‘Near Dark,” director Kathryn Bigelow’s directorial debut has something in common with her Oscar nominated feature “The Hurt Locker.”
Both don’t deserve the hype.
The ’80s vampire movie was something different, to be sure, a sobering tale lacking the Kraft cheese sprinkled atop the decade’s other vampire flicks, “Fright Night” and “The Lost Boys.”
The genre film, re-released late last year on Blu-ray, remains rough around the edges in ways that matter, and the characters simply take too long to make an impact.
“Near Dark” stars Adrian Pasdar as Caleb, an excrement kicker who flirts with the wrong lonely lady (Jenny Wright) one evening.
He trots out his best pickup lines – they aren’t very good – and she bites him for his troubles.
Now, he’s a vampire, and he’s got little choice but to follow her and her band of blood suckers. Can Caleb fit in with this amoral gang, or will his innate decency prevent him from embracing the vampire lifestyle?
Bigelow shows a flair for composition that would suit her nicely throughout her career, framing the vampires with just the right ratio of shadow to fog. She’s also shrewd enough to use every line in head vampire Lance Henriksen’s chiseled face for maximum effect.
Bill Paxton gives life to the undead posse as the gang’s loosest cannon. He pulls it off with elan, especially during a shocking sequence in which the vampires take down a honky tonk bar one jugular vein at a time.
“Near Dark” has been touted as a vampire western, but the latter is in short supply unless you count Caleb hopping on his horse in the film’s final moments. And the pacing is just too inconsistent for the spare storyline to take hold. Even during the action sequences there’s something missing, the sense of urgency the drama demands.
That actually helps the barroom sequence, lending the scene a sense of danger it might otherwise lack.
But when Caleb is running for his life or trying to protect his family, the odd miscues do considerable damage.
“Near Dark” deserves kudos for its stark outlook, its edgy cast and the way it tackles a genre with not a frill to be found.
But it’s not a classic, just a reasonably crafted thriller which inexplicably gains street cred with every passing year.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re completely right about Near Dark, and I have similar feelings about Point Break: neither are in any way close to being bad movies, but neither of them are any way close to being good enough to support the reputations they have gained.
Strange Days, on the other hand, was so bad that I only managed to last about a half hour before I deleted it from my DVR.
Some movies age better than others … and by ‘age’ I mean people look back on them more fondly than they deserve. Case in point here … and with “Point Break,” too. It was initially described as cinematic fast food … now, it’s ‘one of Bigelow’s best movies.’
Count me as someone who enjoyed “Near Dark” and its creepy vampire family much more than the overrated “The Lost Boys”. “Fright Night” was also a lot of fun because of the much missed Roddy McDowall.
Roddy McDowall, perhaps my favorite actor from my younger days – yes, it had plenty to do with the “Apes” franchise, but also silly/fun roles in “Fright Night” and “Scavenger Hunt.”
I must dissent a bit here; I was spellbound by its eerie melancholy romance and gritty contemporary Western vampires. Rough around the edges, for sure, but the film had a fearlessness to it, an assurance of its material that was captivating. On the other hand, I do agree that “The Hurt Locker” isn’t worthy of its massive hype, even though I enjoyed it enough (soldiers like war, how original!).
No dissent is allowed! I admit I’d like to watch “Near Dark” again in a year or so … I suspect I might view it a little more favorably. But I was itching to see it again (watched it as a teen back in the ’80s) and hoped it would really hit me hard.
Not a great movie but I still LOVE the bar scene in Near Dark.