Near Dark ***

Directed by Katherine Bigelow.
Written by Katherine Bigelow and Eric Red.
With Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein,
Tim Thomerson, Joshua John Miller and Marcie Leeds.
Released 1987.

Katherine Bigelow is the same director that did "The Hurt Locker" that was just released this year. She's well known for being one of the best directors of action films period! And she's a woman to boot. One critic, Mark Kermode of the BBC said (paraphrasing here) that she was the most macho film director of any macho film director.

This is, I believe, her first feature film and her cast is relatively unknown, though I believe the creepy Joshua Miller goes on to play other creepy kids in other films in the next few years.

The pros of this film are many. There are some great action sequences and beautiful photography. The characters are unique and interesting. Especially, the character of Jessie Hooker and Diamondback.

I thought the romantic leads of were a little wooden, but perhaps they were trying to show the awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time. Some of the attempts at being poetic fall a bit flat and the Tangerine Dream soundtrack goes on a little too long, though did provide a pulsing feeling through some of the scenes and was especially appropriate for the scene in which the girl, Mae played by Wright, allows Caleb to drink the blood from her own arm.

So the film goes like this. Caleb, played by Pasdar, sees a cute young blond thing and goes over and flirts with her. He doesn't know it, but she's a vampire. In the course of their flirtation, she says some pretty silly stuff about "listening to the night" and other enigmatic sayings which were supposed to be profound but were really kind of silly. She bites him, and turns him into a vampire. She let's him go so that she can retire before the day begins. Her gang/family drive by to pick him up as he tries to walk back to his ranch (did I mention that this is a western styled movie) stumbling and smouldering from the rise of the new day's sun. Mae's family it a motley, punk group of vampires who want to get kill Caleb right off until Mae tells them that Caleb has been "turned". They back off, agreeing to give him time to prove that he can be one of them. Meaning he has to make a kill on his own.

Well, Caleb doesn't seem to have the heart to be a cold blooded murderer and he lets some opportunities escape. Mean while, he feeds off his girlfriend for sustenance. There is one scene where he is sucking the blood from her arm and they are sitting right next to an oil rig that is pumping. If this group is his new family, then Mae plays a maternal role in her nurturing of Caleb.

In one of the best set pieces of the film, the group goes to a dive of a country bar and raise havoc. They pretty much massacre the people in the bar to the soundtrack of Cramp's version of Fever. They save one victim for Caleb, who ultimately lets him escape.

This proves to have consequences because the police find them the next day in their hide out. Here is another one of the best scenes. As the police shoot holes through the shack walls, rays of burning light pierce the darkness of the interior. (Sun light burns the vampires) After many holes are shot in the wall of the shack, there is this kind of kaleidoscope effect and its simply beautiful.

They escape and are on the run. Caleb has bought some time since he was instrumental in their escape. One of the vampires runs into the little sister of Caleb and of course wants her. Complications ensue.

I loved this movie when it first came out. It was the era of punk rock, and this was a very punky film. The passage of time has had some negative effects, but there is no doubting Bigelow's ability to shoot action sequences and to tell unique and interesting tales.

Here's the trailer.