[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/near_dark_dvd_cover.jpg]]

->''"I ain't a person anymore. I don't know what I am."''
-->-- '''Caleb Colton'''

''Near Dark'' is a 1987 horror movie directed by Creator/KathrynBigelow, written by Bigelow and Creator/EricRed, and starring Creator/AdrianPasdar, Jenny Wright, Creator/LanceHenriksen, Creator/BillPaxton, Jenette Goldstein, and Joshua John Miller. Along with ''Film/TheLostBoys'' (released the same year), it's credited with pretty much reinventing the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire genre]].

Bigelow had originally wanted to make a {{Western}}, but realized interest in that genre was at the time almost non-existent. When her then-future husband Creator/JamesCameron suggested that she "[[GenreMashup mix it up with something else]]", she decided to make a Horror Western.

The film tells the story of Caleb Colton (Pasdar), a young Oklahoman who joins and is subsequently rescued from a family of vampires. It mixes a copious amount of gory action – Kathryn Bigelow doesn't do slow-paced – with a character study of Caleb becoming a vampire and the choices he is required to make. These are not nice vampires as found in ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'', nor the demons of ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}'', but each of them is distinctive. Severen (Paxton) is truly scary, Homer (Miller) is unhappy, while Mae (Wright) beautifully describes the attraction of living forever.

Should be required viewing for anyone playing ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade''.
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!!This movie contains examples of:
* AbandonedWarehouse: Their second "garage".
* AlasPoorVillain: With the exception of [[spoiler:Severen's]], the vampires' deaths are almost tragic.
* AssholeVictim: The carjackers threaten to rape Diamondback before she and Jesse turn them into dinner.
* AxCrazy: Severen thoroughly revels in the carnage that he leaves behind.
* BadassLongcoat: Jesse's duster, which is almost as cracked, beat-up, and ancient as he is. Given that it has a Confederate flag sewn into it, it's entirely possible he's been wearing it since the Civil War.
* BadSamaritan: Jesse and Diamondback pick up hitchhikers to eat. It turns into BullyingADragon when they turn out to be carjackers.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: The Vampire Gang.
-->'''Severen:''' Hey, Jesse, remember that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire fire we started in Chicago]]?
-->''(later)''
-->'''Jesse:''' Let me put it this way... [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar I fought for the South. We lost]].
* BigBad: Jesse Hooker, leader of the vampire gang.
* BodyHorror: Severen gets burned to a crisp in his confrontation with Caleb, which leads to his look on the film's promotional art.
* BoyMeetsGhoul: And the depraved "family" that comes with her.
* BystanderSyndrome: A lot of the people in the bar just gawk and stare as the vampires kill them one by one. Although this is somewhat justified given how they've seen trying to attack the vampires doesn't work and they're terrified about being next.
* ChekhovsClassroom: The trucker explaining to Caleb how [[spoiler: to brake a truck in such a way that it will jackknife]].
* ChekhovsSkill: Caleb's equestrianism.
* ContrivedCoincidence: It just so happens that [[spoiler: Caleb's family]] stay at the Godspeed Motel on the same night the gang does. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Jesse flings up his hands with an incredibly exasperated look on his face.
* CoversAlwaysLie: Behold the [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fd1FInwiL._SS500_.jpg new Blu-Ray covers]], [[CopycatCover meant to lure in]] ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' fans. Boy, are they going to be in for a shock...
* DeadHatShot: A variation when [[spoiler:Severen's bladed spur]] comes flying out of the inferno of an exploded tanker truck.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The first time Caleb feed on Mae's blood, the latter is moaning and having spasms intune with Caleb sucking on her blood. To drive the point home, they make out immediately after Caleb is done feeding.
* EvilDetectingDog: Caleb's horses do not react well to vampires.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: When the last two vampires are about to die, they smile at each other, and one says "Good times."
* TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether: Each vampire has their own modus operandi when it comes to hunting victims, but they travel as a pack and their gang is structured like a twisted family.
* TheFarmerAndTheViper: The way the vampires hunt works mostly on this and BadSamaritan.
** Severen gets picked up by a pair of women and invites them [[TroubleEntendre "out for a drink."]]
** Homer pretends to be a kid on a bike whose been run over by the side of the road, only to attack anyone who helps him.
** Mae and Caleb hitch a ride with a trucker. After Caleb fails to attack him, Mae hits him from behind.
** The hitchhikers picked up by Jesse and Diamondback are also an example of this trope, since they plan to steal the car of the people who give them a ride. {{Subverted|Trope}} because Jesse and Diamondback are vampires and kill them.
* FeralVampires: The modern TropeMaker, concerning a clan of filthy redneck vampires in backwoods Oklahoma. Originally the movie was supposed to feature a violent Old West gang, but since the members were upgraded to being vampires, their violent, drifting lifestyle turned them into this trope.
* ForTheEvulz: Even without considering the large amount of gloating between killing victims, the bar massacre seems to be done mainly out of cruel boredom.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Blonde-haired Mae is the least villainous of the gang.
* HellbentForLeather: Severen wears a motorcycle jacket when he's not wearing a cowboy outfit.
* HistoricalRapSheet: Jesse and Severen once reminisce how they started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
* HumanityEnsues: Vampirization can be reversed with human blood infusion. In the end, [[spoiler:Caleb is turned back by his father and sister, and he does the same thing to Mae.]]
* ILoveYouVampireSon: Caleb falls in love with Mae before she reveals herself to be a vampire and turns him. It's also implied that this is the reason why Homer turned Mae herself, but since he's [[NotGrowingUpSucks an immortal man trapped in a 10-year old body]] nothing comes of it. It does fuel his resentment towards Caleb, later threatening to [[PuppyLove turn his little sister as well]]. [[spoiler:Inverted at the end, where Caleb turns Mae back into a human through a blood transfusion because despite everything he still loves her.]]
* KillItWithFire: It takes a '''lot''' of fire (a whole tanker full), but this is how [[spoiler: Severen]] dies.
* KilledOffscreen: We don't actually ''see'' the outcome when Jesse, Diamondback, and Severen are individually hunting (the former two with a duo of [[MuggingTheMonster unfortunate carjackers]] and the latter with the two young ladies he takes "[[DeadlyEuphemism out for a drink]]"), but the outcome is clear in both cases.
* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: When the vampire gang kill everyone in a small bar, Jesse orders Caleb to kill the lone kid who managed to escape out a window. When he lets the kid go? Yeah, the masquerade comes close to crashing down, and he nearly gets killed over it.
* LargeHam: Creator/BillPaxton was having a blast as the AxCrazy Severen.
* LoveRedeems: [[spoiler:Mae, for whom RedemptionEarnsLife.]]
* MadeOfExplodium: Vampires react '''very energetically''' to sunlight, just not with positive results for the vampires.
* MenOfSherwood: The group of police officers at the motel provide a HeroAntagonist example (they're trying to catch or kill a group of dangerous murderers, it's just that the protagonist and his love interest happen to be accompanying the group). Only one of the cops is killed, despite how heavily armed the vampires are, and his colleagues do shoot a couple of the vampires (while only aiming to wound when an unnamed Caleb is running for a getaway vehicle) before the group escapes, although this doesn't accomplish much due to regular bullets not being a vampire weakness.
* MissingChild: Loy sees his teenage son abducted, and after a long period of searching for him, finds out that he's a vampire and is conflicted about going home. Additionally, he nearly loses his pre-teen daughter to another one of the vampires.
* MissingMom: Caleb and Sarah are being raised by a single father, and their mother is never mentioned.
* MuggingTheMonster: Do not try to carjack vampires, they respond [[FauxAffablyEvil quite well]].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Severen, Bill Paxton's fight-happy psycho-vampire.
* NewOldWest: The film is set in the back roads of Oklahoma and Kansas.
* [[NotUsingTheZWord Not Using The V-Word]]: No one says the word "Vampire" and Caleb is even a bit confused as to what he is.
* NotGrowingUpSucks: Homer is stuck looking about ten, forever.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They're grimey, not very pale, unhappy but not mopey, and can be cured [[spoiler:by being transfused with human blood]]. In opposition to ''Film/TheLostBoys'' released the same year, they also lack many of the more traditional traits associated with vampires :
** While they are immortal ([[TheAgeless agelessness]] and [[HealingFactor regeneration]]), drink blood, have superhuman strength, catch fire when exposed to daylight and are unable to eat solid food (Caleb is seen vomitting a candy bar after his transformation), they look perfectly human and lack fangs or any MarkOfTheSupernatural besides their cold bodies.
** They aren't shown needing to be invited and don't seem to be affected by religious items (a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment when they arrive at a motel show that one of their guns has a cross on the grip).
** A single bite will turn a human into a vampires in a matter of hours, without the victim being required to drink the blood of the one who turned them.
** While daylight [[spoiler:and a sufficiently powerful explosion]] can kill them, Mae implies in the scene with the oil wells that losing enough blood can also be fatal to them.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: This is implied with Jesse, as he alludes to having fought for the confederacy and seems proud of having done so.
* PowerAtAPrice: It is not explicitly discussed, but this definitely applies.
** The Power: vampires have a very long life, super strength, and a massive HealingFactor.
** The Price: They have to kill people every night to feed. They seem to have no moral problems with this, but they're always on the run for murder, and will die in daylight. The gang change vehicles three times during the film, and seem to own nothing beyond the clothes on their backs, some weapons, and a roll of tin foil for blacking out windows.
* PuppyLove: Homer is tired of being the only (apparent) kid in the group and is - in his own monstrous way - sweet on Caleb's sister Sarah. Bunch of reasons why it ain't happening.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld:
** Homer, who looks ten but is over 50, and none too happy about his physical state.
** Judging from his offhand comment alluding to the Great Chicago Fire, Severen has been alive since at least 1871.
** Jesse is mentioned as having fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.
* ScreamingWarrior: Jesse, who fought for the Confederacy, lets out rebel yells while firing at the cops.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The teenage cowboy who survived the bar massacre and is brought by the police to the motel to identify the killers wisely high-tails it out of there when the gunfight starts.
* ShoutOut: In an early scene, a movie theatre in the background is showing ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', which starred some of the vampire gang.
* SinisterSouthwest: A young farmhand in an Oklahoma town falls for a mysterious girl... who turns out to belong to a rag-tag family of vampires terrorizing the desert.
* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Film/TheTerminator''. Both films share cast members and aesthetic, but while ''The Terminator'' dealt with threats from the future, set near the coast and [[spoiler: ended with most of the cast dead]], ''Near Dark's'' villains come from the past, the story is set in inland America and [[spoiler: among the named characters, only the villains die]].
* [[LaserHallway Sunlight Hallway]]: In effect, the gang's shootout with police turns their bungalow ''into'' a LaserHallway variant, by blowing holes in the walls that let vampire-searing beams of daylight into the room.
* SuperStrength: Almost all of the vampires of the movie display it one way or another: Caleb notes how strong Mae is when first meeting her, and later he's able to send a man flying with a punch. Severen is shown overpowering a man and [[NeckSnap breaking his neck]] with little effort, tosses Caleb like a ragdoll and tear through the metal front of a truck like it's aluminum foil.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Jesse and Diamondback reconcile themselves to death and try to run down Caleb, but burn up before they can.]]
* UndeadChild: Homer again.
* UndeathAlwaysEnds: At the end [[spoiler: all of the vampires are dead, except the main character and his love interest, who have been cured of vampirism through a blood transfusion]].
* UnholyMatrimony: Jesse and Diamondback.
* VampireBitesSuck: Less bites, more just ripping your throat out.
* VampiresAreRich: Inverted: these vampires are poor. See PowerAtAPrice, above, for details.
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:The brooding Homer becomes obsessed with Caleb's little sister, and goes ''ballistic'' when she's taken away from him, chasing her into the sunlight and dying as a result.]]
* VillainRespect: The entire gang comes around to Caleb after his ballsy gambit extricates them from a daylight shootout. Severen even gives him one of his spurs.
* VoluntaryVampireVictim: Played with twice.
** Caleb has been made a vampire, but refuses to kill. His love interest Mae lets him drink from her — taking blood which Mae got by killing, and meaning she'll have to kill again sooner, making the ethics quite problematic.
--->'''Severen:''' It ain't right for her to be carryin' him like this!
** Caleb's father [[spoiler:cures his vampirism, and later Caleb cures Mae's, with a blood transfusion, giving blood to a vampire willingly but in a nontraditional way with nontraditional results.]]
* WeakenedByTheLight: See MadeOfExplodium, above.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: [[spoiler:Caleb saves the gang by running into the sunlight as the rest of them are engaged in a shootout with the cops. They sing his praises afterwards, giving him more time to prove himself, and it looks like Caleb is about to sign on with them full-time... until his father and Sarah walk into the motel room where they're staying.]]
* WorkplaceAcquiredAbilities: Caleb's father being a veterinarian comes in handy when [[spoiler:he needs an emergency blood transfusion.]]
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