ASeveral people have noted that 30 Days of Night reminds them of John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) in which an alien that absorbs and mimics human bodies terrorizes a group of scientists in the frozen Antarctic. The creature even shrieks like the vampires in 30 Days of Night. The Thing was itself a remake of the 1951 movie, The Thing from Another World, in which an alien that needs human blood terrorizes a group of Air Force officials and scientists in the frozen Arctic. Another movie said to be somewhat like 30 Days of Night is Stephen King's Storm of the Century (1999), in which a stranger terrorizes residents of Little Tall Island, Maine during a freak snow storm. Also, there is Smilla's Sense of Snow, in which the investigation of the death of a young Inuit boy leads to an asteroid that has awakened something deadly in an iceberg along the Arctic coast of Greenland. The 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead is also reminiscent of this movie, particularly the similarities in which the vampires and zombies move and kill and the fate of of one of the main characters. Similar to 30 Days of Night, an old nazi professor in Frostbiten (2006) has brought a vampire to a Swedish town above the Arctic Circle in search of a cure for vampirism, but the cure is mistaken for a drug and stolen, causing the people taking the unfinished cure to become vampires and terrorize northern Sweden over the next 30 days of darkness.
AKnowing that they must move again before they are discovered by the vampires, the survivors head for the Utilidor. Along the way, Stella notices young Gail Robbins (Rachel Maitland-Smith) wandering down the street in shock. Stella rushes out to grab her and becomes separated from Eben and Billy (Manu Bennett) so she takes refuge under a truck. Eben, Billy, and the others make it to the Utilidor, but Billy is attacked by a vampire. Eben manages to get the vampire off Billy and push him into the shredder (aka the muffin monster), but Billy's arm is torn off in the process. As Billy's cries turn into vampire shrieks, Eben realizes that he is turning into a vampire and beheads him. With dawn approaching, the vampires begin to set the town on fire in order to cover up their presence. Realizing that Stella will be killed by the vampires if she runs or burned to death if she stays hidden, Eben injects himself with some of Billy's blood in order to turn himself into a vampire, his only chance of defeating them. Eben goes outside into the gathering crowd of vampires and, while he distracts them by fighting with Marlow, Stella runs for cover. Marlow, being older and stronger, gets the best of Eben until Marlow makes a lunge for Eben, and Eben rams his fist through Marlow's mouth and out the back of his head. With their leader destroyed, the remaining vampires scatter. In the final scene, Stella and Eben watch the sunrise, holding each other and sharing a last kiss. As the sun rises higher, Eben's skin begins to burn. Stella continues to hold him until he is turned to ash.
