Near Dark (1987) Horror Movie Review

by Matthew Pejkovic
(Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Reader Submitted Review

Starring: ADRIAN PASDAR, JENNY WRIGHT, LANCE HENRIKSEN, BILL PAXTON, JENETTE GOLDSTEIN, JOSHUA JOHN MILLER, TIM THOMERSON, MARCIE LEEDS

Written By KATHRYN BIGELOW & ERIC RED

Produced By STEVEN-CHARLES JAFFE

Directed By KATHRYN BIGELOW

Rated:AUSTRALIA:R/UK:18/USA:R

Running Time: 95 MIN

The best vampire movies are usually the ones which get rid of the ground rules. e.g. no garlic, no crucifixes, a stake in the heart can kill. In Near Dark, writer/director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) throws out the rule book and creates a truly unique horror movie, which mixes the Gothic tones of vampire mythology with the vast landscapes and mannerisms of the western genre.

The movie stars Adrian Pasdar (from television's Heroes) as Caleb, a love lorn cowboy who is way over his head when he is abducted by a "family"¯ of traveling vampires after he is bitten by the seductive Mae (Jenny Wright). Caleb must prove his worth to his new family by quenching his thirst and kill an unsuspecting victim. Meanwhile, his real family are on the hunt looking for him.

Featuring memorable performances by Lance Henriksen (Aliens, 1986) and a wonderfully over the top Bill Paxton (Frailty, 2001) as the sadistic Severen, Near Dark is an extremely well made, original take on the vampire genre. Bigelow, along with Eric Red (The Hitcher, 1986), have written a screenplay full of unique characters and not sub-standard caricatures. Two characters stand out; the first is Jesse, a vampire who is over 200 years old and fought for the south in the Civil War, played well by Henriksen with subdued ferocity and assured confidence. And second is Homer, an old man trapped in a 12 year old child's body and played by Joshua John Miller, who ironically is the brother of Jason Patric, star of the other, more successful 1987 vampire movie The Lost Boys.

The cinematography by Adam Greenberg (Terminator 2: Judgement Day, 1991) is excellent, his haunting image of the night as seen through the eyes of a vampire both stunningly beautiful and eerie, and the score by German band Tangerine Dream is great.

This is a violent film, with the bloody massacre of a red neck bar one of the gorier and more frightening scenes I have yet seen in a horror movie and a great sequence between the vampires and a battalion of police officers shows off the exceptional eye Bigelow has for action.

Some of the dialog comes across as clunky and cheesy, and the at times wooden acting by Pasdar and Wright can drag the movie down. But overall, I enjoyed Near Dark¯ very much and would recommend it for its creativity alone. A remake is in the works, but I do not expect it to come close to what Bigelow has put together here.