Near Dark

By: themovielord
Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Caleb, Adrian Pasdar, picks up a mysterious girl, Jenny Wright, one night and she gets him involved with her family, a band thieves that just happens to be Vampires.

Out a year before “The Lost Boys” (1987), “Near Dark” is a more realistic and darker portrayal of the modern day Vampire. Surprisingly enough the word Vampire is never spoken or implied in the film and we never see one set of fangs. There is biting however and the drinking of blood is clearly seen as their method of survival. “Near Dark” isn’t as whimsical or grandiose and the “The Lost Boys”. It is, at its heart, a story about a twisted family and their run from the law. They just happen to be Vampires too.

Kathryn Bigelow was a woman directing a brutal film at a time when you didn’t see many woman directors. Let alone see one direct a film about Vampires. Her camera work and style stand the test of time and she delivers a film that is still haunting and thought provoking. How long could you do that night after night? How would you survive in an ever evolving world? Would love still matter and what cost do you leave your family behind for another?

The story does have its flaws. Adrian Pasdar, Caleb (Nathan Petrelli of “Heroes”), and his costar Jenny Wright, Mae, do not develop enough before they go on the run with her Vampire family. They’re personal moments later in the film seem out of place and forced. The Vampire gang offers a distraction with its characters and you quickly loose interest in Caleb and Mae. Jesse, Lance Henriksen, as the old battle axe Vampire is superb in his minimal approach to the character. He offers so much with a look and a quick line that he brings a great depth to everything he does. Henriksen has to play Jesse this way because Bill Paxton’s character, Severen, is so perfectly over the top that there has to be a balance on screen or we would grow bored with the characters. It is interesting to look at another film from this time “Aliens” (1986) where both Henriksen and Paxton played very similar characters. Though one was an unfeeling robot and the other was a scared Marine. Perfect casting choices for both of these films or perhaps it was a place where these actors were with their styles? You decide.

“Near Dark” isn’t a perfect film. It is a great mixture of Horror, a western, and a twisted story about the wrong people finding the fountain of eternal youth. It is a great realistic portrayal of modern Vampires. The Vampires in “Underworld” and “Blade” seem fake and very Hollywood. They have British accents and wear tight leather clothes; plus almost everyone is sexy and beautiful. Boring… the Vampires in “Near Dark” are gritty, dirty, and speak with a southern twang. They also live out of the back of whatever car they steal and whatever flop house they can find. So that isn’t very sexy, but it is incredibly real and defiantly scary.


Click here to read the staff review by Mania.