“Staff Picks” is a deeper look into movies that we love here at Video CULTure. Each edition of this column will focus on a single film that we think you should check out, either for the first time or for a long-overdue revisit.
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By Patrick Bartlett (Twitter: @alleywaykrew)
It’s probably not a coincidence that the first images of “Near Dark” involve a mosquito biting, only to be smashed into a bloody pulp as our hero refers to it as a “dumb suck”. This is the rare vampire movie that doesn’t really make vampires or vampirism something to aspire to. The vampires in this film are drifters. You could argue that they’re constantly moving for practical reasons regarding their identities and such but in reality, it’s because they really have nowhere to fit in. They feel like the dregs of society. Even without a lot of back story provided, there’s nothing in “Near Dark” that doesn’t suggest that they were on a tragic path long before the events we see on screen. I think that’s part of what makes it such an original film in the genre.
To that point, the story goes that writer Eric Red and director Kathryn Bigelow intended to make a western. Since westerns were so out of vogue in the ’80s, it was suggested that they combine the western story they wanted to tell with a more popular genre. In the ’80s, the horror genre was at one of its all-time peaks, so it seemed like a no-brainer to be the chocolate to their western’s peanut butter. The unique addition definitely didn’t help nearly as much as it should have. I honestly had never even heard of this film until 2004 and didn’t see it until probably sometime in 2005. This should be shocking for the following reasons: first, I spent the majority of my childhood hanging out in my local video store (long before working in one). The horror section was where I spent most of my time. Second, this film features a decent portion of the cast from “Aliens”, which has been one of my favorite films for as long as I can recall. Third, as much as it feels odd to be writing about vampires again after my first article was on Blade, it’s definitely not something that will end with “Near Dark”. I love monsters and monster movies more than anything. I always have. Vampires and werewolves were always my favorites. The fact there was a vampire movie that had somehow escaped my notice was legitimately shocking to me. Moreover, the idea of a vampire western was so weird that I couldn’t stop thinking about “Near Dark” from the second I became aware of it.
Why was I unaware of this movie? Probably because most people weren’t aware of it. “Near Dark” was released just months after “The Lost Boys”, which is inarguably the most iconic vampire film of the era. “Near Dark” was totally eclipsed and died a quick death at the box office. It really seems like the story should end there but apparently the people that did see it remembered it and talked about it until it became legendary in its own right, especially for how unfairly it was treated by audiences. Honestly, the entire time in the 2010s when people finally took notice of Kathryn Bigelow after “The Hurt Locker”, I couldn’t help but hope that would lead to people looking into her earlier work. She is a woman that brought a truly interesting quality to genre films in the ’80s and ’90s, which was not an easy time to do so. She always deserved a spot in the pantheon of A-list directors, even then. She clearly knew it too. Her confidence shows in the pace, tone, and overall visual sense of this film.
On top of that, there’s the aforementioned cast. You can’t talk about “Near Dark” without talking about Bill Paxton’s role. This was in the era where he was just pure personality. His performance here as “Severen” is as entertaining as anything he’s done. It still bothers me that as he became more of a leading man, he seemed to leave behind the electric, barely restrained qualities that made him so fun to watch in his earlier work. He can be over the top because the group of vampires is anchored by “Aliens” own Jeanette Goldstein and especially Lance Henriksen. Henriksen’s character of “Jesse” is menacing and intimidating in a way that Paxton’s character can only pretend to be. There’s never a point in the film where you don’t feel his presence or at least his influence and that speaks to the gravitas he brings to the role. Rounding out the vampire nuclear family is Joshua Miller’s “Homer”, an old man trapped in a prepubescent body for eternity and Jenny Wright’s “May”, who is simply luminescent here. It’s completely understandable our protagonist, Adrian Pasdar’s character of “Caleb”, would be drawn to her and even more understandable why he’d stay.
Caleb is just a restless farm boy in Oklahoma when he meets May. May is a beautiful, seemingly perfectly normal girl. Caleb doesn’t know that she’s actually a vampire on the hunt, which makes sense as her predatory strategy seems to be using herself as a honey pot. She draws a guy in with her sensuality, only to kill him at the first opportunity. Things are different with Caleb though. The two of them legitimately connect. They spend the whole night together. She does end up biting him as the sun starts to rise but doesn’t feed on him, which leads to him starting to become a vampire and Caleb taking his first steps toward joining their clan. Granted, they never actually explain the process of becoming a vampire in this world, so all you have to go on as an audience member is May letting her friends know that “he’s been bit but he ain’t been bled”. The implications of that and the reactions of the group are really the only way you as an audience member know what’s soon to be Caleb’s fate. This may be the only movie in the genre that I can think of with no scenes laying out vampire rules. There’s little exposition in general in this film. It’s incredibly refreshing. How vampires can feed from each other, how one can be cured of vampirism, etc. isn’t ever answered all that well but it honestly doesn’t have to be. Vampires aren’t real and everyone making a vampire movie is just cherry-picking as it is. Anyway, Caleb is given the chance to become a part of the family. First with their regular hunting activities and culminating with a masterful set piece in a bar that really has to be seen to be believed. He continuously fails but does manage to help them escape certain death at the hands of a cadre of cops with daylight on their side. He’s finally on his way to being part of the family. The proverbial fly in the ointment is that the group ends up staying in the same motel as Caleb’s father and sister, who have been searching for him since he was abducted by the group. He ends up leaving his new friends behind…or at least he thinks he does. The movie shifts into full western mode for the finale but with a fair amount of ’80s horror violence for good measure. It’s truly majestic.
“Near Dark” is a masterpiece. Even though I love “The Lost Boys” and do prefer it in some ways, the fact that it completely overshadowed “Near Dark” is a tragedy. They’re completely different films. There’s equal room for both to exist. This film is darker and more atmospheric than most of the horror stuff was released around the same time and as such, is more evocative of the gothic roots of vampire cinema. Also, from a structural standpoint, I’d also put it up against the majority of the great westerns that came before and many of those that followed. It’s the rare genre mashup that feels like two great films were combined into something that resembles both but also feels completely unique. It’s truly a special work.
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch