Near Dark

{{Infobox film

| name = Near Dark

| image = Neardarktheatposter.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Kathryn Bigelow

| producer = Steven-Charles Jaffe

| writer = {{plainlist|

Eric Red
Kathryn Bigelow

}}

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = Tangerine Dream

| cinematography = Adam Greenberg

| editing = Howard E. Smith

| studio = F/M Entertainment

| distributor = De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

| released = {{Film date|1987|09|12|TIFF|1987|10|02}}

| runtime = 95 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $5 million{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=neardark.htm|title=Near Dark|work=Box Office Mojo|access-date=January 15, 2014}}

| gross = $3.4 million

}}

Near Dark is a 1987 American neo-Western horror film co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (in her solo directorial debut), and starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein. The plot follows a young man in a small Oklahoma town who becomes involved with a family of nomadic American vampires.

Despite performing poorly at the box office, critic reviews were generally positive. Over the years, the film has gained a cult following.{{cite web |last=Tobias |first=Scott |date=November 5, 2008 |title=The New Cult Canon: Near Dark |website=A.V. Club |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-new-cult-canon-near-dark-1798215134 |access-date=July 18, 2024}}{{cite book |last1=Mathijs |first1=Ernest |last2=Mendik |first2=Xavier |date=October 14, 2011 |title=100 Cult Films |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-84457-571-8 |pages=147– |quote=Shatteringly romantic and tough as nails, Near Dark is the cult film that embodies brilliantly the ambivalence and hybridity that was a trademark of the 1980s. }}

Plot

One night, Caleb Colton, a young man in a small town, meets an attractive young drifter named Mae. Just before sunrise, she bites him on the neck and runs off. The rising sun causes Caleb's flesh to smoke and burn. Mae arrives with a group of roaming vampires in an RV and takes him away. The most psychotic of the vampires, Severen, wants to kill Caleb but Mae reveals that she has already turned him. Their charismatic leader, Jesse Hooker, reluctantly agrees to allow Caleb to remain with them for a week to see if he can learn to hunt and gain the group's trust. Caleb is unwilling to kill to feed, which alienates him from the others. To protect him, Mae kills for him and then has him drink from her wrist.

Jesse's group enters a bar and kills the occupants. They set the bar on fire and flee the scene. All except Mae want to kill Caleb after he endangers them by letting the only living occupant escape, but after Caleb endangers himself to help them escape their motel room during a daylight police raid, Jesse and the others are grateful and temporarily mollified. A camaraderie commences, with Caleb asking Jesse how old he is and Jesse responding that he "fought for the South" (during the American Civil War), making him about 150 years old (Severen had earlier suggested he and Jesse started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871).

Meanwhile, Caleb's father has been searching for Jesse's group. A child vampire in the group, Homer, meets Caleb's sister, Sarah, and wants to turn her into his companion, but Caleb objects. While the group argues, Caleb's father arrives and holds them at gunpoint, demanding that Sarah be released. Jesse taunts him into shooting him, then regurgitates the bullet before wrestling the gun away. In the confusion, Sarah opens a door, letting in the sunlight and forcing the vampires back. Burning, Caleb escapes with his family.

Caleb suggests they try giving him a blood transfusion. The transfusion unexpectedly reverses Caleb's transformation. That night, the vampires search for Caleb and Sarah. Mae distracts Caleb by trying to persuade him to return to her while the others kidnap his sister. Caleb discovers the kidnapping and his tires slashed but gives chase on horseback. When the horse shies and throws him, he is confronted by Severen. Caleb commandeers a tractor-trailer and runs Severen over. The injured vampire suddenly appears on the hood of the truck and manages to rip apart the wiring in the engine. Caleb jackknifes the vehicle and jumps out as the truck explodes, killing Severen. Seeking revenge, Jesse and his girlfriend, Diamondback, pursue him but are forced to escape in their car as dawn breaks.

Attempting to save Sarah, Mae breaks out of the back of the car with her. Mae's flesh begins to smoke as she is burned by the sun but she carries Sarah into Caleb's arms, taking refuge under his jacket. Homer attempts to follow, but as he runs he dies from exposure to the sun. Their sunproofing ruined, Jesse and Diamondback also begin to burn. They attempt to run Caleb and Sarah over but fail, dying as the car blows up. Mae awakens later, her burns now healed. She too has been given a transfusion and is cured. Mae says she's afraid, and Caleb pulls her into a hug to comfort her as the film ends.

Cast

Adrian Pasdar as Caleb Colton
Jenny Wright as Mae
Lance Henriksen as Jesse Hooker
Bill Paxton as Severen
Jenette Goldstein as Diamondback
Joshua John Miller as Homer
Marcie Leeds as Sarah Colton
Tim Thomerson as Loy Colton
Troy Evans as Plainclothes Police Officer
Roger Aaron Brown as Cajun Truck Driver
James LeGros as Teenage Cowboy
Billy Beck as Motel Manager
S.A. Griffin as Police Officer at Motel
Neith Hunter as Lady in Truck
Theresa Randle as Lady in Truck

Production

Near Dark was part of a resurgence of American vampire films in the 1980s, along with the likes of Fright Night, Once Bitten (both 1985), Vamp (1986), The Lost Boys and The Monster Squad (both 1987).{{sfn|Abbott|2020|p=6}} Director and co-writer Kathryn Bigelow wanted to film a Western movie; when she and fellow co-writer Eric Red found financial backing for a Western difficult to obtain, they decided to mix the Western genre with the then more popular vampire genre.{{sfn|Abbott|2020|p=6}} The combination of the genres, which Bigelow and Red felt were ripe for revisionist interpretation, had been visited at least twice before on the big screen, with Curse of the Undead (1959) and Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966).

Bigelow knew (and later married) director James Cameron, who directed Aliens (1986), a film that shares three cast members (Paxton, Goldstein and Henriksen) with Near Dark. Actor Michael Biehn was offered the role of Jesse Hooker, but he rejected the role, because he found the script confusing. Lance Henriksen took over the role.[https://lebeauleblog.com/2014/03/08/what-the-hell-happened-to-michael-biehn/ What the Hell Happened to Michael Biehn? – Article on the website Lebeau's Le Blog] A cinema seen in the background early in the film has Aliens on its marquee and Cameron played the man who "flips off" Severen.

Soundtrack

{{Infobox album

| name = Near Dark

| type = soundtrack

| artist = Tangerine Dream

| cover =

| alt =

| caption =

| released = 1988

| recorded = 1987

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Electronic music

| length =

| label = Varèse Sarabande

| producer =

| prev_title = Three O'Clock High

| prev_year = 1987

| next_title = Shy People

| next_year = 1988

}}

Near Dark is the thirty-second major release and tenth soundtrack album by Tangerine Dream. It was released in 1988.{{cite web |title=Near Dark [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] |website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/near-dark-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0000194719 |access-date=May 16, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413113521/https://www.allmusic.com/album/near-dark-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0000194719 |archive-date=April 13, 2019}}

Release

Near Dark premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 12, 1987.{{sfn|Abbott|2020|p=5}}

=Box office=

Near Dark was released on October 2, 1987, in 262 theaters, grossing US$635,789 on its opening weekend. In its second week, the film's release widened to 429 screens.{{sfn|Abbott|2020|pp=7–8}} Near Dark went on to make $3.4 million, below its $5 million budget.

Bigelow has since attributed the film's lack of box office success to its close proximity to The Lost Boys—which was released two months prior to Near Dark, opening on a comparatively wider 1,542 screens—as well as it being an independent film.{{sfn|Abbott|2020|pp=7–8}} She has stated that The Lost Boys was a "vampire movie made by Warner Bros. that had a tremendous amount of muscle behind it, distribution and marketing muscle behind it. And so we were just this little [...] whisper out there."{{sfn|Abbott|2020|p=8}}

=Critical response=

Part of a late 1980s revival of serious vampire depictions on the big screen, it received mostly positive reviews for its mix of the Western, biker and vampire movie genres.{{cite book |last=Newman |first=Kim |year=1988 |title=Nightmare Movies: a Critical History of the Horror Film 1968–1988 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=0-7475-0295-1 |page=36}} On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Near Dark holds an 83% approval rating based on 75 critic reviews with an average rating of 7.4/10. The consensus reads: "Near Dark is at once a creepy vampire film, a thrilling western, and a poignant family tale, with humor and scares in abundance."{{cite web|title=Near Dark (1987)|work=Rotten Tomatoes|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1014793_near_dark|access-date=December 23, 2023 }}

In her review for The New York Times, Caryn James wrote, "Ms. Bigelow's too-studied compositions – Caleb in silhouette riding a horse toward the camera – clash with her unstudied approach to the characters' looks".{{cite news | last = James | first = Caryn | title = Near Dark, a Tale of Vampires on the Road | work = The New York Times | date = October 4, 1987 | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0D71439F937A35753C1A961948260&scp=2&sq=%22Near+Dark%22&st=nyt | access-date = September 30, 2008 }} Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader was impressed by Bigelow's first foray into big budget films with the "hillbilly vampire" movie, describing it as "beautifully shot".{{cite web |url=http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/10298_NEAR_DARK |title=Near Dark |access-date=February 4, 2009 |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan| work=Chicago Reader}} Hal Hinson of The Washington Post said the intermixing of vampire legends, westerns and biker movies has a result that is "both outrageous and poetic; it has extravagant, bloody thrills plus something else – something that comes close to genuine emotion".{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/neardarkrhinson_a13f83.htm |title='Near Dark' (R) |access-date=February 4, 2009 |last=Hinson |first=Hal |date=May 5, 1988 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} In his review for The Globe and Mail, Jay Scott wrote, "Bill Paxton as the undead sex symbol – is exceptional, but not exceptional enough to put across the cop-out that concludes the film".{{cite news | last = Scott | first = Jay | title = Vampire myth spawns new terrors in seductive demons of Near Dark | work = The Globe and Mail | date = October 2, 1987}}

Richard Corliss of Time magazine called Near Dark "weird (and) beautiful" and "the all-time teenage vampire love story".{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973430,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122021458/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973430,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 22, 2010 |title=Cinema: Board Stiff |access-date=February 4, 2009 |last=Corliss |first=Richard |date=July 22, 1991 |magazine=Time}}{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1838615,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906032738/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1838615,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 6, 2008|title=The Hurt Locker: A Near-Perfect War Film |magazine=Time |date=September 4, 2008}} Richard Schickel (also of Time) considered the film a clever variant of the vampire film genre.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974032,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122024338/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974032,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 22, 2010 |title=Hollywood's New Directions |access-date=February 4, 2009 |last=Schickel |first=Richard |author2=Elizabeth L. Bland |author3=Mayo Mohs |date=October 14, 1991 |magazine=Time}} Peter Travers of Rolling Stone concurred, calling it "gory and gorgeous".{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/6128590/review/5989951/near_dark |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527221016/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/6128590/review/5989951/near_dark |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 27, 2008 |title=Near Dark |access-date=February 4, 2009 |last=Travers |first=Peter |date=October 17, 2002 |magazine=Rolling Stone}} Alan Jones of Radio Times awarded it four stars out of five, calling it a "1980s horror landmark" and "one of the best vampire movies ever made." Jones described it as a "visually stunning and frightening package, spinning a genuinely scary tale" and highlighted the "stand-out degenerate performances" of Henriksen and Paxton.{{cite web | url= https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-6c1mxo/near-dark/ | title=Near Dark | work=Radio Times | first=Alan | last=Jones | access-date=4 December 2021}}

It has also been analysed for its queer coding of the vampire characters - specifically Severen.[https://www.slashfilm.com/767486/year-of-the-vampire-near-dark-is-a-western-horror-that-reworks-the-captivity-narrative/ Year Of The Vampire: Near Dark Is A Western Horror That Reworks The Captivity Narrative|/Film]

Home media

Near Dark was released on VHS in 1988.{{sfn|Abbott|2020|p=8}} By 1989, the film was released on LaserDisc by HBO Video.{{sfn|Abbott|2020|p=8}} In 2002, Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film on DVD.{{sfn|Abbott|2020|p=8}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/4630/near-dark/|title=Near Dark|last=Bovberg|first=Jason|date=September 20, 2002|website=DVD Talk|access-date=September 19, 2023}} In November 2009, the film was released on Blu-ray by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.{{cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|date=2010|title=The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZ9clsv_L0EC&pg=PA489|publisher=Visible Ink Press|page=489|isbn=978-1-57859-281-4}}

Cancelled remake

A remake of the film was announced in October 2006 as a co-production between film companies Rogue Pictures and Platinum Dunes, with Samuel Bayer attached to direct.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2006/film/markets-festivals/dunes-digs-up-rich-rogue-deal-1117951379/|title=Dunes digs up rich Rogue deal|author=Fleming, Michael|date=October 5, 2006|publisher=variety.com|access-date=April 4, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://news.moviefone.com/2006/04/07/near-dark-remake-nears/ |title=Near Dark Remake ... Nears |date=April 7, 2006 |access-date=February 13, 2009 |first=Scott |last=Weinberg |work=Cinematical }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In December 2008, Platinum Dunes producer Bradley Fuller stated that the project had been put on hold due to similarities in conception with Twilight (2008), a film which also contained a romance between human and vampire characters.{{cite web |url=https://empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=23864 |title=Near Dark Remake Is Off |work=Empire |access-date=January 15, 2014 |last=Hewitt |first=Chris |date=December 12, 2008 |archive-date=October 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011035852/http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=23864 |url-status=dead }}

References

=Bibliography=

{{cite book|last=Abbott|first=Stacey|date=2020|title=Near Dark (BFI Film Classics)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSjuDwAAQBAJ|publisher=British Film Institute|isbn=978-1-9112-3927-7}}

External links

{{IMDb title|0093605}}
{{TCMDb title|id=84642}}
{{AFI film|67057}}
{{rotten-tomatoes|1014793-near_dark}}
{{mojo title|id=neardark}}
[https://archive.today/20130119024259/http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/53/neardark.htm Bright Lights Film Journal essay]

Category:1987 films

Category:1987 horror films

Category:1987 Western (genre) films

Category:1980s Western (genre) horror films

Category:1980s chase films

Category:1980s supernatural horror films

Category:American Western (genre) horror films

Category:American chase films

Category:American supernatural horror films

Category:De Laurentiis Entertainment Group films

Category:1980s English-language films

Category:Films directed by Kathryn Bigelow