31 Days of Halloween Films #7: Near Dark
The Lowdown: Some average joe named Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) starts seeing an attractive young woman that happens to bite him on the neck and turn him into a vampire. The woman’s “family”, an odd bunch of drifters, reluctantly agree to let Caleb into their group, causing tension for everyone involved. Some genre bending and sweet vampire kills ensue.
The Breakdown: Take a good look, people. If you’re going to reinvent a classic horror monster, this is how you do it. While keeping a sort of reverence to the material they draw from, Near Dark stands alone as one of the most unique vampire movies ever made. They even go so far as to never mention the word “vampire” throughout the film. Kathryn Bigelow, now known best for Zero Dark Thirty, directed and wrote the script with a real emphasis on the isolation that, if they existed, vampires would probably feel. The glamour and eroticism is completely stripped from the mythos, leaving the characters as almost Mad Max-type drifters, struggling to survive and scavenge completely under the radar.
The cast here really is aces across the board. You have got the Aliens trifecta of Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein and the iconic Lance Henriksen as the vampires Severen, Diamondback and Jesse, respectfully. Adrian Pasdar plays the straight man well as Caleb, failing to add anything to the role other than a mostly phoned in performance that serves the story well enough. Jenny Wright plays Mae, the young vampire Caleb falls for early in the film. She, another archetype, is simply there to serve a purpose as this film is all Henriksen and Paxton’s. While breaking a lot of the trends of other vampire films, Near Dark makes some controversial moves. For instance, in this world, a blood transfusion cures vampirism. It feels like a plot device when you think about it after the fact but in the film it works to keep things moving and provide some much needed focus for the third act. ND also does a good job with its sunlight exposure scenes, selling the concept well without delving into the cheesy side. The films’ ending leaves a little to be desired as it is very much a “love conquers all” sort of ending, but despite that ND proves to be a different, but overall satisfying, vampire film.
The Comedown: Twilight has made it easy for us to all hate on vampires. Sure, the purists remember Dracula, but Near Dark gets largely forgotten in the pantheon of vampire flicks, and that’s a shame. It’s not a perfect movie, but it is effectively creepy, using the atmosphere and cinematography to do far more than any creature effects would have. I’d recommend Near Dark to anyone craving a new experience with a classic movie monster. Near Dark makes you think about the choices it makes long after the credits roll, and for the Halloween season I couldn’t ask for more in a good horror film.