The month is young but my goal is clear and I am determined to complete this #HalloweenMovieChallenge. Halloween is my favourite time of the year. There’s something special about the night; the smell of fireworks, the various costumes; the mountains and mountains of junk food; the Halloween episodes of The Simpsons. I revert back to a child on Halloween and I love to be scared while watching some horror movies late into the evening. Without further ado, here is the film I had the pleasure of watching last night.
NEAR DARK (1987)
Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), a young man from the deep south (America) falls for Mae (Jenny Wright), a beautiful vampire drifter. After he is bitten, Mae’s clan abduct him in an attempt to make Caleb one of them. But Caleb refuses to kill which upsets the other members of the clan, especially their leader, Jesse (Lance Henriksen).
Katheryn Bigelow’s directorial debut is an interesting blend of genre’s, mixing western and horror. But let’s get the obvious elephant out of room first. This is not The Lost Boys. Although they were released in the same year they are very different films. Sure, they both have similar story elements – a naive young man in love who gets turned; a beautiful vampire woman who doesn’t belong; a clan of grubby bikers and rift-rafts causing havok. But it is the tone that sets them apart. The Lost Boys is a campy 80’s popcorn horror flick that is thrilling while at the same time goofy. It’s the Goonies meets Wes Craven. It pulls out all of the vampire clichés and uses it to its advantage. Near Dark, however, has a more stylistic and atmospheric tone. It’s grungy and dark and at times, seriously unsettling. Unfortunately, Near Dark was overshadowed by The Lost Boys at the box office. And while The Lost Boys is a fun, 
exciting film, Near Dark tries to subvert the vampire mythos and create a believable world where a rogue band of blood sucking creatures exist.
Set in the southern state of America, we’re introduced to Caleb, a young man looking for some fun. And you know how the story goes. Boy meets girl. Girls bites boy. Boy turns into a vampire. Girl’s family kidnaps boy. They force boy to be one of them by making him kill. Boy refuses to kill. Girl covers for boy. Family wants to kill boy. Boy escapes. Girl escapes, too. They kill the family in a fiery explosion. Happy ever after. The end.
There’s no plot to Near Dark. It’s more about Caleb’s journey and him trying to work out whether he wants to become a vampire or not. His body is going through changes and he’ll die without blood. But he refuses to take a life. And at the same time he is eager to impress his new friends and the girl he is in love with. It’s a nice metaphor for peer pressure and what lengths a horny young adult will go to catch the attention of the opposite sex. Would you suck on a truck drivers neck just to get in with your girlfriends parents?
Near Dark is a very confident film. It looks really nice and it keeps a consistent tone throughout. The characters are likable and we get a real sense of camaraderie from the vampire clan. But sometimes it’s hard to see past the cast of Aliens with Bill Paxton and Janette Goldstein co-starring alongside Lance Henriksen. It’s also worthy to note the word Vampire is never used once in the film. Nor do their faces transform when they feed. Don’t expect to see pointy teeth either. They still catch fire when exposed to sunlight and they still need to feed on blood. And there are several references indicating their actual age. But other than that, we are left in the… wait for it… dark.
Caleb: Hey Jesse. How old are you?
Jesse: Lets just say, I fought for the south.
Caleb: The south?
Jesse: We lost.
I really enjoyed Near Dark for its slow pace and moody attitude. And I would rate the movie higher if it ended fifteen minutes earlier. After Caleb escapes Jesse and the others, Mae comes back to find him. She’s heartbroken that he left and you get a real sense that she really loves him. But Caleb has chosen his family and decides not to go back with her. This felt like a decent ending, and Caleb’s arc ends there. He’s grown as a character and lets the love of his life go because the relationship was toxic. But this being a Hollywood film, they couldn’t end the movie without some sort of shoot out at the end. And this is where the film completely changes. It turns into another typical action film with Caleb killing off Jesse and the others in a final stand-off. Caleb is able to save Mae from her vampire ways and we suspect they live a long, happy, and human life span together.
Overall, Near Dark is a great vampire film, with interesting characters, eerie atmosphere, and beautiful cinematography. High marks for tone and style, but it loses points for story.
Best Line: “Howdy. I’m gonna separate your head from your shoulders. Hope you don’t mind none.”
Best Moment: The Hick Bar scene. Extremely unsettling, and extremely hard to watch.
6/10
