Near Dark (1987)

   
Directed by: Katheryn Bigelow

Written by:
Katheryn Bigelow & Eric Red

Starring:


Adrian Pasdar .... Caleb Colton
Jenny Wright .... Mae
Lance Henriksen .... Jesse Hooker
Bill Paxton .... Severen
Jenette Goldstein .... Diamonback
Tim Thomerson .... Loy Colton
Joshua John Miller .... Homer
Marcie Leeds .... Sarah Colton

Release Dates: Toronto Film Festival: September, 1987; Theatrical: October 2, 1987; Toronto Film Festival: September, 1988; Night Visions Film Festival: October 28, 2007 (Finland); Iik!! Horror Film Festival: November 2, 2007 (Finland)

*Images courtesy at: www.outnow.ch

 

 

 

Rating:

 

During late at night a young man named Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) picks up a young woman named Mae (Jenny Wright) whom he seems linked to and shows her around his farm area for a bit but his pet horse seems terrified of her and she seems very odd.
She demands him that she needs to be back home before sunlight and panicks fearing it might be too late and asks her to kiss him in order for him to drive her back and she bites him on the neck.
When it's sunlight he starts not to feel too well and then is almost caught on fire until a mobile vehicle picks him up and encounters a family of vampires lead by a man named Jesse Hooker (Lance Henriksen) as the family isn't sure of Caleb thinking if he'd fir in or not as they stay in a hotel each time daylight hits and sleeps the whole day as well as stealing different vehicles when they travel at night.
Mae tries to tell Caleb that he must kill people and drink their blood in order to live as he starts to feel weak and ill when he refuses and Caleb's father Loy (Tim Thomerson) tries to rescue him and bring him back to human life but it may be risky.

 

A great conversation between Caleb Colton and Mae when he gives her a lift which looked mysterious due to Mae's actions and eccentric behavior. There's a great moment when she acts intense telling him to drive her home before daylight and panicking about it. There's a good shot of them kissing as well as her biting him on the neck.
There's good shots on Caleb acting weak during the sunlight on him with smoke forming on him and then a nice shot on a trailer mobile driving by him and someone grabbing him. There's a nice camera shot looking up on Severen while putting his foot on Caleb acting like a bully and speaking toughly towards him.
There's a good discussion between Caleb and Mae near a railroad track when she tells him who he is now which looked quite powerful.
There's many great scene's with Caleb walking in the city streets acting sick as well as him at a bus station and then an officer coming up from behind him and getting demanding with him thinking that he's intoxicated which looked very realistically done.
There's a perfect shot on Caleb sucking the blood from Mae's wrist acting ravenous in which shows terrific energy on the two of them.
There's a good shot on the vampires doing their deadly deeds like Severen acting like a cowboy hitchhiking on the side of the road as well as two thugs trying to carjack both Jesse Hooker and Diamonback as there's nice shots on the two of them showing a good evil smiley expressions.
There's many great scene's with these people entering a bar with shots on the customers staring at them while they discuss what they see which leaves you an impression that they will be up to no good.
There's a nice forceful action with Severon grabbing Caleb at the bar table and trying to get him to fight a biker in the bar with a nice shot on Caleb giving one of the customers a good blow and him falling back against the wall.
Some good angle shots on Severen stepping up on the bar table doing some sort of a dance and then swinging his spike cowboy boots towards the bartender and slitting his throat with a good graphic camera shot on that too.
A nice shot on Caleb looking dark and expressionless slowly walking up to a teenage cowboy as there's shot on him looking scared which was good as well as a good shot on him jumping out of a bar window.
Nice shots on state troopers surrounding a hotel pointing their guns as well as shooting with Jesse, Diamonback and Severen preparing to fire back as well as a good shot on Caleb running to go to his vehicle with gun shots shooting him and he reacts well to the pain.
Good moment with Homer approaching Sarah Colton at a pop machine trying to act charming towards her which looked good.
Perfect camera shot on the gang standing near a cliff in the dark with mist floating around them.
There's a nice struggling moment with Loy Colton and Sarah trapped in a hotel room with Jesse, Diamonback, Severon and Homer restraining them there which makes you wonder if they will be safe.
There's a good moment with Loy placing Caleb in his barn and trying to inject blood in him as well as nice shots on him sobbing.
Good shots on Caleb and Sarah playing out in the farm area acting full of life.
Another good shot on Severon with the camera looking up on him while throwing Caleb far onto the road as well as a nice shot on him trying to run him over with a truck and a great shot on the truck exploding.
A good showdown with Caleb against Jesse with him yelling at him to let his sister go as well as a good shot on Diamonback coming up from behind Caleb about to throw a knife at him.
Bottom line is that this is the most original vampire flick ever. It doesn't shows them having monstrous faces and growing fangs nor flying anywhere. Just people travelling in vehicles and avoiding the sun. It's an excellent film too with nonstop action and a total 80's horror flick. I advise this to anyone who enjoys old school horror.
There's many good touching moments in the film with the main character living the life as a vampire and having a romance with the vampiress who made him a vampire along with his father and sister trying to rescue him.
The story started out as very mysterious before discovering who this vampiress is and acting strange which was a perfect drawing card to the beginning of this film in which makes a perfect story instead of jumping right in revealing her identity as one. There's alot of great settings surrounding each scene like a sleazy bar, motels and the distance of the sun rising.

The acting is very good as lead actor Adrian Pasdar (Caleb Colton) put all his energy into this film on his experience as a vampire showing great sickening emotions as well as the expressionless expressions too when he needed to do so. He shows terrific intensity and great aggrsssions too which was one of the film's pluses to top it all off. He was one of the best actors for this flick.
Jenny Wright
(Mae) was another good one in the film as a teenage vampiress with her eccentric attitude as she came across very mysterious during the beginning of the story thanks to her good performance. She brought great characteristic's to her part in it. There's a great shocked reaction on her in a scene after she discovers that her fellow actor is normal again awhen he was a vampire beforehand.
Lance Henriksen
(Jesse Hooker) played a marvellous leader of the vampire pack showing great aggressions and intimidating looks too. He always does a good job proving to be a versatile actor. He really stood out very well that he was the head of the pack.
Bill Paxton
(Severen) was the one who stood out the most playing a tough as nails vampire by having a real bad ass attitude. He really knew how to act rough and psysical as well as acting very mouthy and obnoxious. Watching his part was quite disturbing to those who were bullied in school or on the streets.
Jenette Goldstein
(Diamonback) brings a nice warmness on set as a female vampiress along with a tough type attitude too. She looked great to top it all off along with showing terrific characteristics. It's a shame she doesn't get many good roles like this one since she often has small parts when it comes to film acting. She showed a completely different role than when she played a tomboy in Aliens too making it seem like she's a different person alltogether.
Tim Thomerson
(Loy Colton) had a nice supporting role in the film as a single father farmworker showing a great strong attitude on the set of the camera with nice emotions too. Any of the shows I've seen him in he always does a fine job and will always be a worthy character actor in which he shows great characteristics in this one.

Many bloody gunshots
Slit throats
Vampire's skin getting burned

The music was terrifically composed by the group Tangerine Dream sounding incredibly original and very 80's horror like with the terrific keyboard playing as well as alot of rock guitar music too during many of the sequences throughout the storyline. It couldn't get any better than this in which they make every scene sound incredibly effective.

There's many good songtracks in the film most notably the hit "Naughty Naughty" by John Parr during a scene where the family of vampires enter a bar.

Mae: Y'know, the light that's leaving that star right now will take a billion years to get down here. You wanna know why you've never met a girl like me before? Because I'll still be here when the light from that star gets down here to earth.

Caleb Colton: I sure haven't met any girls like you.
Mae: No, you sure haven't.

Homer: The name's Homer. H-O-M-E-R. Mispronounce it... and I wouldn't... wanna... be you.

[Pale, sweating and in obvious withdrawal, Caleb is being shaken down by a policeman]
Deputy Sheriff: You ain't looking too good, son.
Caleb Colton: I ain't feeling too good, sir.
Deputy Sheriff: What're you on?
Caleb Colton: You wouldn't believe me...

Jesse: Let's put it this way: I fought for the South. We lost.

Sarah Colton: [Homer is staring at Sarah] It's impolite to stare.

Loy Colton: Caleb, those people back there, they wasn't normal. Normal folks, they don't spit out bullets when you shoot 'em, no sir.

[last lines]
Mae: Caleb, what's happening?
Caleb Colton: I brought you home.
Mae: I'm afraid.
Caleb Colton: Don't be. It's just the sun.