Film Review: Near Dark

Near Dark (1987) Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

(Warning: some spoilers below)

This film is unlike other vampire films, it's technically a Western with horror elements: vampires. It could be called a 'Vampire Western'.

Funnily enough, the word 'vampire' isn't uttered at all in the film, it's a bit like the 'Z-word' in zombie films.

The greatest thing about Near Dark is the concept of the dysfunctional family. In films today vampires aren't alone, they live in covens or families, ever since The Lost Boys. The family of bloodsuckers travels around, drinks blood and kill their victims in quite violent and gory ways. To them it's just like another family day out.

There's the tall skinny, sneering 'dad' figure of Jesse (a perfect Lance Henriksen), the 'mom' Diamondback played by Jenette Goldstein, the twisted sadistic Severen (an awesome Bill Paxton), the vamp boy-child Homer and the almost-angelic and innocent Mae. The boy-vamp is fascinating as well as creepy, he looks like an 11 year old boy but acts and speaks like a man.

These vamps are slightly different than other typical screen vamps, they don't have fangs, they can't fly, they can't transform and they aren't scared by crosses, garlic and stakes, they are however burned by the sun.

Blending romance with a plot involving an underclass of white trash nomads who are also vampires, Near Dark portrays in a weird sick sense, a world of misfits, how society sees them and how they treat others.

The misfits here being the vampires, they suck the life from all corners of straight society.

This pack is perhaps the nastiest mob of bloodsuckers on screen as they randomly pick fights, kill everybody in a bar and enjoy every moment of it. They leave a bloody mess everywhere they go, they thrive more on violence than on blood.

Their family life is somewhat disrupted when Mae falls in love with the human Caleb (Adrian Pasdar from Heroes), bites him and tries to initiate him into the family, unfortunately Caleb refuses to drink blood.

This film is really good, I enjoyed watching it. It has a sense of uniqueness, it is part Western and part psycho-sexual thriller with a touch of the decade's love for realistic splatter effects.

The film was the first one to include a 'cure' to vampirism, Caleb undergoes a blood transfusion and is human again, he has Mae undergo the same procedure so that they can be together. It's interesting because it's something other filmmakers, fans and writers never thought about, vampirism was like a terminal illness, it's irreversible, but not in this film.

Overall it is a good film from the 80s and still remains a cult classic today.