Pajiba's Underappreciated Gems
Dead Is What He Is, He Does What He Please
Near Dark / TK
1987 was a great year for the movie geek. It was the year of Robocop, The Running Man, Full Metal Jacket, Stakeout, Moonstruck, The Untouchables, and Lethal Weapon — all movies of varying quality that most of us have probably seen. One movie that has a place of infamy and honor on the geek list is certainly The Lost Boys, which was well-received and still holds a dear, if not somewhat ironic, place in the hearts of many. As a result, it was almost inevitable that Near Dark would be overlooked. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days, Point Break), it came out three months after Joel Schumacher’s vampires-meets-teen-angst semi-epic. It lacked the star power of The Lost Boys, featuring what was basically a mixed bag of a then-unknown Adrian Pasdar combined with a few Aliens castaways, versus the juggernaut of The Coreys, a mulleted, bloodthirsty Jack Bauer, Dianne Wiest, Jason Patric and Herman Munster. Perhaps most importantly, due to its October release date, it missed the summer blockbuster season altogether, after moviegoers had already slaked their thirst for vampire shenanigans with July’s entry. It was a far darker, less teeny-bopper oriented feature, with little interest in the conventional vampire mythos; all of these things contributed to it ending up 128th in box office receipts, and earning little more than a paltry $3,000,000. Yet despite all of that, not to mention some pretty obvious flaws to the film itself, it’s well worth your attention and is a true underappreciated gem.
Near Dark is a simple tale. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy gets bitten by girl and then kidnapped by her adopted family of psychopathic blood-drinking outlaws. The boy in this case is Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), an Oklahoma farm boy who is listlessly wandering one night when he sees Mae (Jenny Wright), a odd, spacey girl who he finds strangely captivating. He gets her to go out with him, and despite the weird, almost trance-like state that she maintains, gazing at the sky and speaking of stars and eternity, he is entranced. Finally, after much back and forth between the two, they kiss (incidentally, it’s worth mentioning that their first kiss is without question an all-time great screen kiss), and of course, she bites him. The next thing he knows, he’s staggering home in amidst a searing dawn, slowly roasting (literally) in the sun, until a RV with blacked out windows swings past him and he is unceremoniously sucked into Mae’s bizarre and deadly family.
Obviously, Mae’s adopted family is a gang of vampires. The gaunt and grim Jesse (Lance Henriksen — Bishop from Aliens) is the groups pater familias, and he runs the gang with his mate, Diamondback (Jenette Goldstein — Vasquez from Aliens). The two are accompanied by Severen (Bill Paxton, Hudson-sir-he’s-Hicks from Aliens… sense a trend?) and the oldest of the pack, Homer (Joshua Miller). We learn that they are essentially a roaming gang of vampiric nomads, traveling across the U.S., avoiding the law and human scrutiny as best they can by staying on the move, despite leaving a path of destruction and havoc in their wake. The rest of the film is pretty straightforward — Caleb is initially seduced by the power offered, but unable to make the kill. His father, Loy (Tim Thomerson) and sister Sarah (Marcie Leeds) are trying to track him down, which all eventually leads to a Wild West-style showdown between Caleb and the pack.
The plot of Near Dark is certainly not going to win any awards or change the way you look at vampire films — there are some interesting twists to it, but also some fairly silly parts (the “cure” that is developed is forehead-slappingly dopey). But it’s just so damn interesting that you’ll find yourself drawn into it. I’ve talked before about vampire movies as a genre — there is far more bad than good when one examines the whole catalog. So when something comes along that puts a little extra spin on the concept — something that melds it successfully with other ideas or successfully intermingles other genres with it — I’m all for it. Such is the case here — Near Dark is obviously a vampire film — the pack hunts humans, they drink blood, they heal quickly and live forever. However, there is little supernatural kick-assery; no flying on wires, no fangs, no crosses or religious undertones at all, and no stakes through the heart or aversion to garlic. Because it’s also more than a vampire movie — it’s part romance, part road trip movie, part western, and honestly, part crime movie. In truth, take away the vampire part and you’ve got a pretty compelling, and at times disturbing, movie about what is essentially a roving band of serial killers. By taking away all of the Gothic lace-and-leather sentimentalism of many vampire pictures and transplanting the story to the dusty, dirt-caked nowhere-land of rural Oklahoma and Texas, the movie has a stark, Western-meets-Mad Max feel to it that is totally disparate from the typical genre conventions. Instead of leather, ruffled shirts and high boots, it’s denim jackets and cowboy boots. You can tell Bigelow was still developing her technique — it’s not quite as stylish as Strange Days, as hard-boiled as Blue Steel, or as flashy as Point Break, but she makes excellent use of the environments. Filmed in Casa Grande, Arizona, it creates a fantastic dichotomy of a dry, grungy wasteland and sparse, sun-drenched open country. As a result, the cinematography is an interesting addition to the tale of nomadic, killer vagabonds.
In addition to the gritty atmosphere provided by the choice of setting, there are a number of clever little puzzle pieces included. Perhaps borrowing a bit from Anne Rice, Joshua Miller’s Homer is a rather chilling addition — an immortal creature, the old man of the group, trapped in the body of a 10-year old boy. Watching him set traps for his victims by pretending to be a kid who fell off his bike is particularly twisted. The movie is filled with neat little throw-in lines to give you a sense of what they truly are. Henriksen’s Jesse, with his gaunt features and facial scars, comes off as a worn, soulless killer. When Caleb asks him how old he is, he simply responds, “Let’s put it this way: I fought for the South. We lost.” Similarly, while watching an abandoned vehicle burn, Severen cackles, “Hey, Jesse, remember that fire we started in Chicago?” Little touches that breath life into the roles. Of course, one of my favorite ideas in films like this that started with Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and continued in films like Cronos is that the word “vampire” is never uttered. Caleb laments his being bit and the subsequent changes, but never is vampirism actually acknowledged.
Make no mistake — Near Dark is by no means a perfect film. The acting is terribly uneven, it seems badly dated at times, and it feels like it should be 20 or 30 minutes longer. You never really get to know the members of the gang — part of the reason those little snippets of character are so vital. The music, composed by Tangerine Dream in all their ear-stabbing 80’s splendor, makes it a sad victim of its decade (Tangerine Dream is also responsible for the awful, awful soundtrack to Ridley Scott’s horrifyingly dated epic, Legend). Jenny Wright in particular is a an interesting case study — she’s actually quiet good overall, but the writing fails her at times. There is only so much success to be had with lines like, “Listen to the night… it’s deafening.” When she’s allowed to simply be the sweet, almost fey-like woman-child trapped between two worlds, she’s wonderful. But when that extra dollop of mystical melodrama is thrown in, she falters. Bill Paxton, who was so much fun in Aliens and Weird Science in the two previous years, at times plays up the Chet/Hudson bit a little too much. Throw in an overdose of psychobilly yee-haw, and at times he’s downright irritating. Clocking in at under 100 minutes, it feels rushed at times, although perhaps character depth was never the point — maybe simply style and atmosphere were supposed to suffice.
However, it makes up for many of those weaknesses in originality and execution. Yes, it has its share of missteps, but when it hits its mark, it’s surprisingly effective. By combining a conventional vampire tale of death and rebirth with the darker tones of a crime thriller and a western’s gunslinger mentality (a daylight shootout at a hotel with local cops is particularly impressive example of this genre-bending), it creates a whole new world to serve as a vampire playground. While it’s not 100% successful, Near Dark has enough imagination and noir undertones (not to mention gore and violence) that it deserves the chance it never got in the theaters.
TK can be found wandering aimlessly through suburban Massachusetts, wondering how the hell he got there while yelling at the kids on his lawn. You can find him raising the dead in preparation for world domination at Uncooked Meat.
Eloquent Eloquence 07/10/08 | | Pajiba Love 07/10/08
Comments
First Clash of the Titans and now Near Dark? You all are on a roll!
Posted by: Some Guy at July 10, 2008 1:18 PM
Fuck it. I need a drink.
First!
Also, I have a deep and abiding love for Lost Boys while hating the Coreys. It creates a scizophrenic watching experience, to say the least.
Posted by: Terrible Confusion at July 10, 2008 1:22 PM
I still remember as a kid seeing the VHS sleeve for Near Dark at the corner gas station...
The Bill Paxton cover reminded me of a cross between a zombie and Griffin Dunne's character from An American Werewolf in London (post werewolf attack of course).
I was plesently surprised when I watched it and actually found out it was about vampires. One of my all time favorite from the genre (with Lost Boys still being my favorite).
Posted by: Colin at July 10, 2008 1:30 PM
I think you mean "fey."
Posted by: Arkansan at July 10, 2008 1:31 PM
mmm... plesent
how do I live without spell check you ask?
not well.
Posted by: Colin at July 10, 2008 1:35 PM
Didn't Tangerine Dream also have something to do with the soundtrack for Risky Business? I always found 80's electronica/synth/whateverthehell obscenely creepy, like it was made by aliens playing a human harpsichord and distorting the screams- and now it has the Xenu connection, thanks to two Cruise films.
But Tangerine Dream- shoulda been a soda. Woulda been a contender with Mello Yello for the tasted-like-piss-but-will-be-remembered-fondly-nonetheless award. Instead of, you know, making me think of an alien sitting on a stoop, plucking a man's innards to make him shriek a particular way.
Posted by: soyousay at July 10, 2008 2:05 PM
This was a movie out of which I enjoyed the hell(I have been working on my grammar specifically so that I may post comments here.)(Also, I like parentheses.)(A lot.).
Posted by: Mella at July 10, 2008 2:06 PM
I haven't watched this movie in so long... I should revisit it. Doesn't Bill Paxton say something like "It's coming off- your face. Clean off" at some point? I mean, that's pretty exciting.
Posted by: Lannie at July 10, 2008 2:35 PM
TK- I don't think you meant to call Edward Herrmann Herman Munster . . . . cuz that was Fred Gwynne . . . .
Posted by: SCG at July 10, 2008 2:40 PM
Not very often Marilyn Manson gets a reference on these pages.
Posted by: Gowler at July 10, 2008 3:15 PM
I love this movie. It certainly does have it's flaws. The ending is particularly weak. I still think it's one of the best, if not, the best vampire movie around. Like you said, as a genre, it sucks.
I recently recommended "Near Dark" to a group of friends who had never heard of it, because they are a good 12-14 years younger than me. They are all horror film fans and have good. Apparently, however, based on their reactions, "Near Dark" doesn't hold up.
Posted by: ajax19 at July 10, 2008 3:16 PM
I actually bought a DVD of this a few months ago, and haven't watched it yet.
I just remembered renting it on VHS, and it being championed in Cinefantastique.
Posted by: monitorman at July 10, 2008 3:27 PM
I actually had to write a paper on this for a class I took called The Monster and Detective In Film And Literature about two years ago. Being born in 1985, it's, uh, safe to say I missed this one upon initial release.
For me personally, it didn't stand the test of time, but that could be because I came to it completely spoiled by growing up with Buffy and some of the other greats of the genre that we'd been assigned in class.
Posted by: Molly at July 10, 2008 4:59 PM
Edward Herrmann was Herman Munster on a made for TV movie Here Come the Munsters. John Schuck (Yoyo from Holmes and Yoyo) was Herman on the series The Munsters Today.
Near Dark is one of my favorite vampire movies mainly because the cast is so amazing, and the contrast of the bright southwestern sky and the bleak story is so intense. Adrian Pasdar is so good in this one. This and Profit are the reason I was so pumped when I heard he was going to be a lead on Heroes. His Caleb is a nice guy cowboy who falls in way over his head when a pretty girl smiles at him, and spends the rest of the movie trying to be a good guy while running with the some of the nastiest bloodsuckers ever.
Paxton, Henrickson, Goldstein, and Miller are all very effective as the vamps and I am always glad to see Tim Thomerson in anything.
Posted by: Adam C at July 10, 2008 5:07 PM
I love this movie. TK, you should watch "Die innere Sicherheit" (The State I am in), it's a german movie about a teenager whose parents were left-wing terrorists in the seventies and the director said that Near Dark was a big influence. It will make sense and you won't be disappointed.
Posted by: Elsa at July 10, 2008 5:08 PM
Saw this long ago. It's pretty good. Not the best ever, but worth a Netflix or whatever. Bill Paxton as a vampire is kinda genius casting.
Posted by: Slash at July 10, 2008 5:38 PM
When these movies were originally released, my teenbopperness was immediately snookered in by The Lost Boys cuteness factor and slick soundtrack. And while I still love both movies with child-of-the-eighties nostalgia, Near Dark definitely gained a foothold with my vampire-geekness.
The throwdown in the redneck bar in Near Darm beats the pants off the beach bonfire massacre of Lost Boys.
For a great literary antidote to lugubrious baroque vampires of Anne Rice, check out Nancy Collins Sonya Blue novels. I am constantly trumping her stuff; I wish she'd come back to the genre.
Great review. Here's hoping Netflix sees a spike in additions of this movie to various queues.
Posted by: Alabamapink at July 10, 2008 6:23 PM
This is one of the first movies I saw on cable; in fact, for a few years I thought it was a straight-to-HBO affair.
I could be wrong, but I think this was one of the first vampire stories to use the infection/virus approach rather than the cursed model. Does anyone know if that's correct?
Posted by: alone in the dark at July 10, 2008 9:54 PM
"I hate it when they ain't been shaved."
My favorite line.
I love this underrated and almost forgotten movie. Thanks for bringing it to the fore. Not perfect, but a damn scream.
Go Kathryn Bigelow!
Posted by: debkakes at July 10, 2008 11:15 PM
amen.
"near dark" fucking rules. i've watched this movie innumerable times since its '80's release.
the cast is perfect, the timing excellent, and the flick's oft-predictable "vampire ambiguity" is just the tits in this flick.
here's a hearty, toothy recommendation to anyone who enjoys a good vampire flick, as well as a good overlooked '80's classic.
[if any of you "near dark" lovers haven't heard, an unnecessary remake of this film is being planned; haven't heard anything in the past couple of months, but it WAS on the remake circuit earlier this year. burn in hell, remake supporters...]
Posted by: idiot dentist at July 11, 2008 12:38 AM
Why all the hate for Tangerine Dream? They did some of the most memorable soundtracks of the 80's. Yeah, parts of legend sucked, but what do you expect given that they dropped Goldsmith's and had gave them something like 3 weeks to compose the new score?
I've always felt their music had an excellent ethereal quality to them, perfect for a movie like legend.
Posted by: Some Guy at July 11, 2008 12:53 AM
The three Aliens castaways could be explained by Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron's relationship at one point, probably in full throttle during the making of this movie (and certainly marriage at the time of Point Break).
So it was probably at a time when they were just porking, y'know, nothing serious, see if we like each other stage. And James tried to impress Kathryn, and was like "Babe, want 3 of my aliens-clan for your vampire flick?" and she was like "Thats so sweet", and he was like "Thats how I roll baby, the next shit I'm doin is underwater"
And then, they got married. Now, note the lack of Aliens cast members in Point Break. At this point its like: "Hon, I'm doing a surfing movie", "Thats great dear", "Turn off the light before you come to bed"
Posted by: melanzani at July 11, 2008 5:45 AM
Maybe it's just me...but I never saw Homer as the elder of the vampire clan. I always thought that he was turned by Jesse and Diamondback to be their surrogate "son".
Posted by: lowercasemelissa at July 11, 2008 12:00 PM
love this movie. I honestly wonder why it isn't playing every second wednesday at 2 a.m. though...it ought to be! but then again, I count Aliens as my all time favorite, so maybe I'm swayed by the actors...but the actress (Jenny) just had me in serious girl-crush mode in my early teens...
Posted by: replica at July 11, 2008 3:56 PM
This is a fun flick. I agree the ending is somewhat lame.
I believe it's explicitly stated that Homer is the oldest, but it's been a while since I've seen the movie. It's interesting given his somewhat juvenile attachment to the little girl, although I suppose it would be difficult to reconcile his age and his outward appearance such that he could become possessive.
Bill Paxton is the king of ham in this movie. He's great.
Posted by: DarthCorleone at July 11, 2008 4:16 PM
This was an excellent movie, and for me the high point of Bigelow's releases, partially of course because I love the genre. It also came out at a time when because of Anne Rice, all the vampires of the world were foppish, gay and European. Credits to her for her contributions, but it started a trend that I was happy to veer away from.
I'm actually hesitant to re-watch this film, because it holds up so well in my mind and I wouldn't want to tarnish that. Even at the time there were flaws, of course, but things as odd as the big tanker-truck battle weren't enough to take away from the horror of that roadhouse slaughter.
Probably my favorite part was the shootout in the blacked-out motel, where they had to make the run for the van.
And, of course, Jenny the girl, who seemed absolutely radiant.
Posted by: karstark at July 12, 2008 1:43 AM
god DAMN i love this film
from end to end i loooove this film, its how cinema today should be, just plain fucking awesome
also, Vintage Pasdar is wonderful to watch, he's ridiculously adorable
Posted by: nadine at July 12, 2008 12:28 PM
Fuck the Untouchables. That movie is dumb. Why does Kevin Costner even get a vicarious nod on this site?
Posted by: Lucas at July 15, 2008 9:54 AM