Josh Hartnett waiting for the next vampire attack Credit: Columbia Pictures

Journalists were invited recently to Sony Studios in L.A. to an early screening of the upcoming horror film 30 Days of Night. We saw the very scary movie and were treated to a Q and A with Steve Niles, the creator of the graphic novel upon which the movie is based and the co-screenwriter, Rob Tapert, the producer and the film's director David Slade. Afterwards press was led to a big soundstage on the lot that had been set up for a "dining in the dark" experience in honor of the film's creepy, no-sun-for-days theme. The TV series "CSI" just aired an episode in which a murder takes place in just such a setting! Vampires aren't the only beings who dine in the dark.

I admit it. This reporter gets a bit claustrophobic in a strange place in total darkness and I wasn't able to enjoy the experience but, we were led in small groups to tables by blind waiters. We aren't talking "dim" here but total inky blackness! I had to bail but my colleagues tell me that not one bit of food was spilt although some chocolate cake ended up in someone's briefcase! Depriving humans of one of their senses, in this case, sight, is supposed to make the remaining senses more acute. I'm sure the roast beef and warm chocolate dessert was yummy but I wasn't alone in being too uncomfortable to partake. Thank got I was not stranded in the dark...with vampires...for 30 days!