I have waited so long to finally watch this movie. The question is, was it worth the wait?
I’m going to describe a movie to you, see if it sounds familiar. It’s a 1987 vampire flick that focuses on a gang of bloodsuckers who are attempting to indoctrinate a recently turned young man while he struggles to hold on to his humanity. I’m sure the movie you’re picturing is The Lost Boys, and you probably didn’t have to read further than “1987 vampire flick”. The Lost Boys is a beloved cultural touchstone for my generation in the same way as Stand By Me or The Princess Bride. It’s cool and fun and stylistic, with several memorable performances and lots of Coreys. It is, by my estimation however, only the second best 1987 vampire flick that focuses on a gang of bloodsuckers who are attempting to indoctrinate a recently turned young man while he struggles to hold on to his humanity. Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark tells that story in a very different, but even more captivating way.
Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is a young man living in a small Southwestern town with his dad and sister, and he ends up getting more than he bargained for when he hits on a cute drifter one night. Instead of sex, he ends the evening with a bite on the neck and skin that starts smoking in the sunlight. After turning him, the drifter (Jenny Wright) brings Caleb to her pack of gypsy vampires led by the great Lance Henrikson. It’s a cool group of characters, and one that might be easy to root for under different circumstances in another movie. Henrikson is both charismatic and pragmatic and you can immediately understand why he is the head of the squad. Joshua John Miller plays a child vampire, and I love his take on what is a pretty well-worn trope. The standout, however, is Bill Paxton’s Severen. Paxton really goes for it as a psychotic cowboy vampire, and while it would have been easy for Severen to come across as a blustery edgelord, he just manages to keep the performance grounded and believable in the context of the movie’s universe. Bigelow (Point Break, The Hurt Locker) has always been fascinated by exploring masculinity in her projects, and the three male leads offer interesting character studies in relation to that theme. Caleb comes off as cocksure and charming, the basic high school quarterback archetype and the most desirable fish in a pretty small pond. He then is put in position to bounce off of Henrikson’s stoic patriarch and Paxton’s give-no-fucks bad boy. The movie’s best and most famous scene finds Severen trying to maneuver Caleb into a situation at a bar where he has no choice but to give into his new instincts and feed on human blood. The battle between Caleb’s morality and the necessities of his new “life” with his companions is the primary conflict through the first two acts, before the ultimate showdown that endangers him and his family takes over the plot.
Horror fandom has always had its share of “white whales”, movies that were out of print for whatever reason but developed a massive cult following in spite of (or due to) their scarcity. Chopping Mall was one such movie, as I mentioned in my review a few years ago. Today’s streaming market has largely brought that situation to a close, but pretty much every year I have written for 31 Movies in 31 Days I have tried to track down Near Dark. Finally, just a couple of months ago, Shudder added the lost classic to its lineup, and I got to watch it for the first time. It did not disappoint. I think this is a great take on vampires, a great Western, and a film that has universally great performances. I have no idea why it became impossible to find for so many years, but I encourage everyone who is reading this to seek it out now that it is available.
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