"30 Days of Night: Dark Days" co-writer Steve Niles is pleased with the liberating nature of the film's direct-to-DVD route.

The sequel to 2007's "30 Days of Night" -- based on Niles' IDW Publishing comic -- started filming Tuesday in Vancouver, Canada, which will serve as a stand in for the tale's Los Angeles setting.

Shedding the big-budget studio limitations, Niles is finding a number of potential perks for "Dark Days."

Its going to be basically like what they [Sony Pictures] did with 'The Boondock Saints,' Niles said in an interview with Dread Central. They made that movie, and it was received so well that it wound up getting some screens. We have the same situation here. If we make a good enough movie, we get some screens. If not, the worse that can happen is that we wind up direct to DVD, which to tell you the truth, Im liking more and more as a medium. Case in point: 'Trick 'r Treat.' Everyone looked at it [going DTV] as a bad thing, and it wound up breaking sales records. So Im hoping people will see the positive side of that.

"For Ben and I as creators, we are looking at being able to do the whole trilogy, and the chances of us making it if it was to be a big-budget, studio release are probably zero, so Im very happy, and for me, its also going to allow us to be more accurate to the comic than the first film was.

Keeping that source material in focus was a key goal, but certain adjustments had to be made.

Theres the comic reality and the movie reality, but I think we found a balance," Niles explained. "There are a few new set-pieces and a few new locations, but all of the characters [from the comic] are there, and I think people will be really into it.

Another point Niles hopes people appreciate is his dark interpretation of vampires. Like the first film, this sequel will not paint vampire life in a kind light.

I came at this from a total fan perspective, he said, in that I love vampires -- Nosferatu and Dracula and the Christopher Lee films and all of them -- but as time moved on, they got less and less scary and more and more romantic, and to the point where people wanted to be vampires. I just wanted to make them scary again and make them not romantic. These vampires dont want to seduce anybody.

"30 Days of Night: Dark Days" is directed by Ben Ketai, who co-wrote the film with Niles, and stars Rhys Coiro ("Entourage", "24"), Mia Kirshner ("24"), Diora Baird ("Night of the Demons," "Stan Helsing"), Harold Perrineau ("Lost", "Oz"), Kiele Sanchez ("A Perfect Getaway," "Lost") and Monique Ganderton.

See more of Niles' interview at Dread Central.