Near Dark (1987)

☆ ☆ ☆

Near Dark (1987) – K. Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow’s look at a gang of outlaw vampires in Oklahoma (and thereabouts) was completely off my radar in 1987 (but I did see Lost Boys, 1987, which I don’t recall as being particularly good).  Near Dark is a hybrid look at punk rock kids, western loners/homesteaders, and, yes, bloodsuckers (although the term vampire is never mentioned).  Caleb (Adrian Pasnar) is a more-or-less responsible teen who hits on the wrong girl (Jenny Wright), one who turns out to be a member of a gang of rough characters led by Lance Henriksen (so you know it’s tough).  After she bites him, they strongarm him into the gang – setting him the challenge of actually killing some prey.  Until then, his membership is provisional, but he’s squeamish (or perhaps kind-hearted).  Bigelow navigates between competing modes:  a moody romance between Pasnar and Wright’s characters and a full-on blood-and-guts shoot-em-up action film (with lots of fire, since the gang combusts in sunlight).  Henriksen is steely and mean but wild man Bill Paxton puts the edge into these latter scenes. These two and Jenette Goldstein starred in James Cameron’s Aliens (1986) the previous year and were hired as a team for this picture due to their camaraderie/presence (of course, Bigelow and Cameron were subsequently married, for a short while).  The end result is rather uneven but with glimpses of something greater, more romantic.  (I never saw Twilight, 2008 – is this a forerunner?).