into the darkness where there’s a fucking blizzard starting. And we see, here sort of this shrieking, this animal groaning, and suddenly Gus is surrounded by people, and he is attacked by one of them, who tears his throat out. 

 

Alison Leiby: Hate to see it. 

 

Halle Kiefer: You hate to see it, ladies and gentlemen. Meanwhile in town. You know, everyone ends up at the diner. There’s one diner. We see the man, the stranger who wandered into town earlier. He comes up and says to the waitress, you know, I’d like to, sir. I like to drink. She says we actually serve during the month, which is, I think, true. At one point, one of it’s still true. But you, if you already own. You could drink. And he says I. Instead of a drink, I’d like to get a, a bowl of raw hamburger. She says, well, obviously we don’t do that here. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s not. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Bitch this is a diner. Like, what are you talking about? 

 

Alison Leiby: Can’t give you raw hamburger. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And the stranger grabs Lucy’s hand and says, if you don’t bring me what I want, what I want to eat, what I want to drink. Luckily, Eben has just walked in and says, hey, how about we go outside and talk? I don’t know, you. You’re the first time I’ve seen you, on a day when everything is falling to shit, it’s hard for me to not assume that it’s you bitch like—

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. You feel very guilty. 

 

Halle Kiefer: The stranger immediately gets in Eben’s space. He’s like, what’s wrong with a man who wants a little refreshment? Oh, also, Ben Foster’s doing an insane southern accent, which I love and has, like, disgusting teeth. And he says, we’re just gonna go outside, and the stranger jumps up, says, I’d like to see you try to get me outside. And in classic, I think, movie in the 2000s, way, you hear the click of a gun being pressed against the back of a stranger’s head is, of course, Stella standing behind him, alerted, watching him be aggressive with Eben. He was like, they get the fire department gave you a gun. She’s like, It’s Alaska. Everyone has a gun. What are you talking about it’s. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Eben handcuffs the stranger and sort of while he’s doing it talks to Stella and he’s like, yes, I obviously missed my flight. I’m going to stay with Peggy and Billy, but whatever. And of course the idea is like there’s still there’s still something there. There’s a little bit of spark there. Eben hauls the guy out and Stella says well, maybe I’ll come say hi to Jake and Helen, not you, but I’ll come to the station, say hi. Of course, once Eben gets to the station she’s like, okay, so you fucked up the helicopter. You probably killed those dogs. Like, so what’s going on? You know, and Stella then stops by to say hi to, Helen and Jake, who love her and are, like, excited to see that she’s trapped in time with them for a month. Meanwhile, outside town, there’s a pipeline. And so there’s a townie Denise, who’s inviting these two pipeline workers, Erin and Gabe, back to her place. And the implication is that they’re all going to fuck. And I’m like, listen, you got 30 days of night. What are you going do not have a threesome? 

 

Alison Leiby: I mean, that’s kind of like the thing to do. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. Unfortunately, Gabe is pulled into the darkness by an unseen figure and his throat is torn out. You better believe it. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, that’s what they’re going to do. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 30 days of, of night, I would say 25 throats. And we’re losing them. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah.

 

Halle Kiefer: Constantly. So finally, at the station, Eben, you know, talks to the stranger. They have one cell there, so the strangers in the cell, and he says, okay, so you weren’t on the flight because I checked the, docket and you didn’t drive in? Because that’s impossible right now. And you certainly didn’t walk 80 miles from the next town. So what the fuck. 

 

Alison Leiby: The hell did you get here? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah, unfortunately, he doesn’t have time to hear the stranger’s answer. Because, as Helen notes, the computers have gone down and the phones. 

 

Alison Leiby: No. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And the stranger then says and again. And this actually, it’s like Mr. and Mrs. Sheriff. So sweet. I got no idea what’s coming to them.

 

Alison Leiby: Like okay that accent work.

 

Halle Kiefer: And he says. 

 

[clip of Ben Foster]: Bar the windows, try to hide. They are coming. This time they’re gonna take me with them. All of me. For all that I have done. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And Eben says. Who are they? What do you mean? They’re coming for you to reward you? Alison. Slowly, as they look out the window, all the lights in Barrow start to go out. Alison, at that point, what would you do? What would you do? 

 

[voice over]: What would you do? 

 

Alison Leiby: I’m going to barricade myself into a basement with enough food for 30 days and a gun, and hope to God that, like, no one bothers me. [laughs]

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah, that’s really the only option you have. Because it does like, it obviously depends on the vampire, but there’s few vampires that could, like, pass through concrete. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, they are—

 

Halle Kiefer: I mean they do have to find a door. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. I think that they still, like, operate like people. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: In terms of, like, matter. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. Like, absolutely. 

 

Alison Leiby: [laughs] They live on this plane with us somehow. So, yeah, I think I would definitely just be like, you’re all on your own. I’m gonna go take anything I need to survive and, like, truly hide and hope to God— 

 

Halle Kiefer: Disappear. Yeah do, everything—

 

Alison Leiby: Wherever I am doesn’t have anything that they need. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. And what do you think they need? Alison, if you had to guess.

 

Alison Leiby: Probably like, throats and blood. 

 

Alison Leiby: Blood? They’re going be some. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They’re gonna need about 30 days of blood. So lets see how many throats—

 

Alison Leiby: And how much do they need a day, like, what’s the. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I’m gonna be honest. I’m going to flag this. Now, I will say it is unclear what the what, where, where, what or what kind of vampire we’re dealing with. I also don’t we’ll discuss again, I don’t really think I understood their plan, like from the beginning. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And I was like, well, we’ll we’ll get into that. Yeah. 

 

[AD BREAK]

 

Halle Kiefer: Eben’s like, okay, great. The fucking cell tower is down. So, like, we have no reception, so he’s driving out of the cell tower, unfortunately. We already know Gus is dead, so we know he’s gonna find there. And he tells Jake, Stella, Stella and Helen stay at the station, watch this stranger, and he actually hands cuffs the stranger to the bars. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Just to make sure. So he arrives at the cell phone station, unfortunately, is, of course, totally dark, and the door is standing wide open in a blizzard. And Alison, he finds Gus’s severed head. 

 

Alison Leiby: Nope. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Speared on the top of a pole. 

 

Alison Leiby: No. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Eben flips out and drive back to town. And he uses, like, this sort of, what do you call like intercom? Or like he’s making announcements in the top of his truck. 

 

Alison Leiby: Megaphone type. Yeah. And he’s telling everyone, get inside. You know, if get inside your home, if you don’t have power, come to the diner because the diner has a generator. Like, do not be alone. If you have guns, get them. And like you said, pull yourself up because something fucking bad is happening, right? And we see some families go over to the diner with their kids because there are kids in this town, you know, and so it’s like they’re just like loose little kids. I was like, oh, boy, that’s not gonna be good. 

 

Alison Leiby: No it doesn’t feel good. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Over at Ally and John Riis’s place, Ally is pleading for John like, just eat some food. But it’s like, well, all his dogs were murdered. I, you know, I can understand that having an appetite for a minute, you know? 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But as she’s cooking, Alison, suddenly a body flies through the kitchen window, spraying glass all over her. 

 

Alison Leiby: Jesus Christ. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Ally screams and the person stands up, grabs her and drag. John runs in to see a man dragging his wife out of the window. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes, this is in the trailer. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And then under the house. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. Getting dragged is an underrated scary thing. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Agreed. Because you’re frantically clawing at the at the window pane. There’s glass in her hand. She’s screaming— 

 

Alison Leiby: And you’re not going anywhere good. Good. 

 

Halle Kiefer: No, you’re—

 

Alison Leiby: They’re not dragging you to like, a Sephora. Like. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. You’re not being dragged from one part of the cruise to another. 

 

Alison Leiby: No. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So, unfortunately, you know, she has, been taken under the home. Meanwhile, back at the station, Jake Helen and Stella are playing. I couldn’t tell if it was Risk or Monopoly, but some game where they have little plastic pieces and the strangers just talking to them, like, just be like, there’s no way out now. You could feel it. You could feel that, huh, that’s death approaching. And and they’re all like, oh my God. 

 

Alison Leiby: What the fuck bro. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And Jake who’s 15 like, throws one of the plastic pieces at him and he kind of falls outside the the cell. And the stranger said, I’m going to take that plastic and I’m going to pick the lock. And he’s able to sort of like grab for it, right as Jake runs over. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And when Jake tries to pick up the little plastic piece, the stranger grabs him through the bars and holds him. Fortunately, Eben busts in and shoots the stranger in the shoulder. And finally he’s like, let’s get down to fucking brass taxes. Who are you and what did you do to Gus? Because I absolutely know you’re doing all this stuff. And I know you killed Gus, so I know that you’re a murderer. And the stranger says, you’re already dead. You’re all already dead. But I don’t talk to dead, man. It’s like, oh, my God, dude. 

 

Alison Leiby: Not helping. Like not helping.

 

Halle Kiefer: And he’s like, well, I hope we don’t die. Because if we die, you’ll be trapped in the cell for at least 30 days. You’re dead bitch. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yep. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So he’s not getting the stranger’s not providing any, helpful information. And Eben decides, he and Billy, his, co officer, are going to basically systematically search through the town. Right. Because he’s like, this guy keeps referencing they. There must be other people here. We don’t know. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: That are doing all this shit. They’re coming. Okay, let’s go fucking find them. 

 

Alison Leiby: Who are they and where are they? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. We’re not going to wait for them to fuck up our town. I want to go out and find them, which I’m like. That’s what other option do you have. Let’s go meet them. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s all there is. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Stella insists on going. There’s a lot of, like. I’m going with you. You can’t. Well, I’m going to. I love you still. [laughter] You know, we’re two hard headed lovers, and we will fall in love by the end of the movie.

 

Alison Leiby: We are the hottest people here, and we are destined to be together because of that. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right? So they get into their truck, and they’re driving only for Eben to see something on the road. They both make a huge mistake. They stop the truck, they get out of the truck. 

 

Alison Leiby: Don’t get out. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And they leave the doors open. 

 

Alison Leiby: Insane. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But I guess it’s better to run in. 

 

Alison Leiby: I guess. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And Stella uses her binoculars to see a distance. And of course when she uses them, she stops and goes get in the fucking truck and they run back into the truck. Alison, what they’re looking at is one of them. Running and leaping on top of the truck, and starts trying to punch through the roof of the truck as the truck drives frantically back to town. 

 

Alison Leiby: And they are just chilling on the roof in motion. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Screaming, clinging to the roof. But yeah, there’s I don’t know what the game plan is other than I’m going to punch the roof and kill Eben and Stella. 

 

Alison Leiby: And like, do vampires have like. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Super strength? 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. Like, what do they have going on? 

 

Halle Kiefer: In this situation. 

 

Alison Leiby: I know there’s like, kind of some variations on vampires. Like what? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. Great question. 

 

Alison Leiby: What’s their. What’s their deal? 

 

Halle Kiefer: So in this case, they have super strength. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They drink blood. 

 

Alison Leiby: Of course. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And they cannot be exposed to UV rays. Other than that, I don’t know much about them. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They kind of have, like, a very classic vampire like. 

 

Alison Leiby: Vibe. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Black leather, S&M, you know, like great hair, great skin. Huge. Their teeth are. I think their teeth are an interesting take on it. We’re sort of like. They’re like a jagged, like, shark mouth, almost. 

 

Alison Leiby: Shark teeth. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Not just the classic fangs, but like. And to match their disgusting, filthy old nails. Right. 

 

Alison Leiby: Well, the filthy old nails. It seems a little incongruous to the the elegance of vampires that I normally associate. Like, I think vampires as, like, super clean, well kept, like, very sharp—

 

Halle Kiefer: And the rest of them— 

 

Alison Leiby: Dirty nail is, you know, just a an odd choice, but it was scary, so I guess it works. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I completely agree. And I feel like that seeing that it’s like everyone has a great haircut, everyone has like, a nice coat, good skin and then sharp teeth, disgusting filthy nails. But yeah, like. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: One woman’s wearing like a vampire woman’s just wearing like a sleeveless shift dress, so I guess they don’t get cold. Oh, I have coats on, I suppose, for the look, but, some of the some of the vampires are short sleeves. No sleeves. So. And that seems nice. I mean, makes sense. Why you being able to go here is like, the cold wouldn’t bother you. You can’t be killed, I suppose, but looking very chic. All kind of coordinated with one another, which I do assume they talked about, like. So what are we wearing? How are we doing this? Eben. Well, their frantically driving. Driving Stella’s  driving. Eben shoots up into the roof of the car and the. Person on the roof shrieks and then it’s. Stella stops the truck short in a classic moving move, and the person flies out. And I think that’s the first time they see them and realize they don’t use the word vampire till later. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Okay. 

 

Alison Leiby: I’m gonna say vampire. This is a vampire. This is not a regular guy. 

 

Halle Kiefer: This isn’t just a guy. 

 

Alison Leiby: Just got crazy teeth. You know, he’s doing he’s being crazy. So they’re like, okay, so that’s a vampire. That’s what we’re dealing with, right? They speed back to town. There’s a truck overturned, consumed into flames. We didn’t even hear about what happened with that. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, that’s just kind of scenery. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. So chaos is just coming to town. And over the radio we are Helen sobbing and screaming. Alison. When they get back to the station, they find blood sprayed all over the walls and the cell door open. Helen is gone, but the stranger is still there and he looks so disappointed. 

 

Alison Leiby: Well, that is weird. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And he says they didn’t take me. They didn’t give me my reward. It’s like, oh yeah, the vampires tricked you. You stupid bitch. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, you’re not one of them. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah, he’s supposed to be well it’s like in Dracula. What was his little friend that helped him. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Dracula’s. 

 

Alison Leiby: Little buddy. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Little buddy. [laughter] Let’s see. Renfield? Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, sure. 

 

Halle Kiefer: That did pull it off. Thank you. Google. Thank you, Google, for coming through. But yeah, so I think he is like Renfield because he can go on daylight. He was preparing the town, but it was like, why would a why wouldn’t a vampire reward you? They they got you, bitch. You already did all the work. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. They don’t. What? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: They’re keeping you around until they run out of other blood. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Also, Jake is gone and he refuses to tell them what happened to Jake. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So Eben, Eben’s basically like  well, I’m ready to kill this guy. And the stranger says to Eben finish me off, I should just die. I’m not going to get my reward. And Eben’s really tempted, but Stella’s like, hey, it’s still kind of early to be just shooting people in a jail cell. So. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: We’ll leave him locked up here. That’s fine. Meanwhile, we then finally see a group of the vampires together. Up until now, we’d only seen the vampires through the lens of our characters, and I thought that was a lot scarier. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And then we see them together. I’m like. It’s like. It’s like a it’s like a AA meeting or something. Yeah, I just sort of like, okay. 

 

Alison Leiby: All right. Like, I don’t want to go to that bar, like. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right. Exactly. Yeah. Right. This is one big polycule. They probably are. I can imagine at this point, once you’re together for hundreds of years, you can imagine everyone hooked up— 

 

Alison Leiby: Assume it’s just like swapping back and forth. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Partners. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So they got that going for them, and we see them talking to each other in a croaking foreign language. I I’m going to try. I there’s it’s not it was a, not a real language. It’s, it was developed with the help of a New Zealand linguist, which is interesting. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh that’s cool. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And also they shot this in New Zealand, which I also thought was interesting. 

 

Alison Leiby: Wow interesting. 

 

Halle Kiefer: It’s not shot in Alaska or Canada, which I think now everything is shot— 

 

Alison Leiby: Everything is shot in Canada. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So yeah. So I’m like, well, maybe there was like some deal with New Zealand. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And again, it could have fooled me, you know. But yeah. So there’s, there’s speaking this sort of like whispering, hissing like vampire language. [clip of hissing] Which I guess we’re to believe is, like, so ancient. You know, it’s not Transylvanian. 

 

Alison Leiby: Predates all. Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. And so obviously they took the ship that grounded itself in ice, sort of like, you know, the Dracula took it, taking the ship to England. We just had that movie come out, which we did, not the voyage. What the fuck was that called the voyage of the. All right, well, this is nothing. Thank you. Google. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, that’s. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Dracula’s ship. All right. Great. The Last Voyage of the Demeter. So they were on their own voyage heading to a town, unfortunately, that they were hoping would be perfect for them. It is because it’s—

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, this is, like, made for them. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. And so the head vampire tells the rest of his vampire polycule. Don’t turn them. You must decapitate them because you don’t want more vampires. I guess in this movie, you don’t want more vampires. Other vampires constantly want to turn people. But. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay, so they’re trying to keep it kind of like we’re the only vampires. We’re just looking for food we’re not looking for. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes, we’re just feeding. 

 

Alison Leiby: They’re not here to make friends. They’re just here to rip throats. [laughter]

 

Halle Kiefer: He says we should have come here ages ago. Over at the diner. We see Carter, Wilson and Wilson’s elderly dad, Isaac, along with Lucy, the waitress, and a handful of other people, including some kids holed up because they have a generator and there’s food, you know? One of the guys, Doug, says, you know, I shot one of them, and I just kept shooting, and it didn’t stop them. But not everyone has interacted with the vampires yet, so Carter’s like, that’s not possible. Like, you must have misfired. No one could survive something like that. It turns out everyone’s dog has been killed. As we find out, every sled dog has been killed in the town. 

 

Alison Leiby: Jesus. Now do vampires. They’re like, is that useful blood for them, or is that kind of just. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I don’t think so. Because it doesn’t look like the the dogs were drained or anything. 

 

Alison Leiby: They’re just dead. So that there’s no. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I think so, yeah. Just so they and—

 

Alison Leiby: I’m sure that like dogs would sense their vibe and get real riled up. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. If we if we could sense that just seeing their haircuts and their great coats, I think we know. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Denise is there. She’s obviously shaken. Says they took Gabe and then they took Aaron. So those two guys, she’s going to fuck. They both got taken by vampires. 

 

Alison Leiby: Damn that’s too bad. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And Jake finally tells them they killed Helen, my grandma. So everyone is terrified and everyone is okay, so we’re fucked. Like they’re. There’s a group of people straight up murdering everyone, and we’re trapped here for 30 days.

 

Alison Leiby: Now. Are the people trapped aware that they’re vampires, or do they just think are people—

 

Halle Kiefer: This is. I think we’re just piecing it together like—

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. Like they did. Like. Well, I shot them. They didn’t die. And then never the people were like, well, that’s not possible. So like, they’re going to try to noodle out. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. Got it. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So right now I do think they think they’re just like a maniac group of people, which is even crazier—

 

Alison Leiby: But some of the details are starting to be like, maybe that’s more than that. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. We also see Adam, who was the fire chief at home with his wife, Jeanne. They their house is just a bum rushed by the vampires. They come in through every, you know, window and door. The husband shoots one of them point blank in the chest. It doesn’t work. And we see the vampires murder them and start feeding on them, and they’re all sort of screaming and throwing their heads back at this like bloody ecstasy. And after that, Alison, the vampires are off the fucking leash. They’re literally dragging every other resident out of their house into the street. So it’s like this. Very well done. And cool. Overhead shot of, like, different vampires attacking people. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh that’s fun. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And then, like, blood spraying and staining the snow. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s fun. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So it’s like we’re going down the street and just seeing people like, you know, and then meanwhile, people are shooting the vampires, and there’s blood coming out of the vampires, like—

 

Alison Leiby: It’s not killing them. 

 

Halle Kiefer: It’s not killing them. 

 

Alison Leiby: Interesting. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Now one of them gets shot in the head and that would at least slow you down. 

 

Alison Leiby: You’d think. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So that I’m like, you’d think, at least let’s start with we’ll shoot him in the head and we’ll go from there. I wanted a little more like, what’s the plan with that? But. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Either way, it’s mayhem and there’s no escape. So everyone who is like in their home, you know, is basically going to be dragged in the street and their throats ripped out and then have the vampires scream in excitement at the sky. Eben arrives at the diner and shuts off the light so the vampires don’t find them and and sees Jake because he, you know, Jake had and survived and the vampires have taking him, and everyone’s like, oh, great, Eben’s here. So what the fuck are we all going to do? And he says, there’s only one thing you can’t do. We have to find a safe place to hide, to get enough supplies, and we have to hole up for 30 days. There’s no other way. We’re getting out of here. We will die. Like we walked out of town. We’ll just freeze to death. 

 

Alison Leiby: Right? Yeah. 80 miles is far enough that, like, even if you have, like, a snowmobile, that wouldn’t really be a sustainable path out. And it would also just be like one person. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. And obviously it’s beautiful. Like if you grew up there, you you just get there. Everything’s normal to you. 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But there is something about that where it’s like, yeah, I it would be hard out to be near other things and not in case a vampire attack. But yeah, just in general. 

 

Alison Leiby: It’s just like 80 miles is a long distance for if you need anything from another area. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. So they’re all kind of like brainstorming like where to go. And Denise says I think Karl Kelso’s attic is a good place. It’s basically built into like, the ceiling, so you can’t tell it’s there. It’s really big. There’s enough room for all of us. And I think Karl is out of town. So. And Eben’s like, great. Let’s just go there. We have we put Carter, from the, unidor, utilidor. He’s at the lead. He’s, like, leading the pack. He says, you guys go on, and I’m. We’re going to sort of like, bring up the rear. Right. And I was Eben said go. They get, bear traps. They get a bunch of different, you know, accouterment. Unfortunately, when they’re driving through town to, meet the other group with their accouterment, a group of vampires attacks their truck and lifts it off the ground, and it flips it over. 

 

Alison Leiby: No. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So now the truck’s out of commission, and they can’t get their stuff out of it, and they’re being attacked by vampires. Alison. 

 

Alison Leiby: I mean, I will say, like they’re efficient. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. 

 

Alison Leiby: The vampires. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And we’ll get into the end of because at this point I’m just like, well, so what happens when you eat everybody? There aren’t that many people in town.

 

Alison Leiby: Right. Yeah, there’s only like 100 some people. And there’s a group of you. I don’t know.

 

Halle Kiefer: And also what, what happens. Like people will eventually people after a month, people will come back and then they’ll find out what you did. 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So what’s the plan then? 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. When 300 people show, I mean, I guess, like, if they’re super strict, like, if they I don’t know, I don’t know what their end game is. I. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And it never becomes clear. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, good. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So don’t even worry about it. 

 

Alison Leiby: Unfortunately, Eben and Stella obviously are terrified. But luckily Beau, the town snowplow driver, is still out and about, so he slams his snow plow into the gang of vampires, squishes them against a wall, doesn’t kill them, but at least gives Eben and Stella enough time to jump in the snow plow, and they drive over to Charlie Kelso’s, to go hide in the attic. They get there. Luckily, Carter and the rest of the people get there and they’re safe. So that’s it. They’re going to hole up in this attic for 30 fucking days, right? 

 

Alison Leiby: A month. And this is still the first night?

 

Halle Kiefer: It’s the first night Alison. 

 

Alison Leiby: I mean. That’s a long month. 

 

Halle Kiefer: It’s a long goddamn month. So there’s like a great shot of the town, which is like things are on fire. There’s just like, blood everywhere. And you just hear a woman’s screaming in the distance. 

 

Alison Leiby: Also blood everywhere, like wasteful. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Well, that’s the other thing. 

 

Alison Leiby: It’s like, if that’s what you’re drinking, if that’s what you need. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Just like blowing people’s heads, like like just I don’t know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. It’s like either I could see, you know, oh, we use one person at a time and we’re going to for 30 days. We’re going to drain these—

 

Alison Leiby: Slowly. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I see that.

 

Alison Leiby: That makes sense. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I also see we’re going to attack this town in an orgy of violence, and then we’re going to leave. I see that too. 

 

Alison Leiby: But. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: What they’re doing, and then they end up staying for like 30 days. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah that—

 

Halle Kiefer: That’s what I don’t understand. 

 

Alison Leiby: That doesn’t quite track for me. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right. How much blood do they need? They obviously love the killing but the drinking. 

 

Alison Leiby: Right. And if you kill everybody at the top, I don’t know if it stays good for a month. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Well, maybe because it’s cold. 

 

Alison Leiby: Maybe because it’s cold. Yeah. And it’s like, also like then you don’t get to do any killing and then like, then what are you guys up to for 30 days? Just hanging out?

 

Halle Kiefer: Just hanging out. 

 

Alison Leiby: Just hanging out. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They must be so tired of each other. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s. Yeah. I mean. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So, up in the attic, Jake says I saw these people eat, my grandma. They’re like vampires. I’m just. He’s. He’s always like, I’m gonna say the vampires and Stella says that’s not possible. Vampires don’t exist. And it’s like, bitch, you saw what appeared to be 4 or 5 normal people physically grab your truck in the air and flip it. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, it’s just not. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Whatever word you want to use. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah that’s what they are. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They have some sort of supernatural power. Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: They’re people. Hey, they’re just people eating people. Okay, we don’t have to use labels. And then Eben gives them a pep talk where he’s like, you know, we know this town better than them, and we could survive the cold. And it’s like, well, they’re undead. So I can think—

 

Alison Leiby: Kind of got a leg up on you there. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Meanwhile, back in the station, the stranger is still handcuffed in the cell. So he was let he got left there. 

 

Alison Leiby: Really curious to find out what this guy’s whole deal is. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Well, you won’t, so I’m sorry. 

 

Alison Leiby: What. 

 

Halle Kiefer: The vampires arrive, and one of the head vampire kneels down and says, we will take care of you for all you’ve done for us here’s your—

 

Alison Leiby: To the— y

 

Halle Kiefer: —reward. To the stranger. He takes care of him, all right. He just fucking rips his head off his shoulder. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: You knew that was going to. Bitch, you’re so stupid. Don’t help a vampire. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. That’s on you. Egg on your decapitated face. 

 

Halle Kiefer: That’s on you. That’s on you. [laughs] In the attic, we see Eben, Stella’s talking to Eben and she says, you know, I guess it’s good you didn’t want kids. Imagine what the situation we would be in if if we did. So I think that’s the thing. I think going to think that they broke up because Eben did not want children. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. Well I’m available. [laughs]

 

Halle Kiefer: Listen. But also we’re going to be in the attic for 30 days. Let’s get these fucking boots a knocking. Outside, they hear glass breaking and they realize, oh, it’s the Clarks place. It’s the house. Sort of like on the same block. And they start to be like. Doug and Lucy are the first to panic, like, so they’re on the block. They’re going through everyone’s house. We have to move. We have to keep moving like I don’t. They’re going to eventually find us. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Even though some people like, no, we’re quiet up here. They won’t. It’s like also, we don’t know if they can smell humans we don’t know anything else about them.

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right. And I also don’t know the answer to that. Having seen the film, I don’t think they can. Or they would have smelled people by now. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But so Eben says we’re staying here, we’re rationing our food. And when the time is right, we’ll go to the general store, get more supplies and then, go to the utilidor, which is outside town. We kind of. That’s more of a fortress we could shut down but at least right now. If they’re if they’re right on our ass, we’re going to hunker down here. Alison. On the screen. Day seven. So, a weekend. 

 

Alison Leiby: Wow. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Alison. They look out the window cause there’s like a little attic window. They can see what’s going on. They see Kirsten, a woman with a broken, bloody hand walking down the street screaming for help. Carter, of course, says we have to go help her. She’s out there alone, but Eben says that’s bait. They’re using her for bait. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And he points out as she walks down the street, there’s a bunch of vampires standing essentially on the roofs watching her. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And so it’s like, we can’t do that and. 

 

Alison Leiby: Tough. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Kirsten, yeah. Reaches the end of the street and the vampires surround her. She’s like, no, I did what you said. I. Please, God, I you know. And the head vampire says God? No. God. And kills her. Kills her. Eben’s not made of stone, though. So it’s like he did go outside. You’re like, well, maybe I could, but then he’s watching that literally goes outside, just sees them eat this woman. She’s like, well, yeah, I wasn’t really going to help. Unfortunately, Alison, when he goes outside, he stops and he sees John Riis under his house. We know that John’s been down there probably for around about a week, which probably means he’s not a person anymore. 

 

Alison Leiby: I wouldn’t think so. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Unfortunately Eben doesn’t know that and it’s dark. So it’s like for us it’s like, okay, he’s obviously vampirized. Like, you can see you got pointy teeth. And I think we’re to think that he was injured like his wife either scratched some or bit him while he was trying to rescue her. So he did turn. So he has not been killed. But that’s even worse then, because it’s like—

 

Alison Leiby: Now there’s another one. 

 

Halle Kiefer: At least if you were killed you could fucking die. And another one. So not knowing this even goes to help John to try to get him out, realizes he’s a vampire and ends up in a fight with John where he has to cut off John’s head with an ax. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And you hate to do that to a neighbor. 

 

Alison Leiby: That feels like like it’s already an unpleasant task, but then, like, it’s also very physical. [laughs]

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. And just blood sprayed everywhere. And I think it’s like, that is the moment where we would decide, okay, in order to kill these vampires, we will be cutting off their head. There’s no formal decision made. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But, you know.

 

Alison Leiby: It seems like it’s working. So let’s, like, at least follow. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: That to its end. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So, Eben goes back up to the attic and realized that he has lost his inhaler, which to me as somebody who uses an inhaler as an emergency inhaler. The idea of being in the situation. And also you’ve lost your inhaler. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, no. 

 

Halle Kiefer: No, oh, no, Alison, they all go to sleep for the night. In the night. Wilson’s dad, Isaac, who has been sort of, you know, he’s been like, talk to your mother. Ask your mother where I want. You didn’t know your mother is. His mother has passed away, you know, so the implication is Alzheimer’s. Or maybe he’s like, sort of experiencing this because of the stress, the situation. He gets up in the middle of the night when everyone’s asleep, and he opens the door and starts to walk down and he says, I’m going to walk to Wainwright again. Wainwright being like 80 miles away. No you’re not.

 

Alison Leiby: No, you’re not. No you’re not. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Fortunately, Stella and Wilson are able to grab Isaac once he’s downstairs and he’s sobbing. And then they finally address the bathroom issue, which is where I was like you, where you’re shitting in the attic. 

 

Alison Leiby: Where you pooping and peeing. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And so I don’t know if this is like a regular toilet or like some sort of toilet where you know the water is going to freeze. So basically they have a toilet, like don’t flush. We can manually open the valve to, to let it out. Right. So do not flush the water cause also that’ll be a sound. So you could use the toilet, but then you have to manually release some part of the toilet. So they let this guy, who is clearly very confused, into the bathroom with a lock. He immediately locks the door, of course. And, you know, his son starts pounding on the door like, dad, dad, dad. And they finally get it open. Isaac has escaped out the window. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay.

 

Halle Kiefer: Stella tries to stop Wilson from going. He’s like, he is my father. I have to go get him. Even if he’s wandering outside with a bunch of vampires and he can sort of, like, pushes Stella away from. And she falls and hits her head. I think just as a way to like that, she wouldn’t immediately stop him like there is. Just so we had to create some sort of a, a, a kerfuffle. Eben hears them talking downstairs, and he runs downstairs and he grabs Stella right as a vampire enters the house through the window. And fortunately the vampire didn’t see them. Instead, they hear Wilson outside calling dad, dad. So the vampire that is entered goes back outside to eat Wilson and his father. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And of course, Wilson and his father are dragged away to the snow and to their doom. 

 

Alison Leiby: Bye. 

 

Bye, bye. And Stella and Eden, return to the attic and Eden says, you know, it’s hard to stop when your family’s at stake. I understand him going after his father. The lengths you go to save your own and Stella says we were like that once weren’t we? No time to fall in love again. You too. Because there’s a vampire in the fucking room. 

 

Alison Leiby: Of course there is. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Running around like a goddamn asshole. 

 

Alison Leiby: Keeping eyes on you guys. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So he tells them, look, a blizzard’s coming in. We can see the squall starts to blow. That’s actually the perfect time. So if we want to move, which I think we should move, because now the vampires are literally in the house. [both speaking] It’s like it’s a matter of time. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, yeah yeah.

 

Halle Kiefer: So under the cover of the blizzard, we are going to try to move to, the utilidor. It’s safe. We could barricade it. It’s like a more of a it’s a proper setup for this kind of situation. Plus it has supplies. They’re going to stop at the general store on the way there. And Eben gives them all assignments you know like Carter you’re going to get batteries Lucy you’re gonna get canned goods. So everybody we’re here for two minutes. He’s able to get an inhaler for the pharmacy as well, so I’m, like, grab antibiotics. Like get anything from. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah load up. 

 

Halle Kiefer: The pharmacy. Yeah. Unfortunately, while they’re all gathering, they freeze and they hear a man sobbing at the back of the store, and they turn and see it’s a little girl eating a person, and she turns to them. And this is where I’m like, okay, we’re getting a little because they’ve been playing really dead serious, you know? And she’s like, I’m done with this one. Want to play with me now? 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, now. It’s like a whole.

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. The little girl attacks them and Jake is forced to decapitate her. 

 

Alison Leiby: Not great. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Denise says. Wait, does anyone recognize this little girl? And no one does. Alison. They look outside. The blizzard has ended, which means they’re now stuck here. Which is fine because it’s a pharmacy. But they didn’t make the utility door, so we’re going to hole up here. Day 18. 

 

Alison Leiby: Worst places to be stuck. 

 

Halle Kiefer: 100%. Honestly, a huge upgrade. 

 

Alison Leiby: Well, huge. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So they’re there. And finally there’s going to be like bad weather again. It’s like okay. 

 

Alison Leiby: So was that little girl like someone who came with kind of the the group or was she turned. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I think that’s the implication because it’s never addressed again. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh. Good. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So I think it was their child of a vampire child that was probably with them. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. Well at some point someone’s going to have a child. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right? Well, that’s a good point. So it’s eight day 18 and they’re waiting to go. And Carter says, okay, I’m gonna say it. You know, we could get to the utilidor if someone was willing to create a distraction. So one of us decides how we can lead them astray, and the rest of us could run to the utilidor. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oy. It’s like, yes, in theory, but.

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. And then trying to brainstorm what how to do this. And Stella was like, well, you know, Grandma Helen had that like grow light in her house, like a UV light to grow weed because you can’t just, like, get it, you know, we’re in Alaska. So in a small town, it’s like, what, have we lured them to her house and then hit them with the UV light? Beau is like, we don’t know. These are. We don’t know what these are. Just cause it’s in a Dracula movie doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. And those people are going to be willing to die. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But honestly, they’re like, well, what’s the other option. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. You’re kind of at the end of the road. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. So Eben because he was a stand up guy, he and Jake insists on going you know of course, arguing with them because he’s a teenager. But Jake says, fuck you, I’m going. So they run outside screaming and drawing attention to them, and they run to Helen’s house. They’re able to start her generator because they need the light and the other ones. As soon as they get moving, the vampires attack the other group. Leaving the pharmacy. They rip Doug’s throat out immediately, so the gang has to run and hide in the sheriff’s office. The vamps descend on Grandma Helen’s house just as they get her UV light, and, the vampires come through the front door in the first person through is a female vampire. They hit her with the UV light. It fucking works, Alison. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: She is charred and falls, screaming into the snow and the head vampire comes or she’s like, half burned. And he says, you know what I have to do? And she says, yes. And he tears her throat out. So I think it was a mercy killing. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And Beau says to Stella.

 

Alison Leiby: I like that they have a code. [laughs] 

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. 

 

Alison Leiby: Within their crew. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Beau says to Stella, I appreciate what Eben and Jake did. Now it’s my turn. I have to help them because the vampires are still around Helen’s house. So he goes to Malekai’s thresher and he starts driving the thresher through the town in a great. This is a great scene because it’s Beau, this old crotchety snowplow guy driving this gigantic piece of snow plow equipment. He’s driving through town, running over vampires, firing his shotgun at them [laughter] ramming him with the thresher parts. And then this is what doesn’t make sense. He then crashes in the, machine into a building for seemingly no reason. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I thought that was so funny. I was like, you could have made him lose control. He just plows into a building cause he wanted to. 

 

Alison Leiby: Like. All right? 

 

Halle Kiefer: And as the vamps descend on him, he’s shooting them. And then he runs out of bullets and he tells the vampires as they start crawling into the sort of hiding in this building he’s run into, they start crawling in the windows. He says, you’re not going to get me, and he lights a flare. He’s a big box from the lights of flare, drops it into the box of flares, and the building explodes. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Unfortunately, Beau does not die he is blown free. And now all the vampires are showing up around him. And the head vampire says to him because he had vampire could speak their language, but also could speak English. 

 

Alison Leiby: Helpful. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And he says to Beau, when a man meets a force he cannot destroy, he must destroy himself. It’s like that. Seems like that doesn’t apply to this. 

 

Alison Leiby: No. That’s not like you’re about to kill me. You’re a vampire.

 

Alison Leiby: That’s not what this is but sure. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Eben sort of staggers over to the sheriff’s office, and he and Stella embrace. Thank God we all survived it. And also, this is where I saw. She takes down her hood, and she has this insane blond, like. Like Marilyn fucking Monroe. Blond. 

 

Alison Leiby: I mean. 

 

Halle Kiefer: It looks incredible on her. But I was like, this is impossible. She would do highlights. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: She’d be able to grow it out for a couple months, you know what I mean? And she says we’re down to six people. And Carter turns around and says, soon they’ll be five, and Carter turns. He’s turning, and they’re like, what happened he’s like the little girl in the store bit me when we were sort of wrestling her to the ground. So Jake could decapitate her and he’s turning. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: He’s taking a minute. He’s still human, and he’s like, Eben I didn’t want to tell you before, but the reason my wife didn’t come visit is that she and the kids, they were hit by a drunk driver and didn’t say when but I’m assuming recently they died and he says. 

 

[clip of Nathaniel Lees]: They’re waiting for me. I can’t live forever. Don’t let me.

 

Halle Kiefer: And Stella’s like no, don’t do this. And it’s like, but there’s literally no other option. And that’s the right thing to do. Like, yeah, you know, you’re turning into a—

 

Alison Leiby: That’s gonna kill other people. Like. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Things are not doing well. 

 

Alison Leiby: Get it over with now. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. And Eben takes Carter into the office, closes the door and the sheriff’s office, and you hear him chop his head off, and then you hear the head hit the ground. Alison Eben emerges. And I finally have to ask you at this point in the podcast, Alison, who will survive? 

 

[voice over]: Who will survive? 

 

Halle Kiefer: So we got Eben, Stella, Lucy, Jake, and Denise. 

 

Alison Leiby: Eben and Stella will make it and perhaps carry on a new relationship. In the post vampire world. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I like it, I like it. 

 

Alison Leiby: I think we still have like at least 1 or 2 more deaths from our core crew. So. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Now keep in mind Jake is a teenager if that helps you at all. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay, so maybe Jake survives and the other two die. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. Great. 

 

[AD BREAK]

 

Halle Kiefer: I don’t. I actually didn’t see another day thing, and I went back and tried to figure out when it passed, but time has passed. So I’m going to say it’s day 21, right? So this is like we’re in the third week of the month and we’re at the sheriff’s office holed up. As they look outside, they we see them sort of flashing a flashlight through the window to try to signal if anyone else is around and they see a flashlight responding from another attic. And Jake says, that’s Billy’s house, that you’re, you know, the other officer. And they’re like, oh my God, Billy or somebody in his family is still alive. This is the saddest part of the movie, girl. Eben and Stella are like, oh if Billy’s alive, we should get him and bring the family. They could be with us. It’s just safer. They go to the house and Billy is, out of his mind. And it’s sort of like, become sort of like grown out beard, you know, sort of. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Howard Hughes situation. And they see in, in the master bedroom in bed are three bodies, his wife and the two kids. And he’s clearly shot them all through the head. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, God. So sad.

 

Halle Kiefer: It’s like I, I know he’s like, I couldn’t let them get to them. I know I could have let it happen. And Eben, like, yells at him. He’s like, you’ve never hurt your family. Never. And it’s like this I agree, I agree. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yes. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But also, you got to give him cut him a little slack. This is a situation where. 

 

Alison Leiby: This is beyond like. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. But I 

 

Alison Leiby: You know, I’m a police officer. And sometimes bad things that, like, this is so outside of things you should have to like mentally prepare for in life. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right? That being said, I will never do that if I am, if God bless.

 

Alison Leiby: But I do want someone to do it to me.

 

Halle Kiefer: At the same time. Yeah, well, that’s the thing. Yeah. I mean, you have to flip a coin and get to decide who gets to die. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And he says, I tried to kill myself last, but I ran out of bullets. Oh, that’s why I’ve just been here. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, that’s awful. 

 

Halle Kiefer: With their bodies. 

 

Alison Leiby: That’s so sad. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I know they grab Billy, take him back to the sheriff’s office. By the time they get back, the everyone else has gone. So, Lucy, Jake and Denise are gone from the sheriff’s office, so they have to pray that they took the opportunity. They just went to the utilidor. Like, we’re like, we have to pray because there’s no evidence of vampires in here, so they must have moved on. They had an opportunity. So let’s go to the utilidor. I think this is just a way to get them separated again, but that’s fine. So they’re trying to make their way out. Of course, the vampires are in the streets and there just aren’t that many living people anymore, so they Stella Eben and Billy take the opportunity to also start crawling under the houses. So I don’t know if this might be true. I’m not sure. Probably it would be because you probably can’t dig a basement. It went like if there’s like. 

 

Alison Leiby: If it’s frozen. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah, if it’s frozen. So there’s space underneath each house. They’re sort of crawling. And then we see a girl, a human girl, one of the girls from town, a little girl named Gail Robbins, and Stella again. Stella, that mothering instinct that she didn’t get to the with Eben. She sees Gail walking on the street and rescues her. But of course the girl is bait, so one of the vampires, instead of attacking Stella and Gail, starts trailing Stella because this smartly the vampire is like, oh, she’s going to meet up with the rest of them and then we’ll be able to kill all of them. 

 

Alison Leiby: All right? 

 

Halle Kiefer: They’re not wrong. So Stella and Gail are separated. Eben and Billy get to the utilidor. Fortunately, everyone else has made it, but they’re missing Stella and Gail, which obviously Eben is terrified. It’s like, you know. Okay, great. I saw the woman I’m clearly in love with. And now a vampires probably eating her as we speak. We then see the head, vampire give a monologue where he’s like [hisses]. Like, I can’t do the voice, obviously, but it’s essentially that. And he says to them, we worked for centuries during which we were only bad dreams, destroy them all. And I was like, so this was the plan. You worked for centuries, so you just—

 

Alison Leiby: For good for like 70 people. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Right? Like like. Well, you guys should have thought more about that. You, could have commissioned a boat. You could have gone anywhere. 

 

Alison Leiby: It feels so short sighted. It doesn’t. It didn’t make any goddamn sense. When he said that, I was like, huh, okay, well, you know.

 

Alison Leiby: I guess guy. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So we see Billy at the utilidor. He’s losing his mind, obviously, because he shot and murdered his whole family, and he is sort of a hole he crawls up into, like, this industrial attic space to hide, I think. Sort of. But of course, a vampire has watched them, arrive at the utilidor and the vampire is close behind everyone else, gets together, try to batten down the hatches, sort of create sort of a, command center for themselves, and Eben tries to call Stella on his walkie talkie, which they had picked up at this sheriff’s office. She’s not replying. So last time we saw her, she had a walkie talkie. She’s not picking up.

 

Alison Leiby: All right. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Billy. Billy calls for the others, and everyone’s sort of like, oh, where’s Billy? Where is he? And as he calls them, they hear him being, torn apart by a vampire. 

 

Alison Leiby: Cool. 

 

Halle Kiefer: In the distance, and they run to him. I mean, which I thought was nice, like, I would be running the other way at this point. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. See ya.

 

Halle Kiefer: And he is wrestling with the vampire in front of the grinder, and his arm gets pushed into the grinder and his arm is ripped off. Fortunately, Eben is able to throw the attacking vampire into the grinder as well, which is very satisfying. But Billy screams because he’s been bitten and he starts to turn. And being the good friend and diligent coworker he is, Eben has to get his ax and cut off Billy’s head. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And this is to me, one of the best, kills the moment of gore in the movie because it is a long, very good one. A very methodical chopping, blood spraying all over Eben’s face and eyes. And then I’m like, wait, if you get it in your mouth or eyes, you turn. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, I guess I still we will end this movie with me still having a ton of questions about logistics, but sure. 

 

Halle Kiefer: So Denise finds within like, you know, the utility store, she finds chocolate, vitamins and vodka, and she’s like, we might as well just fucking party until the end of the month. Which brings us to day 29, Alison. There’s still at the utilidor, Denise tells us one day until sunrise. So they’ve really made it. The ones who made it. 

 

Alison Leiby: I’m impressed. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Very impressed. But they still haven’t heard from Stella. But, the walkie talkie crackles. I finally, and it’s Stella. She says she and Gail are alive and they’re make their way to the utilidor, but unfortunately, they are very close within spitting distance of each other. But the vampires suddenly showed up and are in the street. So she and Gail are alive, but underneath a car wreck and are basically starting to freeze to death. So if you guys can figure that, what to do. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But there’s, like, a mass of vampires. This is not something we’ve run into before. And also, if they were to find out Stella and Gail were there, obviously they would kill them as well. But luckily, Eben he is our hero. He tells Stella on the walkie talkie, I’m coming to get you, and tomorrow we’re going to watch the sunrise together. Alison. As they look through a window, these streets start filling with oil. The vampires have sabotaged the pipeline. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. Was that a plan? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Well, apparently, because we see they had vampire light a match and toss it. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And I was like, oh, they want to smoke everyone else out. But then I was like, oh, no, they actually want to burn the town down. But what? Why and. 

 

Alison Leiby: Why? 

 

Halle Kiefer: That’s a huge. That will be that will tip people off. 

 

Alison Leiby: Isn’t that, where they live now?

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. and I was like, even if they—

 

Alison Leiby: Are they headed somewhere else next. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I don’t know. Like it’s that that’s where I started to be like, okay. So I guess I don’t know, really understood. I didn’t understand their plan, but. 

 

Alison Leiby: No I guess I guess not. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And our gang is fucked either way, you know? And so Eben says he’s going to go try to rescue Stella and Gail. Even though he has to like, go up against these vampires. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Because basically it’s like, if I don’t get them, either the vampires will get them or they’ve set this on fire so they will burn so that like, I have to go, you know? And she turns to Stella. Like, if you go out there, they will also come and find all this. But Eben’s got a plan, Alison, and. 

 

Alison Leiby: I bet he does. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Here’s what the plan is because I was one this I’m like okay. I mean I, you know you’re, you’re in a between a rock and a hard place. Eben withdraws blood from Billy’s severed head, which again, he died, at least a week ago over a week ago. 

 

Alison Leiby: And would you still have blood? 

 

Halle Kiefer: I guess you would be it would be congealed. It wouldn’t be liquid anymore, right? It would be like jelly. 

 

Alison Leiby: Clotted. 

 

Halle Kiefer: You know, clot. It was hard to dehydrate. I imagine. Any who, in this movie, he’s able to take—

 

Alison Leiby: He’s still has liquid blood.

 

Halle Kiefer: Blood and injects himself with it. And he tells them John and Carter, they were both bitten, and they stayed human for a while. I think if I, if I go up against them as a vampire, I will be able to. Defeat them. 

 

Alison Leiby: And then what? You kill him? 

 

Halle Kiefer: I guess so. Everyone, of course, freaks out at this idea, but. Eben’s doing it? Yeah. He’s, like, shaking and collapsing. When he wakes up, he goes, I can smell your blood. And if I’m everyone else, I’m like, okay, so you’re just going to kill us right now, right? 

 

Alison Leiby: Like, how do I how are we supposed to feel safe through this plan? 

 

Halle Kiefer: How many minutes do you think you’re going to be in control of being a vampire? Ten?

 

Alison Leiby: Right. That’s not something that you’re just like, I’m. I’m willing myself to not. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Alison. He walks out that front door to be a hero. And this is where I’m like, okay, it is hard to write a movie I’m not saying that, Eben meets the vampires in the middle of the town as the town burns around them. So basically, he’s confronting them in the middle of the street, it’s him versus, like 12, vampires. And he starts kicking the head vampires ass. And in classic movie moment. 

 

Alison Leiby: Sure. 

 

Halle Kiefer: None of the other vampires run over to help. If I was like, if it was him versus 12 of them at once, he would be over. But. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And the guy’s still a vampire, so he’s able to grab Eben’s head and start smashing into a car. 

 

Alison Leiby: Are they both like undead now? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Exactly. Like, if anything, it’s just even four or whatever. And then eventually become a vampire. And like, ostensibly, you would join them. Also, Stella and baby Gail are looking from under the car, watching the love of her life, her ex-husband getting her, his ass handed to him by a vampire. As the town burns down and he yells them go! And she and Gail are able to run to the utilidor. And luckily their brawl is enough of a distraction, so he and the head vampire are duking it out. Bare knuckle boxing and the head vampires kicking his ass. Because of him, he’s been a vampire longer. He knows his strength. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah, he knows what’s going on. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And just when you think that a vampire will be victorious, the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a movie in a long time happens. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh. 

 

Halle Kiefer: The head vampire runs at Eben who throws a punch that goes straight into the head vampires mouth and through the back of his head? 

 

Alison Leiby: I’m sorry. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Not as sorry as I was, because it also looks the the special effects is are also bad. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And when the rest of the vampires see this. They look and they realize the first light of dawn is peeking through the clouds. They must leave, and we don’t even see them leave. 

 

Alison Leiby: Where. 

 

And someone eve says should we go find them? 

 

Alison Leiby: No, but maybe. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But also like. So they got out of their ship and they left, like. Stella comes out of the utilidor. 

 

Alison Leiby: Okay. 

 

Halle Kiefer: And says to Eben, what did you do to yourself? And he says, what I had to do. Bitch! No you didn’t. Like it was going to dawn was 45 minutes away and I understand Stella and Gail were not doing well. I’m sympathetic to that. But, like, once they ran inside, you could run inside or you could leave, or I do anything, like. It’s just like it just anyways, you know, he he tells her it’s almost done. We made it. And of course, Stella starts to cry because he is now a vampire injected himself with vampire blood. So as we see, there are other villagers emerging from their home which. Which, by the way, is being burned down, as they speak. Stella takes Eben up to the cliff over the town to watch the dawn, and they kiss goodbye it as she holds him, the lights raise hit him, and Eben burns like a charcoal briquette turning into ash, and he screams as Stella holds him to her chest. The end. 

 

Alison Leiby: Huh. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Huh. 

 

That was my take on it. Huh. 

 

Alison Leiby: Huh. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Alison. When I saw that when I saw that punch go in that vampires mouth I thought I was like you. Yeah, yeah, let’s go ahead—

 

Alison Leiby: It had to end somehow. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Let’s go ahead and wrap this one up. 

 

Alison Leiby: Let’s wrap that up right up. 

 

Halle Kiefer: I still enjoyed it, but it was a little. Yeah. It was unfort—

 

Alison Leiby: It’s like, all right. We lost some logic here at the end and. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Didn’t quite land the plane. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Also, what are some fatal mistakes you think were made in 30 Days of Night? 

 

[voice over]: Fatal mistakes. 

 

Alison Leiby: I’m impressed. They all survived as long as they did. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Absolutely. 

 

Alison Leiby: I would say that the town should have more than just, like, dogs and one helicopter as options to get out during the 30 days of no flights. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Like I do feel like. Even if it’s only like 150 people that stick around. Like if something happens. Like they do need options though. I guess if there was a second helicopter, like, they would have just ruined that too or something. So I don’t know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. No. I think it’s—

 

Alison Leiby: But everyone kind of—

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: Did a good job. And I mean in the end like I mean I guess it worked. But like I don’t understand how the, the transitioning into a vampire became like, a useful tool for. 

 

Halle Kiefer: You know I. 

 

Alison Leiby: For beating them. 

 

Halle Kiefer: You know, I guess you’re in a really high pressure situation. So who are we to judge? But I do—

 

Alison Leiby: Just make a decision. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah, it was really, I think. Really a swing and a miss if, if you had asked me and, you know, but it’s still, hey, you know, still enjoyed it. And then where would you, put 30 Days a Night on the spooky scale? Alison. 

 

[voice over]: A spooky scale. 

 

Alison Leiby: I think that this is a five. It’s just kind of right down the middle of, like, there’s scary stuff. There’s gory stuff. It’s also taking place with like, vampires, which we all know aren’t real. Which brings it down a little bit. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: But I do think that, like, you know, the constant nightfall is a great horror. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yes. 

 

Alison Leiby: Location situations to put people in. And I do think kind of the like not not knowing. Well not knowing the rules does make it like a complicated movie, like it does make the how do we know if we can go outside if they won’t find us like that stuff? 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: All kind of scary. So yeah, I think that’s I think a five. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Yeah. 

 

Alison Leiby: For me. What about you? 

 

Halle Kiefer: I’m gonna give it a four, because I do agree that the initial setup and all that stuff is happening, and I thought Ben Foster’s weird Renfield character was really, like, fun and. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Interesting because it was like, you know, just talk about how they’re all going to die. And then, yeah, by the end it’s like, okay. And I think, I mean, it’s like almost need to know either less about the vampires, like, I, I would rather prefer the vampires almost like wolves, like more animalistic. Or then they’re fully fleshed out [both speaking] exactly like where they’re getting more or less. But the amount we have. I’m just like, where are you from? Where do you get those clothes? What was the plan? What happens when you eat everyone? Why are you burning down the town?

 

Alison Leiby: How long have you been alive? Are you alive?

 

Halle Kiefer: Right.

 

Alison Leiby: I you know. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Where’d you meet your Renfield? Yeah. And and I again, still enjoyed it. And it was really. 

 

Alison Leiby: Yeah.

 

Halle Kiefer: I, I’d be interested in reading the comic book version of it, which maybe gets into the more of this. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh, that’d be interesting. 

 

Halle Kiefer: But yeah, there was sort of things I’m like, well, all right, I’m all right. I guess I’ll take your word for it. 

 

Alison Leiby: I guess. 

 

Halle Kiefer: All right. And then finally, before I, I guess we’ve arrived at the end. 

 

Alison Leiby: We have arrived at the end. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Sunlight is peeking over the bluffs. Alison. I’m turning into ash as we speak. 

 

Alison Leiby: Oh yes.

 

Halle Kiefer: And until next time, guys, please. 

 

Alison Leiby: Please keep it spooky. 

 

Halle Kiefer: Don’t forget to follow us at Ruined podcasts and Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok for show updates. And if you’re just as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review. Ruined is a Radio Point and Crooked Media production, we’re your writers and hosts Halle Kiefer and Alison Leiby. This show is executive produced by Alex Bach, Sabrina Fonfeder and Houston Snyder, and recorded and edited by Kat Iossa. From Crooked Media our executive producer is Kendra James with production and promotional support from Ari Schwartz, Kyle Seglin, Julia Beach, Caroline Dunphy, and Ewa Okulate.