On 9 April 2021, I watched for the first time in many years the cult Western-themed vampire movie Near Dark, after purchasing its 2-disc special edition DVD featuring an entire disc-worth of extras as well as the movie disc itself, and I'm glad to say that it lived up to my memories of it as being an excellent addition to the cinematic vampire genre.
Near Dark centres upon a midwestern small-town farming youth named Caleb (played by Adrian Pasdar) who meets up with a seemingly young female drifter called Mae (Jenny Wright) one evening and swiftly gets bitten, literally, by the love bug. However, Mae's neck bite causes much more than a hickey – for it turns him into a vampire, just like she is. And when the first rays of the dawning sun appear, Caleb's skin begins to smoke and burn (just like Mae's does, as he later discovers).
Just in time, however, along comes an unexpected rescue, or, to be more precise, an uninvited abduction, in the forbidding form of a sun-shielded travelling van containing Mae and her fanged compatriots. These consist of a small but highly aggressive and wholly lawless travelling vampire clan headed by their powerful amoral leader Jesse (Lance Henriksen), whom Mae succeeds in convincing not to kill Caleb but instead to give him a week in which prove his worth to them and thence become a member of their immortal, itinerant union of the undead.
Needless to say, however, the vampire clan's savage, bloodthirsty behaviour and their aimless, nomadic lifestyle do not accord well with Caleb. This soon results in friction arising (especially between Caleb and psychotic biker-clad vampire Severen – Bill Paxton in a tour-de-force performance), and ultimately worse, much worse, for all of them.
Originally planned as a typical Western movie but with the vampire contingent added when financial backing was not forthcoming for a conventional treatment (although, curiously, they are never actually referred to as vampires anywhere in it), Near Dark was Kathryn 'The Hurt Locker' Bigelow's solo directorial debut (she also co-wrote it, with Eric Red). It was released by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group on 2 October 1987, just a few weeks after The Lost Boys, in fact, which is my all-time favourite serious (i.e. non-c0medy) vampire movie.
Speaking of which: a few days earlier I'd had a chat on Facebook about who was the cooler movie vampire - David (played by Kiefer Sutherland) from The Lost Boys or Jesse from Near Dark. I chose David over Jesse, and rewatching Near Dark has only reinforced my view, as in my eyes Jesse comes across as too old and world-weary to be cool.
In fact, imho the coolest vampire by far in Near Dark is Severen, but he loses out to David by being too much of a psycho and gore-fest relisher. Even so, his portrayal by Paxton is a truly rivetting one, with Severen effortlessly stealing every scene that he appears in. I'm not sure about his dancing skills though...
Be sure to check out the official Near Dark trailer accessible here on YouTube for some of this very original, distinctive vampire movie's many highlights.
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