30 Days of Night: Blood Trails, the five- to seven-minute weekly “mini-sodes” that serve as a prequel to the upcoming theatrical feature, will begin on September 13, 2007, and pick up a New Orleans subplot not included in the film, which opens October 19, 2007.

We reported back in March that Fearnet.com — the multiplatform horror/thriller site launched last year by Sony, Comcast, and Lionsgate — would show the episodes, which are produced by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi‘s Ghost House Pictures. The prequel series, written by Ben Ketai, will also be available on demand at Comcast digital cable.

Check out the very small sneak peek of the series at Fearnet.

The Steve Niles official site has that Blood Trails “follows George, a young addict who makes a living seeking covert information for the weary but wise vampire hunter Judith. Ready for change, George plans to score one final job so he can leave town — but finds the road to salvation quickly crumbling when his contacts start turning up dead. Now George must dodge vampires while navigating the harsh underbelly of New Orleans to get his last payday and make it out alive.

Victor Garcia (Return to House on Haunted Hill) will direct.

From the Gannett News Service
August 6, 2007 – The buildup to modern movies is becoming an art form all its own. One of the year’s most anticipated horror films, “30 Days of Night,” about vampires attacking Barrow, Alaska, will be foreshadowed by a seven-week series of “mini-sodes” available online at FEARnet.com and available on demand at Comcast digital cable.

The five- to seven-minute weekly dramas, “30 Days of Night: Blood Trails,” begin on Sept. 13 and pick up a New Orleans subplot not included in the film, which opens Oct. 19.

“These mini-sodes are a nice way to lead up to the movie,” says Steve Niles, co-creator with Ben Templesmith of the comic book series that spawned the adaptation. “For people like me who can’t stand waiting, it’s a great way to fill in the blanks and let people know something horrific is about to happen. They are not just commercials for the movie but are content on their own, with some real scares along the way.”