Review: Near Dark

Nice young cowboy Adrian Pasdar hooks up with beguiling, pixie-like Jenny Wright, and the two fall in love. But she turns out to be a creature of the night, biting Pasdar, who is then introduced to Wright’s rowdy ‘family’ of blood-suckers; patriarch Lance Henriksen (a relic of the Civil War, apparently), tough-as-nails mom Jenette Goldstein, and their ‘sons’, animalistic punk Bill Paxton and malicious ‘adolescent’ Joshua Miller (who is really an older soul trapped in the body of a youngster). Tim Thomerson is Pasdar’s concerned pappy, Bigelow regular James LeGros plays a victim in the infamous bar scene, and Troy Evans is a cop who stumbles upon sick-looking Pasdar thinking he’s just a drugged-out vagrant.

It’s funny how you can watch a film for the third or fourth time and for the first time it completely and totally clicks with you in a way it hadn’t previously. It happens to me occasionally, and although I’ve always liked this 1987 vampire flick from director Kathryn Bigelow (“Point Break”, “The Hurt Locker”) and co-screenwriter Eric Red (“The Hitcher”), I’ve never loved it. As of early 2018, I love this movie, forcing me to not only do a new review of it, but a much higher rating than I’d previously given it. Kathryn Bigelow makes prestige pictures these days, but she used to make really fun movies like this one.

The Tangerine Dream (“The Keep”, “Legend”) synth rock score immediately tells you that this is a film from the 1980s, whilst cinematographer Adam Greenberg (“The Terminator”, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, “Cobra”) offers up impressively crisp work. The former is one of the best synth scores and perfectly moody, but it also gives the film a real pulse and drive to it. Greenberg gives us one of the best-shot films of the 1980s from a lighting and composition perspective. There’s a particularly priceless bit of imagery involving a piece of heavy machinery with what looks like two giant prongs/fangs as Adrian Pasdar takes a bite out of Jenny Wright. There’s so much cool imagery in this that I’d be here all day if I listed it all. In terms of sound and visual, this movie right here is the stuff, and much less pretentious about it than that other 80s New Wave-ish vampire flick, Tony Scott’s gorgeous but uneven “The Hunger”.

The delinquent older brother to the pimple-faced dork younger brother “The Lost Boys” (both from 1987, so don’t follow that analogy too closely), this one offers up a genuinely messy and nasty view of vampirism (at times it actually plays more like a werewolf movie, I reckon). Adrian Pasdar spends much of the film looking unwell, Bill Paxton just looks plain disgusting. It’s a shame the titles “The Hunger” and “Thirst” had already been taken, because they really would suit this view of vampirism, which is an addictive thirst/hunger similar to that of a drug addiction. It’s very well-conveyed, even if one wishes instead of the bland Adrian Pasdar we got Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, or Johnny Depp (the latter of whom did indeed audition. Who the fuck would pass on “Jump Street”-era Depp?). Aside from him, this is a perfectly chosen cult cast, with Tim Thomerson getting to play a quasi Van Helsing, whilst Bigelow borrows three actors from her future husband (and future ex-husband for that matter) Jim Cameron’s previous “Aliens” to play three of the five vampire ‘family’ members. Add to that Joshua Miller, the creepiest creepy kid since Damian from “The Omen”, and the ethereal Jenny Wright and you’ve got yourself a travelling ‘family’ of literally blood-thirsty wackos that “The Devil’s Rejects” owes quite a bit to. The film paints an interesting picture of vampirism as I’ve said, and what’s really interesting about these creatures of the night is how they deal with sunlight while on the road. It all culminates in a Western-style shoot-out at a motel you won’t soon forget (The film has been labelled a ‘vampire western’ by many. I wouldn’t quite agree, but it’s definitely not your Hammer-esque Victorian era vampire offering either). The charcoal-looking burns makeup holds up rather well too after 30 odd years I must say.

The late Bill Paxton (that still hurts to say doesn’t it?) is for me the standout as the completely feral, sadistic Severen. Entering with the immortal line ‘Howdy, I’m gonna separate your head from your shoulders. Hope you don’t mind none!’, it’s one of his best-ever performances. Creepy, sadistic, edgy, and funny, you won’t ever forget him in this. He runs off with the whole film. Lance Henriksen is genuinely frightening as the apparently Civil War-era family patriarch. Knowing how prepared he tends to be for roles and how intense he comes across from interviews and stories I’ve read, I can imagine he would’ve been quite popular on set with the other cast and crew. I’m sure he’s a lovely guy but yeah…I would’ve kept my distance from him here (Apparently he and Paxton messed with locals for shits and giggles, by startling them in full costume and makeup). Also genuinely frightening? Jenette Goldstein’s lady mullet. Joshua Miller is seemingly otherworldly and creepy as hell as the old soul trapped in a child’s body. He’s just as feral and nasty as the rest of the brood. He’s a one-of-a-kind screen presence, having also enjoyed his work in projects as diverse as “The River’s Edge” and TV’s “The Wonder Years” (where he turned up on the episode where Kevin forms a rock band called The Electric Shoes). If you don’t get a queasy feeling the moment the characters arrive at a local dive bar…you’ve never seen the film before and you’re about to lose your shit. Things get seriously nasty, with Paxton (who could never be accused of underplaying) taking centre stage, with a young James LeGros looking scared shitless as a bar patron. It’s a great, show-stopping scene set to the most unsettling rendition of ‘Fever’ you’ve ever heard.

One of the most memorable vampire flicks of the 1980s, this one has style and energy up to yin-yang. Although Adrian Pasdar is a touch dull in the lead, the rest of the cast is superlative, especially a repulsive, live-wire Bill Paxton. “The Lost Boys” are a bunch of pussies in comparison to this motley brood, accept no substitutes or sparkly emo bullshit either. Brilliantly assured solo directing debut for Bigelow, shame studio bankruptcy and poor marketing led to it being a box-office flop.

Rating: A-