Time: 95 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – Horror scenes & violence
Cast:
Adrian Pasdar as Caleb Colton
Jenny Wright as Mae
Lance Henriksen as Jesse Hooker
Bill Paxton as Severen
Jenette Goldstein as Diamondback
Tim Thomerson as Loy Colton
Director: Kathryn Bigelow

A small-town farmer’s son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is bitten by a beautiful drifter.

I went into Near Dark fairly blind. What I did know is that it’s a vampire movie starring Bill Paxton and it’s a Kathryn Bigelow movie, which is very different compared to her more serious and grounded movies that she makes nowadays. It’s great, and I think it’s one of Bigelow’s best.

Near Dark is a unique hybrid of the western and vampire genres. The story is fairly straightforward, with the main character becoming a vampire and travelling with a gang of vampires on their violent killing spree in order to survive. Beyond that, its not that plot driven, and opts to follow the characters on their journeys. It moves at a slower pace but I was on board with the film throughout. The vampire mythology here is pretty classic with some of the familiar tropes including regeneration and vulnerability to sunlight. The movie particularly use daylight effectively as a significant danger to the vampire characters. In terms of issues, the ending did feel a little too tidy for this movie, but I still liked the third act on the whole.

On the whole, the performances are great, and the characters are memorable. The protagonist is played by Adrian Pasdar and he wasn’t the most interesting character. However, he was fine enough; he is the anchor of the movie and does work for its purposes. Jenny Wright also works well enough as the love interest, though the romance doesn’t always work. Part of the reason why these two don’t stand out as much is because the main vampire gang led by Lance Henriksen steal the show. Along with the strong performances, the characters are interesting and the family dynamics are convincing and believable. Out of all of them, Bill Paxton is the scene stealer, he has a great screen presence and gives an unhinged and larger than life performance.

This is Kathryn Bigelow’s first movie, and it was a very strong debut from her. It’s a very stylish and energetic movie, the cinematography is gorgeous and much like a full on Western with some great shots of the American south, while also being quite gothic and making good use from the shadows and darkness. I really loved the portrayal of vampires here, and the makeup and effects really helped to sell them. The soundtrack from Tangerine Dream is atmospheric and haunting which works for the tone of the movie.

Near Dark is a really good neo-western vampire film, very well directed, with a strong atmosphere and a great cast (especially a scene stealing Bill Paxton).