Near Dark (1987)

Why so much hype?

Best movie ever!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

What a crapfest. This is without a doubt one of the worst movies I'd ever seen.I saw this movie because I'd trust the IMdB score and some positive reviews. What a scam. Ridiculous plot. Laughable characters, silly performances and a finale that I'm pretty sure was made on the run.This is a cringe-worthy film, that's for sure. Only good thing I can say about this movie is that after a while it ends

I watched the trailer for this, saw the poster and wasn't really impressed... But then I read some reviews saying that it's better than 'The Lost Boys (1987)' I thought I'd give it a go still.Now I never expected it to be true that it was better than 'The Lost Boys' as that's one of my favourite horror movies HOWEVER I did expect it not to be a generic bore-fest with a complete lack of humour or interesting characters, at least SOMETHING that would even make it WORTHY of being compared to the classic that is 'The Lost Boys'.But no such luck, perhaps if you saw it in it's hey-day it will have a nostalgia level to it that still makes it likable (which surely is a part of why I like 'The Lost Boys' so much) but as a new watch in 2016 I felt it was frustratingly trite.

Katheryn Bigelow has achieved a lot in her career as a writer and director, but it is my opinion her best work is the very underrated and very original horror classic Near Dark. Adrian Pasdar is a good ole' boy who has excellent taste in women. Boy meets girl and their night on the town has longer lasting consequences than a shot of penicillin. The seductive beauty Jenny Wright is also part of a group of ravenous, roaming outlaw vampires. Coming straight off of Aliens, Lance Hendrikson, Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein continue with their excellent chemistry in this classic while they raise a whole lot of Hell and paint the town red. This is a very well written and directed, character driven story. The style is anything but Gothic. It is a very rugged and gritty vampire western. Our very charismatic, violent, filthy anarchistic antiheroes operate under society's radar while adhering to their own code of conduct. For the most part, they are nature's way of weeding out impurities. They predominantly prey on the vicious, careless and stupid. Their lifestyle is anything but glamorous and are essentially psychotic, hobo, outlaw crust punk killers. As much as this is a horror film, this is a real hard hitting and action packed western also. This film is unique in vision and its execution. It combines poetic darkness and scuzzy toughness in a hail of gunfire. I agree with Decibel magazine scribe Richard Christy that Kathryne Bigelow deserved an Oscar for the remarkable job she did in making this very original and well made horror film.

Kathryn Bigelow's dusty, ambient vampire western is a timeless classic for me, and a lived in genre entry with stellar performances, razor sharp writing (Eric Red power), and confident direction from Bigelow, at her very best when working in the pulpy realm of action, crime and horror. Once again Tangerine Dream contributes wonderfully atmospheric work (they seem to be a running theme with the movies I watch, can you tell I like them?) that compliments the bloody spectacle on display. Aimless young cowboy Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is transfixed one desolate night by a eerie, gorgeous drifter girl (Jenny Wright) who's passing through his small town. She takes him on a night ride into the outskirts of town, and in a delirious make out session beneath the stars, bites his neck, changing him into one of her kind (the word vampire is never actually mentioned throughout the film). She takes pity on him and convinces her roaming pack of fellow blood sucking no,ads to try and take her in as one of their own. They are led by ruthless, violent patriarch Jesse (Lance Henriksen, a spectral force of enigmatic intimidation), his girl Diamondback (Janette Goldstein) and young Homer (Joshua Miller). The real standout, however, is Bill Paxton as Severin, the loony toon psychopathic whack job of the group. There's a blood freezing, prolonged sequence where the clan terrorizes an interstate roadhouse, and Paxton cuts loose and raises all hell, proving his talent to bring an audience their knees with his good ol boy ferocity. Caleb is very reluctant when forced to feed on innocent humans, and keeps relying on Mae to give him blood from her own veins, refusing to resort to predator instinct like the others. Meanwhile, his farmer father (Tim Thomerson, always welcome) and little sister search for him across the southwest. There's some truly memorable set pieces here, the bar scene I mentioned earlier, a smouldering climax on barren highways, and a sickening sequence where a blood deprived Caleb feverishly tries to purchase a bus ticket home. Bigelow infuses her love for visceral action and vivid characterizations together with the melodic nature of the story, resulting in a broad,backwater fable that's equal parts brutal and beautiful.