Near Dark

1987's NEAR DARK has a pretty solid reputation as a cult item.  It would be director Kathryn Bigelow's first solo gig and for many she fashioned a stylish fusion of horror, action, and Western.  A curiosity with memorable set pieces and an edgier take on vampire lore than the same year's THE LOST BOYS.  These descriptions are all fair, and when I revisited this movie after many years I was pleased to learn I actually really do dig it.  I had vague memories of watching it on HBO in the late '80s and not being too impressed.   Maybe because I was such a fan of that other aforementioned "sleep all day" and "you must feed" movie.   My sensibilities for more indie type cinema were still in their infancy.

Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is attracted to Mae (Jenny Wright).  She agrees to a ride in his pickup, but seems reluctant to get close.  Also, very anxious to get home before sun up.  When she relents to a kiss she gets carried away and sinks her teeth into the young man's neck before running off.  Caleb will begin to feel quite badly and notice his skin is burning.  On his way back home an RV crosses his path and scoops him up.  Mae and a band of rough looking individuals are aboard.  Her "family" - Jesse (Lance Henriksen), the leader; Diamondback (Jeannette Goldstein), his main squeeze; Homer (Joshua John Miller), a bratty teen; and Severen (Bill Paxton), a caustic psycho.   A group of the undead, to which Caleb has become a new member.  They don't call themselves vampires and the word is never uttered in this film's ninety-five minutes.

Caleb, in addition to now having to avoid sunlight, will have to prove himself worthy to the family by learning to attract and kill the living for his very lifeblood.  He's understandably reluctant and sports a conscience about such matters but hasn't been a vampire long enough yet to realize it is a matter of life and death, even though otherwise he will live forever.  Jesse's actually been around since the American Civil War.  Caleb's opportunities to feed on a truck driver and bar patron are squandered, and Mae has to share her blood with him.  Will he learn to be a hunter?  Will his father (Tim Thomerson) and little sister (Marcie Leeds)  be safe?

NEAR DARK really comes to life once we meet the gang, leading to several enormously entertaining and well orchestrated sequences, including a lengthy scene in a barroom and a motel shootout.  And basically anytime Paxton is onscreen, really going to town with an over-the-top performance.  His explosive spontaneity may well have cemented his stardom, such as it was.  He's quite TERMINATOR-like, in fact.   Henriksen, who co-starred with Paxton and Goldstein in ALIENS, is as well cast as any actor was in '87.  Simply perfect, whether calmly laying down the law to Caleb or catching a knife in his mouth.   Miller plays just as annoying a character as he did in RIVER'S EDGE; that's a compliment.  Pasdar and Wright make an attractive couple but neither are all that interesting. 

I still feel this movie is a bit overrated, and despite a potentially intriguing AIDS allegory, if you think about the movie too hard (especially the transfusion subplot), it will crumble, but NEAR DARK is a real good time, certainly one of the coolest vampire sagas I've seen.  And Tangerine Dream contributes another evocative score.