"I ain't a person anymore. I don't know what I am."
Near Dark is a 1987 horror movie, written and directed by
Kathryn Bigelow (best known for
Point Break The Hurt Locker), and written by Bigelow and Eric Red. It stars Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henrikson, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein and Jenny Wright. Along with
The Lost Boys, it is credited for pretty much reinventing the
vampire genre.
Bigelow had originally been intent on a Western, but realized that the interest in the Western genre at the time was almost non-existent. When then-future-husband James Cameron suggested that she "mix it up with something else", she decided to make a Horror Western.
It tells the story of Caleb Colton, a young Oklahoman, who joins and is subsequently rescued from a family of vampires. It mixes both a certain 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
Twilight, nor the demons of
Buffy, but each is distinctive. Severen is truly scary, Homer is unhappy, while Mae beautifully describes the attraction of living forever. Should be required viewing for anyone playing
Vampire The Masquerade.
This movie contains examples of:
- Abandoned Warehouse: Their second "garage".
- Been There Shaped History: The Vampire Gang.
- Can't Grow Up: Homer.
- Chekhov's Gun: The trucker explaining to Caleb how to brake a truck in such a way that it will jack knife.
- Covers Always Lie: Behold the new Blu-Ray covers
◊, meant to lure in Twilight fans. - Dueling Movies: With The Lost Boys. It lost. A proposed remake was put on hold to avoid this with Twilight.
- Evil Detecting Horse: Caleb's horse does not react well to vampires.
- Five-Bad Band:
- Hey, It's That Guy!:
- Caleb is played by Adrian Pasdar, now best known for his work on Heroes, while most of the vampire gang were in Aliens.
- Mae is the groupie from Pink Floyd The Wall, and the childhood friend Garp loses his virginity to.
- Made of Explodium: Vampires react very energetically to sunlight, just not with positive results for the vampires.
- Mugging the Monster: Do not try to carjack vampires, they respond quite well.
- Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Severen, Bill Paxton's fight-happy psycho-vampire.
- New Old West: The film is set in the back roads of Oklahoma.
- Not Using The V Word: No one says the word "Vampire" and Caleb is even a bit confused as to what he is.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They're grimey, not very pale, unhappy but not mopey, and can be cured.
- Really 700 Years Old: 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.
- Screaming Warrior: Jesse, who fought for the Confederacy, lets out rebel yells while firing at the cops.
- Sunlight Hallway: In effect, the gang's shootout with police turns their bungalow into a Laser Hallway variant, by blowing holes in the walls that let vampire-searing beams of daylight into the room.
- Undead Child: Homer again.
- Undeath Always Ends: At the end all of the vampires are dead, except the main character and his love interest, who have been cured of vampirism through a complete blood replacement.
- Vampire Bites Suck: Less bites, more just ripping your throat out.
- Villainous Breakdown: The brooding Homer falls in love 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.
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