Revealing mistake: During the heavy snowstorm, the telephone wires are still, even though it's a blizzard.
30 Days of Night (2007)
Directed by: David Slade
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Melissa George
Factual error: When the vampire throws the lit match on the oil it catches fire right away. Oil will only burn at a certain temperature no matter how many times you throw a lit match on it.
Revealing mistake: After Eben dies from watching the sunrise his hair burns away and his scalp flakes, however the shadow of his hair can be seen on his wife's face.
Trivia: During the scene showing the mass attack on the town, as one man's thrown off a roof he lets out a Wilhelm scream.
Deputy Billy Kitka: You know, Beau's not so bad. Why'd you bother writing him up?
Sheriff Eben Oleson: He lives all alone out there on the south ridge. A little citation now and then lets him know he's a part of this town.
Stella Oleson: I should have fought harder, kept Wilson here.
Sheriff Eben Oleson: It's hard to stop someone when their family's at stake. The things you'll do to save your own.
Stella Oleson: We were like that once... weren't we?
Sheriff Eben Oleson: They're burning down the town.
Denise: Nobody will know what happened. They'll just think it was some horrible accident.
Lucy Ikos: Next time they'll take out Point Hope, Wainwright.
Question: Billy admits that he shot his wife and daughters to save them from a more horrible death at the hands of the vampires. Grieving, he says, "I tried to shoot myself, too, but the fucking gun jammed." But Billy is a deputy sheriff, and any competent law officer can resolve a jammed gun in a matter of seconds. Did Billy actually chicken-out of killing himself after murdering his family?
Question: 2 part question, 1. I know he only just turned but surely Eben would have attacked his friends, the man hiding under the building (who Eben kills near the swings) had only just turned yet did not hesitate and attacked Eben instantly, so why didn't Eben do the same? 2. The head vampire tells the others not to turn anyone, why not? Surely they would want as many vampires as possible to make killing the resisting humans easier and to make up the numbers should they lose any, why didn't he want anyone to turn?
Answer: The hiding man had no idea what had happened to him and so was just running on his new animalistic instinct. Eben became a vampire knowingly, willingly, and so he was able to move past that stage immediately. As you can see by the behavior of the lead vampire, a bit of restraint and humanity is not impossible to achieve. The lead vampire did not want anyone turned because that would mean more vampires to share the blood with. He didn't anticipate much in the way of resistance from the humans, they being weaker, slower, creatures.
Also, the man under the building was attacked ~7 days earlier.
Question: Towards the end of the movie, since everyone knew that it would be sunrise soon and since Stella was comfortable enough under the car, why would Eben inject himself and become one of them? Had he waited until dawn Stella could still be waiting under the car and everyone else could also be fine in the house.
Answer: It's stated in the movie they'll freeze to death under the car before sunrise. Whether that's true or not, Eben believes it, and that's why he acts.
Answer: The previous answer misses one very important aspect that forced Eben's hand. Prior to him injecting himself with the vampire blood, the vampires had broken apart the oil pipeline and set the oil ablaze to cover up their actions. The fire spread quickly and was nearing Stella's hiding place. As a result, Gail and Stella risked either burning to death or leaving their hiding place and being torn apart by the ten or so vampires who were standing nearby. Eben sacrificed himself so she could make a run for it. He understood - as well as stated in the film - they were in no shape to fight them as they were. The vampire blood was the only chance he had at saving her.
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Answer: Perhaps Billy was not a competent law officer. Or maybe you were right he chickened out. Billy could have killed himself in other ways. Other ways more quiet than gunshot.
Alan Keddie
Exactly. How could he go on living after killing his whole family? A minor problem such as a gun jam shouldn't have prevented him from committing suicide. In fact, he couldn't become a law enforcement officer without demonstrating a proficiency with firearms, including the ability to field-service his weapon quickly in an emergency. The simple procedure for fixing a jammed firearm is at the top of the list of required skills.
Charles Austin Miller
Are we ignoring that he was obviously extremely distraught at this time? My take on this has always been that he pulled the trigger, the gun jammed, and he just gave up on everything. He literally didn't care enough about anything at that point to even bother taking his own life anymore. Let the vampires take him; or not. His family is gone, by his hand no less, nothing at all matters anymore. I didn't see it as an inability to clear the jam, I saw it as a psychological breakdown that resulted in complete and total apathy. The jam was nothing more than the straw that broke the camel's back.
Phixius ★
If he gave up on everything, why did he covertly signal Eben with a flashlight? If Billy had truly given up, why not just walk out into the street and be slaughtered by the vampires, rather than continuing to hide?
Charles Austin Miller